64 bits ought to be enough for everybody [TextAnalysisTool.NET update for .NET 2.0 and 64-bit enables the analysis of larger files!]
TextAnalysisTool.NET is a free program designed to excel at viewing, searching, and navigating large files quickly and efficiently.
I wrote the first version of TextAnalysisTool back in 2000 using C++ and Win32. In 2003, I rewrote it using the new .NET 1.0 Framework - and upgraded to .NET 1.1 later that year. There were a variety of improvements between then and 2006, the date of the last update to TextAnalysisTool.NET. Along the way, I've heard from a lot of people who use this tool to simplify their daily workflow! In the past year, I've started getting requests for 64-bit support from folks working with extremely large files that don't fit in the 4GB virtual address space limits of a normal 32-bit process on Windows. Although .NET 1.1 didn't support 64-bit processes, .NET 2.0 does, and I've decided it's finally time to take the plunge.:)
With this release, TextAnalysisTool.NET has been compiled using the .NET 2.0 toolset and the AnyCPU option which automatically matches a process to the architecture of its host operating system. On 32-bit OSes, TextAnalysisTool.NET will continue to run as a 32-bit process, but on 64-bit OSes, it will run as a 64-bit process and have access to a significantly larger address space. This makes it possible to work with larger log files without the risk of crashing into the 4GB memory limit (which can end up being as low as 1.7 GB in practice)!
Other than a few exceedingly minor string updates, I have made no changes to the way TextAnalysisTool.NET behaves - so the new version should feel just like the previous one. The framework update means .NET 1.1 is no longer a supported platform and .NET 2.0 is now natively supported. The included .config file allows the same executable to run under .NET 4.0 as-is (for example on Windows 8 without the optional ".NET Framework 3.5" feature installed).
If you've ever run out of memory using TextAnalysisTool.NET, please give this new version a try! And if not, go ahead and continue using the previous version without worrying that you're missing out on anything.:)
Click here to download the latest version of TextAnalysisTool.NET
Click here to visit the TextAnalysisTool.NET web page for more information
Many thanks to everyone for all the great feedback - I love getting messages from people around the world who are using TextAnalysisTool.NET to make their lives easier!
Aside: As a matter of technical interest, details on the one bug I found with 64-bit TextAnalysisTool.NET: the following code had worked fine for the last decade (message.WParam is an IntPtr via Form.WndProc for WM_MOUSEWHEEL):int wheelDelta = ((int)message.WParam)>>16; // HIWORD(WPARAM)However, when that assignment ran under .NET 2.0 on a 64-bit OS, it quickly threw OverflowException! I was surprised, but it turns out this is documented behavior. Because that line interoperates with the Windows API, I couldn't change the types involved - but I could tweak the code to avoid the exception by avoiding the problematic explicit conversion:int wheelDelta = ((int)((long)message.WParam))>>16; // HIWORD(WPARAM)Yep, the proverbial one-line fix saves the day!