The Black Box of .NET Headline Animator
Monday, June 6, 2011
Finally a good free multi-monitor tool
timstall: Tool - WinSplit Revolution - move windows between ...: "A coworker showed me a useful (and free!) tool that conveniently positions open windows on your screen. The tool is Winsplit Revolution , ..."
Friday, April 29, 2011
New WinDbg Extension available
I'm happy to announce that a new version of the WinDbg debugging extension PSSCOR2 (now called PSSCOR4) has been released. It is available for public download here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=a06a0fea-a4d4-434e-a527-d6afa2e552dd
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=a06a0fea-a4d4-434e-a527-d6afa2e552dd
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
IIS Tools that you should have...
Here is a list of IIS tools I've used in the past and their respective links. Please note that all of these tools are FREE and widely used in the industry.
IIS Web Deploy 2.0
IIS 6.0 Resource Kit (many tools included here – most helpful are probably IIS 6.0 Migration Tool and the IIS Metabase Explorer)
IIS Diagnostics Kit – IIS Diag
This includes a number of tools which help diagnose various types of problems with IIS setup and configuration:
- AuthDiag - authentication and ACL problems
- SSL Diag - SSL-related problems
- SMTP Diag - smtp-related issues
- Log Parser - allows for easy reading of IIS log files
- Debug Diag - allows you to create memory dumps manually or automatically when IIS hangs. It also can run a memory ananlysis from the memory dump captured!
- and others...
Event Log Explorer - allows you to create custom queries and filters against anything in the Event Viewer – very cool!
And a whole list of the other great tools from the IIS Team at Microsoft:
Friday, March 4, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
How do you properly implement the IDisposable pattern?
This is the first post of a series that I'll be making on memory management in .NET.
The subsequent posts will cover guidelines for working with disposable objects,
when to implement IDisposable, and maybe a few others.
I am often asked how to correctly implement the IDisposable pattern. There are many posts you'll see from a Google search that try to answer this question. IMHO, the pattern that you find here is the safest and most correct implementation of the pattern according to .NET Best Practices and my experience. I am confident saying this because of my extensive experience with memory leak debugging, internals of the CLR, code reviews, and implementation of best practices at very large, well-known clients who rely on solid applications. You will find that my provided implementation of this pattern is slightly different than that which is posted on MSDN. IMHO, it isn't sufficient. You have to agree that a large number of samples and examples posted on MSDN are "hacky" and don't do things the way that they should be done in the "real world".
A couple of notes on implementing the IDisposable pattern:
#region IDisposable derived-class implementation
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets a value indicating whether this instance is disposed.
/// </summary>
/// <value>
/// <c>true</c> if this instance is disposed; otherwise, <c>false</c>.
/// </value>
/// <remarks>Default initialization for a bool is 'false'</remarks>
private bool IsDisposed { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Overloaded Implementation of Dispose.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="isDisposing"><c>true</c> to release both managed and unmanaged resources;
/// <c>false</c> to release only unmanaged resources.</param>
/// <remarks>
/// <list type="bulleted">Dispose(bool isDisposing) executes in two distinct scenarios.
/// <item>If <paramref name="isDisposing"/> equals true, the method has been called directly
/// or indirectly by a user's code. Managed and unmanaged resources
/// can be disposed.</item>
/// <item>If <paramref name="isDisposing"/> equals <c>false</c>, the method has been called
/// by the runtime from inside the finalizer and you should not reference
/// other objects. Only unmanaged resources can be disposed.</item></list>
/// </remarks>
protected override void Dispose(bool isDisposing)
{
// TODO If you need thread safety, use a lock around these
// operations, as well as in your methods that use the resource.
try
{
if (!this.IsDisposed)
{
// Explicitly set root references to null to expressly tell the GarbageCollector
// that the resources have been disposed of and its ok to release the memory
// allocated for them.
if (isDisposing)
{
// Release all managed resources here
//if (components != null)
//{
// components.Dispose();
//}
}
// Release all unmanaged resources here
I am often asked how to correctly implement the IDisposable pattern. There are many posts you'll see from a Google search that try to answer this question. IMHO, the pattern that you find here is the safest and most correct implementation of the pattern according to .NET Best Practices and my experience. I am confident saying this because of my extensive experience with memory leak debugging, internals of the CLR, code reviews, and implementation of best practices at very large, well-known clients who rely on solid applications. You will find that my provided implementation of this pattern is slightly different than that which is posted on MSDN. IMHO, it isn't sufficient. You have to agree that a large number of samples and examples posted on MSDN are "hacky" and don't do things the way that they should be done in the "real world".
A couple of notes on implementing the IDisposable pattern:
- Simply adding a Dispose() method to a class doesn't implement the pattern (just because it compiles doesn't mean it's correct). I've seen this mistake made many, many times - it's just not a good idea.
