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Dll Profiler in C#

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29 Apr 20032 min read 209.2K   3.4K   57   40
A debugging tool for applications using multiple DLLs.

All Process and their loaded DLLs informations

Picture 1.All Process and its loaded DLLs information.

Filter against process name

Picture 2. Filter against process name.

Start a new application

Picture 3. Start a new application.

Stop a running application

Picture 4. Stop a running application.

Overview

In your computer, there may be thousands of versions of a DLL. Which version are you using? Which DLL has effectively been loaded by your effectively been loaded by your application? You must check the path, version and the current working directory of your process, etc. If you want to answer quickly, use DLL Profiler.

DLL profiler is used list all the DLLs that are currently loaded in your machine, including where they are loaded and their version number, size, modification date, product name and product version. It's an application used to find the multiple DLLs error if you start an application.

Moreover, you can start and stop an application directly here and watch it's loaded DLLs and their errors.

You can search loaded DLLs against one process only. DLL Profiler is having filter facility to look at a particular process' DLLs only.

This class demonstrates the use of following namespaces.

  • System.IO
  • System.Net
  • System.Diagnostics
  • System.Threading
  • System.Drawing.Drawing2D
  • Logger

Installation step

Just download and click an exe to run the application.

Source code

Have you ever experienced an error while loading a DLL when you start an application? Invalid DLL version? or ???

If so, It's for you.

If you want to monitor your application after you open it. You can use this.

The main idea is get all the processes running in local machine. And get all modules and appropriate details like module path, file version, file size, file modification date, file description, product name and product version.

C#
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Threading;
using Logger;

The above namespaces are must for DLL Profiler. Here, I have placed the code to reveal to you how to get running process' name and process ID.

C#
//Get all processes

Process[] procList =  Process.GetProcesses(); 

for ( int i=0; i<procList.Length; i++) 
{ 

     MessgeBox.Show("Process Id=" +  procList[i].Id + 
           "\t" + " Process Name=" + procList[i].ProcessName); 

}

The following code will explain how to get modules/DLLs for appropriate process.

//Get all modules inside the process
Process[] ObjModulesList = Process.GetProcessesByName("devenv");

// Populate the module collection.
ProcessModuleCollection ObjModules = ObjModulesList[0].Modules;

// Iterate through the module collection.
foreach (ProcessModule objModule in ObjModules)
{
//Get valid module path
strModulePath =GetValidString(objModule.FileName.ToString());
//If the module exists
if (File.Exists(objModule.FileName.ToString()))
  {
    //Get version
    string strFileVersion = GetValidString(objModule.
                  FileVersionInfo.FileVersion.ToString()); 
    //Get File size
    string strFileSize    = GetValidString
                (objModule.ModuleMemorySize.ToString());
    //Get Modification date
    FileInfo objFileInfo = new 
                FileInfo(objModule.FileName.ToString());
    string strFileModificationDate = GetValidString
         (objFileInfo.LastWriteTime.ToShortDateString());  
    //Get File description
    string strFileDescription  = GetValidString
                  (objModule.FileVersionInfo.
                  FileDescription.ToString()); 
    //Get Product Name
    string strProductName  = GetValidString
           (objModule.FileVersionInfo.ProductName.ToString());
    //Get Product Version
    string strProductVersion  = GetValidString
          (objModule.FileVersionInfo.ProductVersion.ToString());
  }
}

Start and stop an application

START an Application

//Create a new process
Process myProcess = new Process();

//Process name notepad
myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "Notepad";

//Set it's window style maximized
myProcess.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Maximized;

//Start an exe
myProcess.Start();

STOP an Application

// Returns array containing all instances of Notepad.
Process[] myProcesses = Process.GetProcessesByName("Notepad");

foreach(Process myProcess in myProcesses){
    myProcess.CloseMainWindow();
}

To use this class, Just add a reference to your project and follow the steps and just import the Logger reference into you project

Logging

I have used Logger here. You can use on/off logging remove as you like. People who don't know about Logger Please visit Logger in C# - An easy way for monitoring .NET applications

Moreover, If you look at this project you can get the following ideas:

  1. Splash screen
  2. Toolbar
  3. Coloring particular row depends on value in DataGrid.
  4. Run and stop an application through program.

That's all.

I would like to hear your opinion. Thanks in advance.

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
Web Developer
United States United States
I am a system analyst and have been with Microsoft & Sun Technologies for more than 7 years. I have always been fascinated by java and .NET. I take lot of technical articles and writing them.

I am a Sun Certified Java Programmer for Java 2 Platform 1.4 , Web component developer Java 2 Platform - Enterprise Edition 1.4 and Microsoft certified developer using C#.NET in Web Development ASP.NET.

Visit my web site www.mohamedashraf.tk

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralRe: do you have ever deal with device driver Pin
Ashraf Mohamed9-May-03 18:01
Ashraf Mohamed9-May-03 18:01 
Generali have a question Pin
bakaragain7-May-03 20:58
bakaragain7-May-03 20:58 
GeneralRe: i have a question Pin
Ashraf Mohamed8-May-03 1:55
Ashraf Mohamed8-May-03 1:55 
GeneralRe: i have a question Pin
Anonymous9-May-03 4:47
Anonymous9-May-03 4:47 
GeneralNeeds some clean-up Pin
onc22-Apr-03 4:11
onc22-Apr-03 4:11 
GeneralRe: Needs some clean-up Pin
Ashraf Mohamed23-Apr-03 1:32
Ashraf Mohamed23-Apr-03 1:32 
GeneralBug Fixed Pin
Ashraf Mohamed30-Apr-03 2:10
Ashraf Mohamed30-Apr-03 2:10 
GeneralThis is not a profiler... Pin
leppie20-Apr-03 1:16
leppie20-Apr-03 1:16 
Hi there

Nice article, but a profiler is something completely different. Maybe changing the name to DLL Inspector or something would be more relevant. Here I was hoping to see a simple profiler implementation. Blush | :O .

But keep them articles coming Smile | :)

I rated this article 2 by mistake. It deserves more. I wanted to get to the second page... - vjedlicka 3:33 25 Nov '02
GeneralRe: This is not a profiler... Pin
Ashraf Mohamed20-Apr-03 18:08
Ashraf Mohamed20-Apr-03 18:08 

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