3.0

When I'm trying to profile, the status in the control box is always "Waiting" and the "Start Profiling" and "Get Snapshot" buttons are disabled. What should I do?

1. Make sure that you are profiling a .NET application.
2. If the problem occurs with all .NET applications, navigate to dotTrace installation directory and run one of the following command lines:
   1. regsvr32 CoreDll.dll if you're using dotTrace 1.0.
   2. regsvr32 JetBrains.dotTrace.Core.ia32.dll if you're using dotTrace 1.1 or later on an IA-32 architecture machine.
   3. regsvr32 JetBrains.dotTrace.Core.amd64.dll if you're using dotTrace 1.1 or later on an AMD64 machine.
3. If this happens only with web applications, please check that dotTrace supports your version of IIS (if you're using dotTrace 1.0, upgrade to dotTrace 1.1 or later).
4. If you're profiling .NET 2.0 applications, make sure you're using dotTrace 1.1 or later.

On profiling a web application, profiler fails with error: "Cannot stop W3SVC service on computer".

First, check that dotTrace supports your version of IIS (if you're using dotTrace 1.0, upgrade to dotTrace 1.1 or later). Also check that the World Wide Web Publishing service is running on your computer and is not disabled (go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services and find World Wide Web Publishing service – its “Startup Type” should not be “Disabled”).

Can dotTrace profile windows services?

Yes, it can!

Can dotTrace attach to a running process and profile it?

No, and we’re not planning to add such functionality in the near future because of technical limitations in the profiling API.

dotTrace locks my .pdb files.

This problem has been solved in dotTrace 1.1. Please download and install the latest version.

When analyzing snapshot I see that thread sleep and synchronization routines consume much time. What time does dotTrace measure and how can I make it measure precize thread time?

dotTrace 2.0 measures Wall Time. Next dotTrace release will contain an option to measure thread time.

I have a function that took 1450 ms and was called 214 times. Is this the average time per call or the total time for all calls?

This time is always a total.

Can I skip through the filtered functions when navigating a call tree?

Yes! To visit only the unfiltered functions, use the Ctrl + Right Arrow (or Ctrl + Left Arrow) keyboard shortcut. A list of all available shortcuts can be found in Help > Keyboard Shortcuts.

Can I see all the call paths that led to a particular function?

Yes! Select the desired function in any view and open it in a new tab (press Ctrl + T). Then choose the Back Traces view.

Does the "Find Function" window do anything other than show a list of functions?

After finding the function you were looking for, double-click it or select it in the list and click Enter. You will navigate to the function call in the current view and all calls to it will be highlighted.

How do I turn off filtering altogether?

Clear all check boxes in the filter currently used.

My snapshot view is empty. Why?

This can happen if you apply a "Show" filter with a pattern that no functions match. Double check your "Show" filter pattern, switch to a "Hide" filter, or turn off filtering.

Exactly how does "Navigate to next important node" work?

dotTrace lets you skip call sequences with functions in which insignificant amount of time was spent. The rest of the nodes are much more likely to be worth your attention, so they are labeled "important".

Important nodes are usually identified by one of these icons: , or . You can quickly expand the tree to the next important node by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Right Arrow.

I get strange profiling results on a computer with AMD Athlon X2 processor. How can I get normal results?

dotTrace heavily relies on processor core's Time Stamp Counter (TSC), but the TSC values of each core in AMD Athlon X2 processor are not synchronized with each other and this, in effect, can lead to unpredictable profiling results.

To avoid this problem you should install the "AMD Dual-Core Optimizer" utility from AMD, which synchronizes TSC values of both cores.