dotTrace 2018.1 Help

Controlling Profiling Session

After you configure profiling settings and run the session, the dotTrace Controller window opens*.

Controlling Profiling Session 1

To manually control the profiling session, use the buttons on the dotTrace Controller window:

  • Start - Click this button to start collecting performance data. It is displayed in the dotTrace Controller window if the Start immediately check box was not selected in the profiling options.
  • Get Snapshot and Wait - Click to generate a snapshot and stop collecting performance data.
    The alternative option (selected in the same drop down list) is:
    Get Snapshot and Start - Click to generate a snapshot and continue collecting performance data.
  • Drop - Click to discard collected data and stop collecting performance data.
  • Detach - Click to detach dotTrace from the profiled process, but keep the process running. Not available when using the Tracing or Line-by-line profiling types. The snapshot is not taken.
  • Kill All - Click to kill all profiled processes. The snapshot is not taken.
  • Stop Service - Click to stop a service. This button is displayed only when a Windows service is being profiled.

IMPORTANT: dotTrace Controller will automatically take a snapshot if you close the profiled application or the profiled application successfully finishes working by itself.

Profiling multi-process applications

If your standalone or .NET Core application runs more than one process, you can either take a snapshot of a particular process or take snapshots of all processes at once.

To get a snapshot of a particular process

  1. Start profiling with the enabled Profile child processes profiling option.
  2. In the Controller window, do one of the following:
    • Select the desired process from the drop-down list.
      1. Expand the dotTrace Controller window by clicking the Controlling Profiling Session 4 button.
      2. Click the Processes tab.
      3. Double-click the desired process.
  3. Click Get Snapshot and Wait.
Controlling Profiling Session 2

The Processes page shows process names (the Process column), PID, and a number of snapshots taken for each process (the #Snapshots column). The currently selected process is shown in bold.

To get snapshots of all processes

  1. Start profiling with the enabled Profile child processes profiling option.
  2. In the Controller window, hold Ctrl and click Get Snapshot and Wait.
After this, the snapshot of the main process will be opened in a viewer. Other snapshots will not be automatically opened, but will be available in the list of snapshots.

Viewing real-time application activity

To access additional functionality of the dotTrace Controller window, expand it by clicking the Controlling Profiling Session 4 button.

The Realtime Data page provides an overview of application activity showing CPU activity and memory consumption graphs.

Controlling Profiling Session 3

Viewing profiling errors

The Errors page contains the list of errors that occur during profiling.

Last modified: 20 August 2018