Performance Profiling in Visual Studio

Performance Profiling in Visual Studio

  10:21    Unknown

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Hi Guys after a long time i am writing this article ( Feeling very poor [GARIB] ), Jokes apart In this article i will describe how to do the performance profiling using Visual Studio.
There are many third party tools which do the Code Profiling , Memory profiling and Performance Profiling for us these are paid tools but they are good as well :

• ANTS
• Just Trace
• Your KIT 
• .NET Memory Profiler
• Eqatec
• Slim Tune Profiler
• Dot Trace

As i said am feeling poor, i will describe -"How to do Performance Profiling using Visual Studio inbuilt performance analysis tools ?"


Following Versions Of the Visual Studio has this  ANALYZE tool :

1. Visual Studio 2010 Premium and Ultimate
2. Visual Studio 2012 Professional, Premium and Ultimate
3. Visual Studio 2013 Professional, Premium and Ultimate

What this ANALYZE tool can do for Visual Studio supporting languages Applications ? 

1. Code Analysis : This tool can analyze code in a solution.It will tell us where we are violating the rules of code's best practices.
Open VS 2012 > Open Solution of any application > Go To Analyze Tab > Run Code Analysis

2. Performance Analysis :

Open VS 2012 > Open Solution of any application > Go To Analyze Tab > Open Performance Wizard

Step 1: Choose One Profiling Method  : (I am choosing Instrumentation because it will give us the measurement in time)

Above is the four method of profiling ,and i am going to cover the Second one which will tell us the time taken by functions :

• CPU - Sampling : In this profiling method it scans every methods in an application and tells what percentage of CPU they are using.
• Instrumentation : In this profiling method it tells how much time every function takes to execute.

Step 2: On page-2 of wizard Choose Modules to profile : you can profile one or more projects ,a dynamic link library ( .dll ) , an  executable file (.exe)  and  asp.net and JavaScript application.

ex: i have chosen my project i.e MVC4Bootstrap3SampleApplication

Step 3: On Page-3 of wizard :  it will ask you to choose which application you are going to profile either ASP.NET or JavaScript Application.
ex: mine is web application so opting the Enable tier interaction Profiling .

Final step : Yay click on finish button :) .

After final step you will see a VSP extension tab on your visual studio. It will keep profiling your application till you are performing the operation on browser and not stopping the profiling.After stopping the profiling you can see a report on your performance explorer.

In above image you can see my HomeController's Index method is 442.21 milliseconds Avg.Elapsed Exclusive Time and 453.78 milliseconds Avg. Elapsed Inclusive Time.

• Inclusive Time : Inclusive time tells us the function takes time along with other calls from function.
• Exclusive Time: Exclusive time tells us how much time taken by that particular function excluding functions called from that particular function.

My Application HomeController's Index method taken 442.21 milliseconds.Click on the function :

Note: By default Instrumentation method of profiling will include all the methods which is invoked from the launch of an application.It will include the small and system functions and system dll functions you are using in your application.

Tricks :

How to Exclude Short functions from Instrumentation :
So the result of functions coming into report will be reduced.

• In Performance Explorer, select Performance Session and then right-click on that and select Properties.
• The Property Pages dialog box is displayed.
• In the Property Pages, click the Instrumentation properties.
• To exclude short functions from instrumentation, uncheck Exclude short functions from Instrumentation.

How to Limit Instrumentation to Specific Functions :

• In Performance Explorer, select Performance Session and then right-click on that and select Properties.
• Go to the Advanced section, under "Additional instrumentation options", specify the methods you specifically want to profile (e.g. "/include:MyNamespace.MyClass::MyFunc")
• To select all the methods of a namespace : ( For example, "/include:MyNS::*" specifies all functions in the MyNS namespace).

thats all folks for instrumentation :) .

References and further readings:

• Performance and Diagnostics Hub in Visual Studio 2013
• Beginners Guide to Performance Profiling
• How to: Exclude or Include Short Functions from Instrumentation
• Controlling Data Collection in Profiling Tools
• Analyzing Application Performance by Using Profiling Tools