Visual Studio 2008: WPF Xaml Designer Cripplingly Slow

Question

Hey all, I'm using Visual Studio 2008 to work on an XBAP. While using the Xaml Designer to edit the XML of various things the designer is very, very, VERY slow. When I click on something like a text box or label it pauses for 5-10 seconds before selecting it. If I choose something else the same thing happens. I don't know how much more descriptive I can be besides I click, I wait, and wait... and wait some more, and then what I've selected becomes highlighted. None of the other members of my team are experiencing this.

Are there any settings I should check or uncheck to speed things up? A hotfix maybe? Anything? Thanks a lot!

System
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Veresion 202
Service Pack 3

Computer
MacBook Pro
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU
T7400 @2.16GHz
2.16GHz, 2.96GB of RAM

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
Version 9.0.30729.1 SP
Microsoft .NET Framework
Version 3.5 SP1

Installed Edition: Standard

Microsoft Visual Basic 2008   91179-136-2274445-60787
Microsoft Visual C# 2008   91179-136-2274445-60787
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008   91179-136-2274445-60787
Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008   91179-136-2274445-60787

Enterprise Library Configuration Editor   4.0
Microsoft patterns & practices Enterprise Library Configuration Editor
Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0
Build 3.0.11010.0

Answer 1

Hi ZenkeiRich

This is certainly not normal behavior. Are all of your colleagues using similar machines to you? Do you see similar slowdowns in running WPF applications on that machine?

It sounds like you prefer to use the designer for your work, so this may not be a useful suggestion, however if you do not need the design view of the application, you can speed things up by switching to XAML only view using Tools...Options...Text Editor...XAML...Miscellaneous...Always open documents in full XAML view. This will prevent the design surface from loading and will speed performance for users who prefer to work entirely in XAML. You can always load the designer "on demand" when in this mode by switching to it and clicking the load link.

Mark

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Mark Wilson-Thomas - Program Team - WPF & SL Designer for Visual Studio - posts are provided 'as-is'

Answer 2

is there anything else running on your machine like say anti virus? usually things like anti virus scans tend to take up lot of CPU thus slowing down all other processes

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MVP Solution Architect

Answer 3

Mark,

My colleagues are using a variety of machines, at least one of them is using a MacBook, but I believe it's a different model than mine is. None of my colleagues seem to be experience this problem. Once during a code review they even commented on how slow editing XAML was on my computer. I don't see slowdowns when running WPF applications, only when editing a XAML with the design view open.

I've only been loading the designer when I need to, but I'd prefer to use it as the designer when possible as it's much easier to visually see the changes I've made.

Besides avoiding the design view alltogether, are there any other settings or tweaks I could try to speed things up?

Thanks.

Zenkei Rich

Answer 4

Zenkei,

Mark will be back next week, I'm chiming in to provide some additional help in the mean time.

These are things I would look at if I was sitting at your computer.

Clean out your temp folders, clear your browser cache and reboot into Safe Mode.  When clearing temp folders clear the windows\temp and your personal temp folders.

Run defrag the harddisk at least twice, maybe three times.

Restart system normally.

How many applications load on a cold boot?  Do you have a lot of icons in your system tray?  If so, are there applications you can not load on start?

Can you use the task manager to display your CPU usage when the designer is in view, dragging a Button to the design surace?  Where is the CPU usage?

Does this happen on all projects, even a new project with an empty window?

Do you have any other slower than normal applications?  In other words, if you went side by side with a colleague, would other applications perform the same. 

How big is your swap file?  Is it a fixed size or is it being controlled by windows?

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Cheers, Karl - Microsoft Product Team, Code Project MVP - http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/

Answer 5

I was so frustrated with the performance of VS2008 when editing XAML on my Dell Latitude that I bought a new Dell Studio XPS loaded w/:

Core2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80 GHz
8.00 GB RAM
Vista 64-bit

I've had my development environment setup for a few days now and everything is lightening fast...except for editing XAML.  I'm experiencing the same performance issues as described above.  In addition, VS sometimes hangs up indefinitely while building.  In fact, it's hung as I post this. 

My colleagues have various configurations on Dell and HP laptops.  All report same experience.

Answer 6

Same issue for me running Xaml and design view.  I'm running process explorer to find out how much of the CPU is going to devenv.exe and it looks like it's ramping up to 60-80% when switching objects in the design layout (ie, moving from a text box to a label etc.).

Intel Core2 Duo 2.66GHz

8 GB Ram

Windows Server 2008

VS 2008

Everything is fully updated.

Answer 7

I frequently see this with my larger projects.  It feels as if the XAML editor is having trouble resovling some of the custom types/styles I am refering to my XAML, and going bananas.  I really wish I could just turn off all the special processing, so I can get my work done.  Right now, every time I have to full reqpaint the xaml editor UI, say after I close the find-box, my CPU spins for 10-15 seconds.

Answer 8

Actually, the problem seems to be very acute when I'm using the Find box.  When I show or hide it, VS hangs for 10-15 seconds.  I can actually page around the xaml file very quickly otherwise.   Tabbing to it or opening it also hang for 10-15 seconds.

I'm using a very similar set up to the original poster, on a 4gb machine with quad-core 2.98ghz Xeon.  It's a fast PC, but VS is just killing it.

Answer 9

I removed the Silverlight 2 SDK, Silverlight 3 SDK, and VS 2008 tools for Silverlight SP1, and things seem to have gotten much better.