New Features of IntelliTrace Debugging in Visual Studio 2010 – Service Pack 1 Beta

Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 Beta has some great enhancements for IntelliTrace debugging. One of the most important features is debugging 64bit application with IntelliTrace and also debug SharePoint projects using IntelliTrace. Apart from the above enhancement, there are some changes in saving of .iTrace Log files as well. Earlier, by default, IntelliTrace saved IntelliTrace log files (.iTrace files) to Trace debugging storage location and there was no option to enable or disable the log generation. But now, you can change the storage behavior of IntelliTrace log files, or you can manually save IntelliTrace log files from IntelliTrace Window. Here I am describing the procedures.

Store IntelliTrace Records In this Directory

To enable or disable the .iTrace Log generation, you have to go to Tool > Options > IntelliTrace > Advance. In advance section, you will now have a check box called “Store IntelliTrace recordings in this Directory”. By default it’s Unchecked, which means, now onwards IntelliTrace won’t save your debugging log information unless you “select” the “Store IntelliTrace recordings in this directory” checkbox.

So, now IntelliTrace will save log based on user preference, instead of saving log file for each and every debugging session. This will save a good amount of your hard drive from many unnecessary IntelliTrace logs. Thanks to Steve for his input on this.

Save IntelliTrace Log from IntelliTrace Window

Let’s say, you forgot to check the “Store IntelliTrace recordings in this Directory” from IntelliTrace settings before starting the debugging. But during debugging, you may find that the current debugging information is important for you and it’s needed to be saved and you don’t want to restart the debug session. For this type of situation, now you can save log information from IntelliTrace window itself. From Visual Studio 2010 SP 1 Beta onwards, IntelliTrace Window has “Save the current IntelliTrace session” button, which will allow you to save the IntelliTrace debug data at any point of time during that particular debugging session.

Clicking on “Save the current IntelliTrace session” will open the “Save As Dialog Box” where you can provide the .iTrace log file name and then click “Save” to save the log file. Now at any point of time, you can open the same log file as IntelliTrace Summary.

Thanks!

AJ