FIX: Developer Studio Source and Dialog Editors Respond Slowly

When editing source code or a dialog resource with the Visual C++ version 6.0 source or resource editors, the user may experience a slowdown in performance. The resource editor shows a noticeable delay when tabbing between controls. In the source editor, the cursor seems to hesitate when passing through function definitions when using the arrow keys. In both instances the CPU usage is near or at 100%.

The Visual C++ IDE makes a large number of file accesses to the ClassWizard information file (Projectname.clw).

Invoke ClassWizard to regenerate the ClassWizard information file, then dismiss the ClassWizard dialog by clicking OK or Cancel.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

This problem was corrected in Microsoft Visual C++ .NET.

This performance problem arises under very unique circumstances. Projects that exhibit the symptoms described above contain a large number of dialog resources, typically 200 or more. A test project which included 130 dialog resources was used in writing this article. Two additional events must occur for the symptoms to show themselves.

1. First, associate a dialog resource to a new class using ClassWizard.
2. Then, do either of the following:

• Invoke the WizardBar (this happens automatically when navigating code or resources).
• On the Tools menu, click Customize, (dismiss the dialog box by clicking OK or Cancel).

NOTE: The order of events is not important. If the WizardBar has been invoked and then dismissed, the WizardBar engine will continue to run in the background. To disable the engine, close and restart Developer Studio after closing the WizardBar. To dismiss the WizardBar do the following:

1. Click on empty space in the Developer Studio window.
2. Clear the WizardBar item in the toolbar list.

Each subsequent association of a dialog resource to a new class will require this resolution to be repeated.