Visual Studio Logging

  • Article

Versions:  2008,2010
Published:  11/11/2010
Code:  vstipEnv0048

 

There's no doubt Visual Studio is an awesome piece of software but there will be times when you need to find out why there is a problem loading it.  Did you know that it comes with a logging switch?  While the documentation (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms241272.aspx) is lacking, the comment by Paul Harrington on the VS team helps a great deal. 

 

Essentially, the syntax is as follows:

devenv.exe /log [filename]

 

The [filename] is optional and if not specified will call the log ActivityLog.xml by default.  The path is to the file is:

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ActivityLog.xml 

 

Give it a try.  Go to the Visual Studio Command Prompt and enter the command:

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You can then navigate to the file location:

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When you open the log file in Notepad this is an example of what you will see:

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Fortunately, there is an XML stylesheet (XSL) comes with the XML data so if you view it in your browser you will see a much cleaner view:

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