I'm troubleshooting the windows Networking stack and using Perfview/ETW to do it.
I'm particularly interested in some values that appear in the manifest for the event source Microsoft-Windows-TCPIP.
I can get the manifest with no problem using this method
PerfView /onlyProviders=*Microsoft-Demos-MySource EventSource collect
PerfView /noGui userCommand DumpEventSourceManifests PerfVIewData.etl.zip
The problem is that once i get the manifest, it has a bunch of values with not much explanation.
e.g.
<template tid="TcpTemplateChangedArgs">
<data name="Tcb" inType="win:Pointer"/>
<data name="TemplateType" inType="win:UInt32"/>
<data name="Context" inType="win:UnicodeString"/>
</template>
where i'm specifically interested in this Context value, as in my test case i get "Initializing Templace SYNTCB" but that's it
I'd really like to know e.g.
at what point in the stack/code this template change is fired
what is this SYNTCB template anyway
which microsoft team manages this particular ETW source so that maybe i can ask them a question somehow..
I've done my best to have a look around in the .net codebase for system.net (networking code) to see if maybe there are ETW hooks in there but i cant find anything...
I can also see the event in Perfview, but cant find memory stack that holds the event (yep i've expanded all the system level events, and downloaded as many of the symbol libraries as possible)
Related
I'm trying to find memory leaks in a fairly large Flex application and I'm tired of using the paltry tools Flash Builder makes available.
Specifically, I want to analyse the relationships of objects in memory, using the same information Flash Builder's tools appear to have access to. I.e. which objects are in memory, and which objects they have references to, and have references to them. Given that information, I want to construct a directed graph whose nodes are live objects and whose edges are references from one object to another. From there I want to search for dominators, which should be a good indication of which objects are leaking.
I believe Eclipse does something similar for Java.
Unfortunately, Flash Builder only allows the export of its captured profiling data in a binary form that's only parsable by Flash Builder. Rather than try to reverse engineer their output I decided to try to capture the data myself, since they make their profiling API available in the flash.sampler.* package.
So far I've managed to collect the objects that are currently live in memory, get their allocation traces, and references to the objects that I can inspect, which is most of what I need. But I can't figure out how the FB profiler traces back-references to the GC root. The only way I can see to do it is to inspect every object in memory, and for each object inspect each of its properties, and so on, until I find a chain to an object classified as "root" level. But since I can only follow references on publicly visible properties, it's entirely possible I'll miss lots of references that prevent garbage collection.
How does the Flash Builder profiler do it?
My suspicion is that it doesn't just use the sampler.* API to capture information, but supplements that with queries performed through a debugger connection, which is probably out of scope for my work. But in the absence of any way to verify that, I'm hoping it's possible using only the sampler API.
Actually in IMHO if Flash (Flex) Builder's memory / performance tooling is paltry then you aren't using it right. The key to understanding the tooling you have available - has been available since the 4.0 SDK and and I've been using it for every project I've been assigned to as the 'runtime-analysis-guy'.
Live View:
We all know about this one, it gives you a "live" view of what's currently available. While the current instance count is useful, what's even more useful is the cumulative. This helps track down the errant methods which create way too many objects.
Loitering Object View:
You probably aren't using this one, but trust me once you do, you won't go back. With this it helps to have clearly defined small screen / application states (eg. 1. A starting point, 2. The ability to create a dialog 3. A closing point which is the same state as 1). In your application, get to the place you want to test. Then click the memory snapshot function - the "colored lines icon." Now in your application, run through steps 2 and 3. Go back to the profiler, and click this again. Here you can now either terminate or pause your application. Select both memory profiles and click the loitering object function - "the green icon." In theory this list will be empty, but it won't. This shows you what objects have been marked for [sweep] but not [reap]'ed.
D-Click any object and this gives you a detail view with a list of every reference that still holds onto this object. I'll give you a hint right now, if you haven't created a deconstruction process in your application (eg IDestroyable interface), stop right now and go back and do this. You must assign null to every object that is not a complex primative. This means every class, every array, vector, eventlistener and so on.
The sampler package is the only thing the tool uses as far as I'm aware - after all the tool doesn't inject any code into your application at the time of invocation. It's a comparison of all objects with the NewObjectSample and the DeletedObjectSample, and looking at the getSavedThis() going back up the prototype chain (this should return an object where you can call the getSavedThis() on it and so on).
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/flashbuilder/using/WS6f97d7caa66ef6eb1e63e3d11b6c4d0d21-7edf.html
Hope this helps.
I have been trying to get culture specific resources to work on an asp.net mvc 3 application.
If I have a LanguageResources.resx and a LanguageResources.en-UK.resx in my App_GlobalResources folder then I get an error "The namespace 'Resources' already contains a definition for 'LanguageResources'"
This is the end of a long line of issues that I have had with trying to get culture specific resources to work. I must say, I'm not impressed with the documentation Microsoft provide for using this feature.
I'm considering using a database table to store my culture specific strings instead, then I can just build a dictionary of all the values that will be available to my controller and views.
Has anyone else made such a decision, or have any direct knowledge on performance issues related to using a database for culture specific strings?
Has anyone else given up on resources too?
I must admit, I tried to reproduce your defect and I was successful. It looks like, Visual Studio generates additional class when you add something.en-UK.resx. Strange. It should not allow you to add anything like this in the first place for there is no such culture.
How to resolve the problem? Just add LanguageResources.en-GB.resx and delete
LanguageResources.en-GB.resx. That helps.
I would not use database for storing language-related resources, unless they are changing very frequently or must be entered by end users (i.e. there are some kind of templates).
Using the database hurts Localizability and requires much effort. It is hard to design correctly (I have seen a lot of mistakes in that area). Don't go that road unless you really have to.
