How to: Launch a Stand-Alone .NET Framework Application with the Profiler to Collect Memory Data by Using the Command Line

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This topic describes how to use Visual Studio Team System Developer Edition Profiling Tools command-line tools to start a .NET Framework stand-alone (client) application and collect memory data.

A profiling session has three parts:

  • Starting the application by using the profiler.

  • Collecting profiling data.

  • Ending the profiling session.

Starting the Application with the Profiler

To launch a target application with the profiler, you use the VSPerfCmd.exe/start and /launch options to initialize the profiler and start the application. You can specify /start and /launch and their respective options on one command line.

You can also add the /globaloff options to pause data collection at the start of the target application. You then use /globalon to begin collecting data.

To start an application with the Profiler

  1. Open a command prompt window. If necessary, add the profiler tools directory to your PATH environment variable. The path is not added at installation.

    32 bit computers

    On 32 bit computers, the default profiler tools directory is

    \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Team Tools\Performance Tools.

    64 bit computers

    On 64 bit computers, specify the path according to the target platform of the application to be profiled.

    To profile 32 bit applications, the default profiler tools directory is

    \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Team Tools\Performance Tools

    To profile 64 bit applications, the default profiler tools directory is

    \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Team Tools\Performance Tools\x64

    For example, to add the profiler directory to PATH on a 32 bit computer, type

    set path=%path%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Team Tools\Performance Tools

  2. Start the profiler. Type:

    **VSPerfCmd /start:sample /output:**OutputFile [Options]

    • The /start:sample option initializes the profiler.

    • The /output**:**OutputFile option is required with /start. OutputFile specifies the name and location of the profiling data (.vsp) file.

    You can use any of the following options with the /start:sample option.

    • /wincounter**:**WinCounterPath
      Specifies a Windows performance counter to be collected during profiling.

    • /automark**:**Interval
      Use with /wincounter only. Specifies the number of milliseconds between Windows performance counter collection events. Default is 500 ms.

  3. Start the target application. Type:

    VSPerfCmd /launch:appName/gc:{allocation|lifetime}[Options]

    • The /gc**:**Keyword option is required to collect .NET Framework memory data. The keyword parameter specifies whether to collect memory allocation data, or to collect both memory allocation and object lifetime data.

    • allocation
      Collect memory allocation data only.

    • lifetime
      Collect both memory allocation and object lifetime data.

    You can use any of the following options with the /launch option.

    • /args**:**Arguments
      Specifies a string that contains the command-line arguments to be passed to the target application.

    • /console
      Starts the target command-line application in a separate window.

    • /events**:**Config
      Specifies an Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) event to be collected during profiling. ETW events are collected in a separate (.etl) file.

Controlling Data Collection

While the target application is running, you can control data collection by starting and stopping the writing of data to the file with VSPerfCmd.exe options. Controlling data collection enables you to collect data for a specific part of program execution, such as starting or shutting down the application.

To start and stop data collection

  • The following pairs of options start and stop data collection. Specify each option on a separate command line. You can turn data collection on and off multiple times.

    • /globalon /globaloff
      Starts (/globalon) or stops (/globaloff) data collection for all processes.

    • /processon:PIDprocessoff:PID
      Starts (      /processon      ) or stops (/processoff) data collection for the process specified by the process ID (PID).

    • /attach**:**PID/detach
      /attach starts to collect data for the process specified by PID (the process ID). /detach stops data collection for all processes.

  • You can also use the VSPerfCmd.exe/mark option to insert a profiling mark into the data file. The /mark command adds an identifier, a timestamp, and an optional user-defined text string. Marks can be used to filter the data.

Ending the Profiling Session

To end a profiling session, the profiler must be detached from all profiled processes and the profiler must be explicitly shut down . You can detach the from an application profiled with the sampling method by closing the application or by calling the VSPerfCmd /detach option. You then call the VSPerfCmd /shutdown option to turn the profiler off and close the profiling data file. The VSPerfClrEnv /off command clears the profiling environment variables.

To end a profiling session

  1. Do one of the following to detach the profiler from the target application:

    • Close the target application.

      -or-

    • Type VSPerfCmd /detach

  2. Shut down the profiler. Type:

    VSPerfCmd /shutdown

See Also

Other Resources

Command-Line Profiling of Stand-Alone Applications

Profiler .NET Memory Data Views