- Adding the code below isn't enough - you must also explicitly declare the class inheriting from IDisposable -> MyDisposableClass : IDisposable. This is very important since objects creating/managing instances of your class might decide to try to cast it to IDisposable and call Dispose or use a 'using()' statement. If your class isn't explicitly declared to implement IDisposable, the cast will fail and Dispose will never be called.
- Just because you implement IDisposable correctly doesn't mean it will get called "magically". What I mean is that the GC never calls Dispose for you - you have to explicitly call it on your class from the owning object. There is a common misconception that this can somehow magically happen by the GC and that it's not important that you explicitly call it "because the GC cleans up for you" (WRONG!)
- Implementing the IDisposable pattern correctly is tricky and can easily lead to problems if not done properly. This is why I've provided the code below.
- I use a code snippet with the exact code below to properly and consistently implement the pattern correctly.
- There is great debate on whether or not you should null out rooted references. It
certainly never hurts to do so. Nulling these out does do something before GC runs
- it removes the rooted reference to that object. The GC later scans its collection
of rooted references and collects those that do not have a rooted reference.
Think of this example when it is good to do so: you have an instance of type "ClassA" - let's call it 'X'. X contains an object of type "ClassB" - let's call this 'Y'. Y implements IDisposable, thus, X should do the same to dispose of Y. Let's assume that X is in Generation 2 or the LOH and Y is in Generation 0 or 1. When Dispose() is called on X AND that implementation nulls out the reference to Y, the rooted reference to Y is immediately removed. If a GC happens for Gen 0 or Gen 1, the memory/resources for Y is cleaned up but the memory/resources for X is not since X lives in Gen 2 or the LOH.
#region IDisposable base-class implementation //TODO remember to make this class inherit from IDisposable -> MyDisposableClass : IDisposable /// <summary> /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether this instance is disposed. /// </summary> /// <value> /// <c>true</c> if this instance is disposed; otherwise, <c>false</c>. /// </value> /// <remarks>Default initialization for a bool is 'false'</remarks> private bool IsDisposed { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Implementation of Dispose according to .NET Framework Design Guidelines. /// </summary> /// <remarks>Do not make this method virtual. /// A derived class should not be able to override this method. /// </remarks> public void Dispose() { Dispose(true); // This object will be cleaned up by the Dispose method. // Therefore, you should call GC.SupressFinalize to // take this object off the finalization queue // and prevent finalization code for this object // from executing a second time. // Always use SuppressFinalize() in case a subclass // of this type implements a finalizer. GC.SuppressFinalize(this); } /// <summary> /// Overloaded Implementation of Dispose. /// </summary> /// <param name="isDisposing"><c>true</c> to release both managed and unmanaged resources; /// <c>false</c> to release only unmanaged resources.</param> /// <remarks> /// <list type="bulleted">Dispose(bool isDisposing) executes in two distinct scenarios. /// <item>If <paramref name="isDisposing"/> equals true, the method has been called directly /// or indirectly by a user's code. Managed and unmanaged resources /// can be disposed.</item> /// <item>If <paramref name="isDisposing"/> equals <c>false</c>, the method has been called
/// by the runtime from inside the finalizer and you should not reference /// other objects. Only unmanaged resources can be disposed.</item></list> /// </remarks> protected virtual void Dispose(bool isDisposing) { // TODO If you need thread safety, use a lock around these // operations, as well as in your methods that use the resource. try { if (!this.IsDisposed) { // Explicitly set root references to null to expressly tell the GarbageCollector // that the resources have been disposed of and its ok to release the memory // allocated for them. if (isDisposing) { // Release all managed resources here
// Need to unregister/detach yourself from the events. Always make sure // the object is not null first before trying to unregister/detach them! // Failure to unregister can be a BIG source of memory leaks if (someDisposableObjectWithAnEventHandler != null) { someDisposableObjectWithAnEventHandler.SomeEvent -= someDelegate; someDisposableObjectWithAnEventHandler.Dispose(); someDisposableObjectWithAnEventHandler = null; }
// If this is a WinForm/UI control, uncomment this code //if (components != null) //{ // components.Dispose(); //} }
// Release all unmanaged resources here
// (example)
if (someComObject != null && Marshal.IsComObject(someComObject))
{
Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(someComObject);
someComObject = null;
}
}
}
finally
{
this.IsDisposed = true;
}
}
{
Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(someComObject);
someComObject = null;
}
}
}
finally
{
this.IsDisposed = true;
}
}
//TODO Uncomment this code if this class will contain members which are UNmanaged
///// <summary>Finalizer for MyDisposableClass</summary>
///// <remarks>This finalizer will run only if the Dispose method does not get called.
///// It gives your base class the opportunity to finalize.
///// DO NOT provide finalizers in types derived from this class.
