These slides detail the new Diagnostic Tools Window in Visual Studio 2015. We look at all of the new tools and there are lots of resources too. This talk was given at CTTDNUG on January 27, 2016.

1. Analyze Your Code
With Visual Studio 2015
Diagnostic Tools
Ken Cenerelli
@KenCenerelli

2. About Me
Twitter: @KenCenerelli
Email: Ken_Cenerelli@Outlook.com
Blog: kencenerelli.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kencenerelli
Bio:
 Programmer Writer
 Microsoft MVP - Visual Studio and
Development Technologies
 Microsoft TechNet Wiki Guru
 Co-Organizer of CTTDNUG
 Technical reviewer of multiple books
CTTDNUG
Ken Cenerelli

4. Source: http://dilbert.com/strip/1995-11-13

5. Typical Debugging Session
1. Realize there is a bug
2. Use best-guess scenario to place a breakpoint
3. Reproduce steps and hope your breakpoint is hit before bug appears
4. Breakpoint is hit, examine the code by stepping through
5. Root cause not identified
6. Repeat steps 2 thru 5 until bug is discovered

6. Old Diagnostic Tools
• In Visual Studio 2013, the tools were not well advertised
• Instruments like Memory Usage and CPU Usage were made available in the Performance and
Diagnostics hub in VS 2013 Update 2
• They are found by clicking on Performance and Diagnostics in the Debug or Analyze menu

7. New Diagnostic Tools Window
(aka Why Should I Care?)
• Visual Studio 2015 brings Diagnostic Tools into the debugging experience when you hit F5
• The new window is active during the debugging session
• It is designed to change your debugging workflow
• You no longer have to create breakpoints, hit F5, wait for the breakpoint to be hit, and then
check the Locals window
• You should now think, “What did IntelliTrace find?”

8. Diagnostic Tools Window Components
• IntelliTrace UI is revamped and now is in Diagnostic Tools Window
• Memory and CPU usage graphs added
• Take memory snapshots and time sections of code with PerfTips

9. Supported SKUs
• Diagnostic Tools can be found in the following Visual Studio editions:
Visual Studio
Code
Visual Studio
Community
Visual Studio
Professional
Visual Studio
Enterprise
IntelliTrace
+ more event
categories
▪
Memory Usage ▪ ▪ ▪
CPU Usage ▪ ▪ ▪
PerfTips ▪ ▪ ▪

10. Supported Project Types
Diagnostic Tools are available in all the following project types:
• Managed WPF, WinForms, and Console projects
• Native Win32, Console, and MFC projects
• ASP.NET projects running on local IIS and IIS Express (including MVC & Web API)
• Managed or Native Windows Store projects
• Debugging sessions started using Debug > Attach to Process
• Debugging apps running on remote desktop devices

11. Non-supported Project Types
No support currently for the following projects:
• Windows Store projects that are using JavaScript
• Windows Store projects that are running on a Windows Phone
• Debugging when Managed or Native Compatibility Mode is checked in Tools > Options >
Debugging
• Native Phone projects (Cordova, Xamarin)

12. IntelliTrace
• IntelliTrace is a recorder for your debugging sessions
• It captures the call stack along with local variable info for that moment of time
• You can go back in time with Historical Debugging
• Captured events are represented on a timeline
• The Events timeline is split into three tracks: Break Events, Output Events, and IntelliTrace Events
• It provides the same events you would get from implementing extensive logging frameworks
(log4net, NLog) but without the work

13. PerfTips
• Provides timing of previously executed code blocks
• No more Stopwatch.Start / Stopwatch.Elapsed
• Runs in all types of projects
• Works with remote debugging in Azure
• PerfTips discounts network latency issues when debugging on a remote machine
• TIP: Take multiple measurements to discover the range and median values of the code being
measured

14. Demo
• Diagnostic Tools Window
• IntelliTrace Events
• PerfTips

15. Visual Studio 2015 Update 1
• Improvements to the Events tab of the Diagnostic Tools Window:
• Improved the filtering menu
• Added the ability to search
• Added category prefixes to all events

16. Memory Usage
• Monitor memory usage of your app and take snapshots of your memory so that you can inspect
the contents of the heap to find memory leaks
• Includes memory allocated on both the managed and native heaps
• Tied to the debugger your project is using (Managed Only, Native Only, or Mixed Mode)
• Records only the time your application is running and filters out the time spent in break states
• Can snapshot sections of your code before and after it is run to get the delta
• Heap analysis view for deeper investigation of the process memory by type

17. CPU Usage
• In many cases the CPU is the bottleneck when performance problems arise
• It can be difficult to know where to start when you want to make your code run faster
• Measures the CPU’s resources in terms of how much time each core in the CPU spends
executing your code
• Lets you see which of your functions are using the most CPU

18. Demo
• Memory Usage

19. Visual Studio 2015 Update 1
• Improvements to CPU profiling in the Diagnostic Tools Window:
• Do full CPU profiling without stopping your debug session
• Control both the execution of the application as well as the collection of CPU profiling data
• Drill into a section of code by hitting a breakpoint, turning profiling on, and then running to the next
breakpoint

20. Start Diagnostic Tools Without Debugging
• Provides a true representation of your CPU and Memory
• Removes the overhead added by the debugger when using the Diagnostic Tools window
• Full analysis only occurs after your profiling session is complete
• Contains additional features like Application Timeline and Network Usage
• Tools can be combined by checking more than one box before you click Start so that you can
cross-correlate data and diagnose performance issues more effectively
• TIP: Try running in Release build mode to make sure the debugger is not the cause of your slow
downs

21. Demo
• Start Diagnostic Tools Without Debugging

22. Additional Diagnostic Tools
• IntelliTrace Standalone Collector
• Referred to as Non-Live Debugging, it is when your application executes without Visual Studio attached
• Application data is recorded to an .itrace file which can then be imported into VS for debugging
• Application Insights
• Allows you to monitor your deployed live applications through telemetry data stored in Azure
• Understand how users use your apps
• Detect issues quicker and solve the right problems faster
• PerfView
• PerfView is a performance-analysis tool that helps isolate CPU and memory-related performance issues
• A standalone tool that goes deeper than Diagnostic Tools

23. Resources
• Visual Studio ALM Blog:
• http://bit.ly/1Msso3F
• Channel 9 Videos:
• http://bit.ly/1Le96gs
• http://bit.ly/1MNNJUk
• http://bit.ly/1MGWMuB
• MSDN Magazine Articles:
• http://bit.ly/1IZOds9
• http://bit.ly/1OJ3NgK

24. Summary
• Slides:
• Through CTTDNUG
• Blog (kencenerelli.wordpress.com)
• SlideShare (slideshare.net/KenCenerelli)
• Contact Details:
• @KenCenerelli
• Ken_Cenerelli@Outlook.com