I have been trying to find a way to connect Flex to sharepoint in an elegant way that allows me to update lists, build charts, and create widgets with FLEX on the client-side. I have researched this extensively but I am running into circles.
I understand the basics of Flex data connection/webservices/etc... , I just can't seem to get my head around how to use the sharepoint list services.
Does anybody out there have a nice detailed example of what I'm trying to achieve? Simple examples work too! :)
Thanks so much Everyone!
-E.
Look at the "SOAP query example" or the WSDL from the SharePoint web-service (e.g. .../_vti_bin/lists.asmx?op=GetListItems or ../_vti_bin/lists.asmx?op=GetListItems&WSDL) and then look at the corresponding MSDN documentation (such as GetListItems) on how to "use" the web-service.
It takes a little bit of familiarity to "know" to map viewFields with <viewFields>...</viewFields> (most work like this), but... the MSDN documentation (if prodded carefully) says "what" to put in the XML where the WSDL just gives the near-useless outline. There are a number of examples in the tubes (and related SO questions) of hand-rolled SOAP access for SP for various tasks.
Microsoft also has some Open Specifications -- the link is always hard for me to find. Lots of stuff under the SharePoint branch. YMMV and it's mostly white-paper, but a good resource.
Not sure what tools Flex has but because of the limited WSDL support, most of the mapping has to be hand-coded or come from a better definition source -- hopefully "an existing library" which can be used directly or modified-to-suit.
I would highly recommend using a tool for testing the service access -- e.g. soapUI, which actually has a horrid UI -- because even the littlest error will come back with a cryptic error messages. Also, make sure to use SOAP 1.2.
Happy (less than maximal pain) coding.
P.S. A more specific question about a specific web-service would likely yield better responses.
Hint: this one might sound complicated, because I am trying to give as much info as possible, but I suspect that I just want someone to tell me "yes, you are correct".
On this legacy system, which dates from 2002, the user visits a web page and uses an RFID reader to read a tag number, which is then written to an input field on the web page.
The only s/w that comes with the reader is a custom DLL, nop .exe.
The very sparse documentation insists that only MSIE be used and that all security relating to ActiveX be disabled.
When I look into the source of the web page I see calls to functions in the DLL.
Now, here's the fun part: I know zilch about ActiveX, I have to make a minor change to the DLL *but* the VB6 source code has been lost, so I guess that I have to recreate the (seemingly very simple) DLL from scratch - this week.
Decompiling the DLL shows me the functions (locateReader, getTagVal, closeReader). However, by decompiling I can't really know the number or type of the parameters, nor the return values ... and if anyone knows the API they are refusing to share it, but basically it all seems to have been lost in the mists of time as companies went bust, were bought & sold, merged & demerged and the initial DLL might have been written by an external guy, but no one knows who.
So, can I get the function params & type from the ASP page source?
I see things like
Reader = new ActiveXObject("<dllName>.Reader");
Reader.locateReader();
tagVal = Reader.getTagVal();
Reader.closeReader();
So, I would say that none of the fn()s take parameters, that closeReader doesn't have to return anything; it looks like locateReader doesn't return anything either, so I guess that error handling will have to be in the DLL (loop forever with a popup demanding that a reader be attached; and getTagVal seems to return a string.
Does that sound about right? Any other comments (other than lessons to be learned)?
The 'code' you've put here looks like the a direct call to the device. And getTagVal() seems to get the RFID value? Since this is an COM (Active X) call can you call this in a simple .net program and see if you can access the reader? If you can then you may be able to just wrap the existing functionaliy in your wrapper.
You need to try and generate a TLB from the component:
So, if you only have a COM dll, you
need to get an idl-file from it:
Visual Studio, start it and go to the meny Tools->OLE/COM Object Viewer.
This is called oleview.exe and can also be got from the windows sdk
In that application, select meny File->View Typelib..
Select the COM dll and you will see the Typelib.
Select the meny File->Save as. Save it with an appropriate name. For
example "mycom.idl"
start midl.exe or mktyplib.exe with the idl-filname as the argument. "midl
mycom.idl"
Read MSDN for more info about midl and
mktyplib
I have seen several projects that use the Trace functionality to capture events and stream them out to a log file. I have been unsuccessful in finding a simple to follow guide that will show me how to configure Trace to capture and write said logfile. Does anyone have a link recommendations, or provide some simple steps to follow?
The Trace object writes the statements to any attached TraceListeners. You can build your own, but there are a number already defined in the System.Diagnostics namespace, including:
ConsoleTraceListener (Console)
DefaultTraceListener (Visual Studio / Debugger)
DelimitedListTraceListener (TextWriter, special formatting)
EventLogTraceListener (EventLog - anything that inherits from System.Diagnostics.EventLog)
TextWriterTraceListener (TextWriter - think file)
You can, of course, inherit your own from the TraceListener class that writes to where ever you want. For example, you could log to a database, have it send e-mails or pages in certain situations, or write the statements back to a logging platform like log4net.
The big thing is that you need to create an instance of whatever listeners you want and then add them to the Trace' class Listeners collection. You can add as many as you need and Trace will write to all of them. This way, you can write your logging code once using a well-supported and understood object that's part of the framework, and you can attach anything you need to it.
I stumbled into a MSDN article that really helps. Sorry I didn't find it before posting the question but perhaps others may have the same question and haven't found this link.
Take a look at logging frameworks. We rolled out own, but are now migrating over to log4net available free at http://logging.apache.org/log4net/
Im looking for a way to set the Category of the EventLog, the FormattedEventLogTraceListener writes into (not the category of the message).
But I can't find an appropriate property of this class.
Is it possible to set this?