///// All code executed within a Finalizer MUST be thread-safe!</remarks>
// ~MyDisposableClass()
// {
// Dispose( false );
// }
#endregion IDisposable base-class
implementation
Here is the code for properly implementing the IDisposable pattern in a derived class:
#region IDisposable derived-class implementation
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets a value indicating whether this instance is disposed.
/// </summary>
/// <value>
/// <c>true</c> if this instance is disposed; otherwise, <c>false</c>.
/// </value>
/// <remarks>Default initialization for a bool is 'false'</remarks>
private bool IsDisposed { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Overloaded Implementation of Dispose.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="isDisposing"><c>true</c> to release both managed and unmanaged resources;
/// <c>false</c> to release only unmanaged resources.</param>
/// <remarks>
/// <list type="bulleted">Dispose(bool isDisposing) executes in two distinct scenarios.
/// <item>If <paramref name="isDisposing"/> equals true, the method has been called directly
/// or indirectly by a user's code. Managed and unmanaged resources
/// can be disposed.</item>
/// <item>If <paramref name="isDisposing"/> equals <c>false</c>, the method has been called
/// by the runtime from inside the finalizer and you should not reference
/// other objects. Only unmanaged resources can be disposed.</item></list>
/// </remarks>
protected override void Dispose(bool isDisposing)
{
// TODO If you need thread safety, use a lock around these
// operations, as well as in your methods that use the resource.
try
{
if (!this.IsDisposed)
{
// Explicitly set root references to null to expressly tell the GarbageCollector
// that the resources have been disposed of and its ok to release the memory
// allocated for them.
if (isDisposing)
{
// Release all managed resources here
// Need to unregister/detach yourself from the events. Always make sure // the object is not null first before trying to unregister/detach them! // Failure to unregister can be a BIG source of memory leaks if (someDisposableObjectWithAnEventHandler != null) { someDisposableObjectWithAnEventHandler.SomeEvent -= someDelegate; someDisposableObjectWithAnEventHandler.Dispose(); someDisposableObjectWithAnEventHandler = null; }// If this is a WinForm/UI contrlol, uncomment this code
//if (components != null)
//{
// components.Dispose();
//}
}
// Release all unmanaged resources here
// (example)
if (someComObject != null && Marshal.IsComObject(someComObject))
{
Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(someComObject);
someComObject = null;
}
if (someComObject != null && Marshal.IsComObject(someComObject))
{
Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(someComObject);
someComObject = null;
}
}
}
finally
{
this.IsDisposed = true;
// explicitly call the base class Dispose implementation
base.Dispose(isDisposing);
}
}
}
finally
{
this.IsDisposed = true;
// explicitly call the base class Dispose implementation
base.Dispose(isDisposing);
}
}
#endregion IDisposable derived-class implementation
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Tools for Assisting with Collection and Analyzing of Data for Problem Diagnosis
I was going through my Google Bookmarks and found a bunch of tools that are extremely helpful in diagnosing many problems that occur on a web/app server and and interpreting the data collected. I’ve used all of them; they are all free and well known and used within the Community. By no means is this an exhaustive list of all of the Tools and Add-Ins that I use - I'll get around to posting those someday : )
I’d start with the Data Collector. You can collect everything with Data Collector and then use the Log Parser and Visual Log Parser to help aggregate the data and even run queries against it. You may already know about some of these – but for those you haven’t seen, you should take a look!
Data Collector (supports IIS6 & IIS7, and can pull most other logs from any server):
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/carloc/archive/2010/02/01/idevdatacollector.aspx
Log Parser 2.2:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=890cd06b-abf8-4c25-91b2-f8d975cf8c07&displaylang=en
Visual Log Parser:
http://visuallogparser.codeplex.com/
Log File Analysis:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/delay/archive/2007/06/21/powerful-log-file-analysis-for-everyone-releasing-textanalysistool-net.aspx
Event Log Explorer:
http://www.eventlogxp.com/
IIS Log Analyzer (does graphs and reports):
http://www.iis.net/community/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1864
IIS Diagnostics Toolkit (a suite of tools diagnosing Authentication, Authorization, SSL, Crash/Hang, etc.):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9bfa49bc-376b-4a54-95aa-73c9156706e7
and then of course the "big daddy" bunch of them all - Debugging Tools for Windows:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx
I hope you find these useful : )
I’d start with the Data Collector. You can collect everything with Data Collector and then use the Log Parser and Visual Log Parser to help aggregate the data and even run queries against it. You may already know about some of these – but for those you haven’t seen, you should take a look!
