Microsoft Windows SDK Blog : Hidden Gems

Windows SDK Hidden Gems Part 3: TcpAnalyzer.exe and Consume.exe

wsdkblog@microsoft.com — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:47:00 GMT

I’ve been writing about some of the useful but sometimes overlooked tools in the Windows Software Development Kit for Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5. For this installment, let’s have look at couple of tools that are related in that they are both used for testing. Check out my other ‘hidden gems’ posts, Part 1: Windows Installer Verbose Log Analyzer and Part 2: XAMLPad.

TcpAnalyzer.exe

Your new application works great most of the time, but it inexplicably pauses for long periods of time. You suspect that it might be the connection to the backend server. TcpAnalyzer.exe is the tool to use to figure out what’s going on.

The tool displays a constantly updating list of all network connections in and out of your machine.

It allows you to zero in on a particular connection and log performance information for that connection.

It gives you the information needed to pin down network related delays or unexpected high traffic that might be slowing the network connection.

Consume.exe

This command line tool can consume system resources for a specified amount of time and is useful for reproducing errors that might be caused by resource starvation.

The resources it can consume include physical memory, page file space, disk space, kernel pool, and CPU time.

As an example, start Windows Task Manager (Start->Run->taskmgr.exe) and select the Performance tab. Next, open the Windows SDK CMD window (Start->All Programs->Windows SDK v6.1->CMD Shell) and enter the following “consume.exe -cpu-time -time 15”. You’ll see the CPU Usage History chart(s) climb to maximum for 15 seconds.

For other options use “consume.exe /?”

In closing…

These are just two of the many tools included in the Windows Software Development Kit for Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5. A summary of the tools included with the Windows SDK can be found at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.1\Bin\StartTools.htm, which can be also be launched from a shortcut key on the Start Menu.

I will keep hunting for gems and report them here.

Cheers
Curtis

The MSDN Windows SDK Developer Center is the place to find resources and links to Windows SDK products, release notes, technical articles, and more.

Windows SDK Hidden Gems Part 2: XAMLPad

wsdkblog@microsoft.com — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:13:00 GMT

As the builder of the Windows SDK, I have a vested interest in what is delivered with the SDK. I’m sharing some of the interesting jewels I've found in my series “Windows SDK Hidden Gems.” In my last post I talked about the Windows Installer Verbose Log Analyzer (WiLogUtl.exe).

Technologies come and go. Some show real promise, and others take the computing world by storm. XAML is one of the latter. Working in concert with WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation is part of the .NET Framework), XAML greatly increases the options for designing interfaces used in the next generation of programs. One of the many programs that takes advantage of XAML is Silverlight. When used by Silverlight as a graphics description language, XAML opens the door to animation and rescaleable graphics and typefaces for interactive web sites.

This month’s hidden gem, XAMLPad.exe, encourages the user to play and experiment with XAML. It’s great for testing out the many XAML samples available on the net and in the Windows SDK. XAMLPad is installed with the Windows SDK .NET Framework Tools component and can be found from the Start menu at All Programs/Microsoft Windows SDK/Tools/XAMLPad.

As with any new acronym there’s the question, “How do you pronounce that one?” In this case, XAML rhymes with camel.

Here’s a screenshot of a quick sample done after about an hour poking around with the WPF documentation and the XAML overview. The sample code is available below.

A few quick notes about XAMLPad

In order to run XAMLPad you will need the .NET Framework 3.0 or later installed on your computer. This is included in the Vista operating system.
XAMLPad allows viewing the XAML code several different ways, such as a visual tree hierarchy.
Right clicking in the edit pane brings up a snippets menu for commonly used code.
To open a specific file, it must be specified on a command line.
There is no file menu. When the code entered passes validation, it is saved to a XAMLPad_Saved.XAML file.

Here is the sample code for the image above. It can be copy/pasted in its entirety.

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/XAML/presentation"
      xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"
      xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/XAML" >
<Grid>
    <Canvas Height="200" Width="200">
      <Ellipse Width="200" Height="200"
        Fill="Yellow"
        Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="4"
        Canvas.Left="10" Canvas.Top="10"/>
      <Ellipse Width="10" Height="10"
        Fill="Black"
        Canvas.Left="60" Canvas.Top="75" />
      <Ellipse Width="10" Height="10"
        Fill="Black"
        Canvas.Left="150" Canvas.Top="75" />
      <Path Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="4"
        Data="M 60,130 C 60,190 160,190 160,130" />
    </Canvas>
</Grid>
</Page>

hopefully, this will get you started in the world of XAML. I’m off to find more gems to present.

Cheers,
Curtis

Windows SDK Builder

The MSDN Windows SDK Developer Center is the place to find resources and links to Windows SDK products, release notes, technical articles, and more.

Windows SDK Hidden Gems: Part 1

wsdkblog@microsoft.com — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:51:00 GMT

Windows Installer Verbose Log Analyzer (WiLogUtl.exe)

I, like many before me, have downloaded the Windows SDK, installed it, and moved on to more pressing problems. Other than digging into header files, I had rarely looked at what else might be included. As the builder of the SDK, I now have a vested interest in what is delivered with the SDK, and I thought I'd share some of the interesting jewels I've found.

Installed by default to “C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\[version number]\Bin\WiLogUtl.exe”, the Windows Installer Verbose Log Analyzer is a tool to assist in identifying most critical installer errors, and offer possible solutions to those errors. This tool is available in the standalone Windows SDKs and in the Windows SDK components that ship in Visual Studio 2008.

Upon launching the tool, the user is presented with a history of past logs viewed and a preview of the latest log.

Installer log files are usually stored in the user’s temp folder. A quick way to find installer logs is to press the ellipsis (…) button, type %temp% in the file name entry, then press enter. The preview is invaluable for identifying log files when you have a directory full of MSI[random char].LOG files.

After loading the log file, just press Analyze. You will be presented with a dialog that breaks out errors, possible solutions, client and server side details, and allows you to view particulars about the install such as states, properties, and policies. There is also an html view of the log available that color codes all lines into various categories, making the file much easier to read.

The detailed log file view allows you to cycle through individual errors without slogging through an entire installer file. Additional windows display the machine states at the time of the install, view machine and user policies, or look at the properties the MSI is using. Properties are the equivalent of variables in programming.

Additionally, there is an option to view a color coded version of the log in your browser. There are also options to get more information about a particular error, and a brief walkthrough on how to read an installer log file.

You can also run the tool in quiet mode from a command line. This article on MSDN details the command line options to do so.

In coming months, I will be presenting more of these hidden gems. Hopefully, I can find one that will make your life easier one day.

Cheers,

Curtis

Windows SDK Builder