14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has made available for download a tool designed to enable developers to debug applications running on .NET Framework 4. Psscor4 is now live on the Microsoft Download Center, offered free of charge by the software giant.
Some devs might already be familiar with SOS.dll and Psscor2, and they’ll certainly welcome Psscor4, especially if they leverage .NET 4 for their projects.
Just as SOS.dll and Psscor2, Psscor4 is a debugging extension for WinDbg , and in this sense, it’s focused on managed code, complementing WinDbg’s unmanaged code debugging functionality.
“Psscor4 can help you diagnose high-memory issues, high-CPU issues, crashes, hangs and many other problems that might occur in a .NET application; in scenarios involving live processes or dump files. If you are familiar with SOS.dll, the managed-debugging extension that ships with the .NET Framework, Psscor4.dll provides a superset of that functionality,” the Redmond company stated.
With Psscor2, Microsoft tended to developers using .NET Framework 3.5, but those that are building managed code apps running on .NET Framework 4 can now turn to Psscor4 for their debugging needs.
Most of the added functionality helps you identify issues in ASP.NET.For example, Psscor4 provides the ability to view: managed call stacks (with source mappings; managed exception information; what types are in the managed heap and their reference chain; which ASP.NET pages are running on which thread; the contents of the ASP.NET cache; and much more,” Microsoft added.
Earlier this month, Microsoft upgraded .NET Framework 4, moving away from the tradition of introducing new features only with major versions of the technology.
Instead, the company made available Platform Update 1 for .NET Framework 4. Visual Studio 2010 also received its first upgrade recently, this time around a traditional Service Pack 1 release.
But make no mistake about it, PP1 expanded the functionality of .NET Framework 4 as well as served to introduce new features.
Psscor4 Managed-Code Debugging Extension for WinDbg is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM ISO and Installer are available for download here.