Data Collector (supports IIS6 & IIS7, and can pull most other logs from any server):
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/carloc/archive/2010/02/01/idevdatacollector.aspx
Log Parser 2.2:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=890cd06b-abf8-4c25-91b2-f8d975cf8c07&displaylang=en
Visual Log Parser:
http://visuallogparser.codeplex.com/
Log File Analysis:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/delay/archive/2007/06/21/powerful-log-file-analysis-for-everyone-releasing-textanalysistool-net.aspx
Event Log Explorer:
http://www.eventlogxp.com/
IIS Log Analyzer (does graphs and reports):
http://www.iis.net/community/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1864
IIS Diagnostics Toolkit (a suite of tools diagnosing Authentication, Authorization, SSL, Crash/Hang, etc.):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9bfa49bc-376b-4a54-95aa-73c9156706e7
and then of course the "big daddy" bunch of them all - Debugging Tools for Windows:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx
I hope you find these useful : )
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Interesting Metrics on the .NET Framework
Have you ever wondered how big the .NET Framework actually is? Brad Abrams has an informative post on some of the metrics of the .NET Framework up to and including .NET 3.5.
I wonder what .NET 4 will look like?
I wonder what .NET 4 will look like?
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Referencing platform-specific (x86/x64) assemblies in Visual Studio projects
Recently I've been thinking about how to make Assembly References dependent on the Platform Architecture for a given compiled application/library. A solution for this problem is necessary as you begin to move your apps to the x64 platform.
There are 2 solutions: one method is for "project-references"; the other is for "path-hardcoded dll references". Unfortunately, both involve manually editing the .csproj file yuk... AFAIK, there is no way to do this within the VisualStudio 2008 UI - I don't know about VS 2010. Note that it is NOT necessary to modify any of the references to the .NET dlls.
One quick note about these solutions is that they are independent of the Platform Architecture of the machine that is compiling the projects!
After opening the .csproj file in a text-editor (or as a .xml file within VisualStudio), do either of the following depending on your needs. Note that valid platform values are either: x86, x64, or ia64.
Platform-Specific Project References:
Platform-Specific Binary (.dll) References:
There are 2 solutions: one method is for "project-references"; the other is for "path-hardcoded dll references". Unfortunately, both involve manually editing the .csproj file yuk... AFAIK, there is no way to do this within the VisualStudio 2008 UI - I don't know about VS 2010. Note that it is NOT necessary to modify any of the references to the .NET dlls.
One quick note about these solutions is that they are independent of the Platform Architecture of the machine that is compiling the projects!
After opening the .csproj file in a text-editor (or as a .xml file within VisualStudio), do either of the following depending on your needs. Note that valid platform values are either: x86, x64, or ia64.
Platform-Specific Project References:
<ProjectReference Include="..\SomeLibrary.csproj" Condition="'$(Platform)' == 'x64'">
<Project>{GUID of existing proj ref goes here...}</Project>
<Name>SomeLibrary</Name>
</ProjectReference>
Platform-Specific Binary (.dll) References:
<Reference Include="SomeDll, Version=..., Culture=..., PublicKeyToken=..., processorArchitecture=x86" Condition="'$(Platform)' == 'x86'" />
<SpecificVersion>False</SpecificVersion>
<HintPath>C:\MyAppReferences\x86\SomeLibrary.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
<Reference Include="SomeDll, Version=..., Culture=..., PublicKeyToken=..., processorArchitecture=x64" Condition="'$(Platform)' == 'x64'" />
<SpecificVersion>False</SpecificVersion>
<HintPath>C:\MyAppReferences\x64\SomeLibrary.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Want to have "WinDbg and SOS-like" features in VisualStudio?
While I've become adept at using WinDbg and all of it's extensions to do post-mortem crash-dump analysis, I've not yet ventured down the path of live-debugging strictly with WinDbg. Maybe I'm dense, but it's anything but intuitive to me. Call me "new-school" but there's just something about having a real UI while debugging that makes me more productive.
So, if you've ever needed to use some functionality of WinDbg or SOS (and any of the other extensions) while debugging in VisualStudio, there is some hope...
I've added 2 feature suggestions on the Microsoft Connect website for two features:
As a side note, if you can't wait for the next version of VisualStudio, there are 2 different workarounds in the meantime:
So, if you've ever needed to use some functionality of WinDbg or SOS (and any of the other extensions) while debugging in VisualStudio, there is some hope...
I've added 2 feature suggestions on the Microsoft Connect website for two features:
- View an object's rooted references at runtime - https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/637376/add-feature-to-debugger-to-view-an-objects-rooted-references
- View an object's memory footprint/usage - https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/637373/add-feature-to-debugger-to-view-an-objects-memory-footprint-usage
As a side note, if you can't wait for the next version of VisualStudio, there are 2 different workarounds in the meantime:
- Load SOS into the Immediate Window as documented here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yy6d2sxs.aspx
- The other option is to stop at a breakpoint in VisualStudio, and then attach WinDbg in "non-invasive" mode.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)