Walkthrough: Command-Line Profiling Using Instrumentation

This walkthrough takes you through profiling a .NET Framework stand-alone application to collect detailed timing and call count data by using the instrumentation method of the Profiling Tools. In this walkthrough, you will accomplish the following tasks:

• Use the VSInstr command line tool to generate instrumented binaries.

• Use the VSPerfCLREnv tool to set the environment variables to collect .NET profiling data.

• Use the VSPerfCmd tool to collect profiling data.

• Use the VSPerfReport tool to generate file-based reports of the profiling data.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management

• Intermediate understanding of C#

• Intermediate understanding of working with command-line tools

• A copy of the PeopleTrax Sample

• To work with the information provided by profiling, it is best to have debugging symbol information available. For more information, see How to: Reference Windows Symbol Information.

Command Line Profiling Using the Instrumentation Method

Instrumentation is a profiling method by which specially built versions of the profiled binaries contain probe functions that collect timing information at the entry and exit to functions in an instrumented module. Because this method of profiling is more invasive than sampling, it incurs a greater amount of overhead. Instrumented binaries are also larger than debug or release binaries and are not intended for deployment.

To profile the PeopleTrax application by using the instrumentation method

1. Install the PeopleTrax sample application and build the Release version.

2. Open a command prompt window and add the Profiling Tools directory to the local Path environment variable.

3. Change the working directory to the directory containing the PeopleTrax binaries.

4. Create a directory to contain the file based reports. Type the following command:

   md Reports  
   

5. Use the VSInstr command-line tool to instrument the binaries in the application. Type the following commands on separate command lines:

   VSInstr PeopleTrax.exe  
   VSInstr PeopleTrax.exe  
   VSInstr People.dll  
   VSInstr Person.dll  
   VSInstr Operation.dll  
   

   Note By default, VSInstr saves a non-instrumented backup of the original file. The backup file name has the extension .orig. For example, the original version of "MyApp.exe" would be saved as "MyApp.exe.orig."

6. Type the following command to set the appropriate environment variables:

   VsPerfCLREnv /traceon  
   

7. To start the profiler, type the following command:

   VsPerfCmd /start:trace /output:Reports\Report.vsp  
   

8. After you start the profiler in trace mode, run the instrumented version of the PeopleTrax.exe process to collect data.

   The PeopleTrax application window appears.

9. Click Get People.

   The PeopleTrax data grid populates with data.

10. Click Export Data.

    Notepad starts and displays a new file that contains a list of people from the PeopleTrax application.

11. Close Notepad, and then close the PeopleTrax application.

12. Shut down the profiler. Type the following command:

    VSPerfCmd /shutdown  
    

13. Type the following command to reset the environmental variables:

    VSPerfCLREnv /off  
    

14. Use the VSPerfReport tool to generate or comma-separated value (.csv) report files. Type:

    VSPerfReport Reports\Report.vsp /output:Reports /summary:all  
    

    You can analyze the generated reports in a spreadsheet program, or you can use the Visual Studio IDE to analyze the profiling data in the Report.vsp file. For more information, see Analyzing Performance Tools Data.

See Also

Performance Session Overview
Profiling from the Command-Line
VSPerfCmd
Understanding Sampling Data Values
Performance Report Views