Launch
Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
The Launch option starts the profiler using the sampling method and it also starts the specified application.
To use the Launch option, you must specify the Sample method in the Start option.
Syntax
VSPerfCmd.exe /Launch:AppName [Options]
Parameters
AppName
The name of the application to launch. Full and partial paths from the current directory are supported.
Valid Options
The following VSPerfCmd options can be combined with the Launch option on a single command line.
Start: Method
Initializes the command-line profiler session and sets the specified profiling method.
GlobalOn and GlobalOff Resumes (GlobalOn) or pauses (GlobalOff) profiling, but does not end the profiling session.
ProcessOn: PID
and ProcessOff:PID
Resumes (ProcessOn) or pauses (ProcessOff) profiling for the specified process.
TargetCLR Specifies the version of the .NET Framework Common Language Runtime (CLR) to profile when more than one version is loaded in a profiling session. By default, the first loaded version is profiled.
Exclusive Options
The following options can only be used with the Launch option.
Console Launches the specified command-line application in a new window.
Args: ArgList
Specifies the list of arguments to pass to the application.
LineOff Disables the collection of line-level profiling data.
Sampling Options
One of the following sampling interval options can be specified on the Launch command line. The default sampling interval is 10,000,000 processor clock cycles.
Timer[:Cycles
]PF[:Events
]Sys[:Events
]Counter[:Name
,Reload
,FriendlyName
]GC[:allocation|lifetime]
Specifies the number and type of sampling interval.
Timer - Samples every
Cycles
non-halted processor clock cycles. IfCycles
is not specified, 10,000,000 cycles are used.PF - Samples every
Events
page faults. IfEvents
is not specified, 10 page faults.Sys - Samples every
Events
calls to the operating system. IfEvents
is not specified, 10 system calls are used.Counter - Samples every
Reload
number of the CPU performance counter specified byName
. Optionally,FriendlyName
can specify a string to use as the column header in profiler reports.GC - Collects .NET memory data. By default (allocation), data is collected at every memory allocation event. When the lifetime parameter is specified, data is also collected at each garbage collection event.
Example
This example demonstrates the use of Launch to start an application.
VSPerfCmd.exe /Start:Sample /Output:TestApp.exe.vsp
VSPerfCmd.exe /Launch:TestApp.exe