Detecting memory leaks in Flash or Flex applications using WSMonitor
October 1st, 2007
WSMonitor is a handy tool based on AS3 to detect memory issues in Flash or Flex applications. It’s simple to use and it’s free – including full source.
Example
Press start button to run WSMonitor. All Flash movies running within this Browser are monitored, such as the maps.amung.us plugin located on right hand.
Instruction
Just open your Flash or Flex app within Browser or Flash Standalone Player and start WSMonitor using WSMonitor.html or WSMonitor.swf located in folder named “deploy”.
Note: WSMonitor and your app have to run with the same Flash Player.
Free download
WSMonitor.zip
(Downloads: 4815)
WSMonitor is open source licensed under the Mozilla Public License 1.1.
Full source
Update on 08/29/09: Source code is moved to GitHub http://github.com/sectore/wsmonitor/
Acknowledgment
Thanks to Artjom Tarassov, who is one of the smartes Flash programmer I’ve ever met, for the active exchange of ideas during the last weeks 
.
October 1st, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Very cool. You should see if it’s possible to turn this into a Firefox extension.
October 28th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Great tool. Really comes in handy. Any suggestions on how to trace back the memory leak to its source in order to fix it?
+1 for the firefox extension.
October 28th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
@Michel: Sorry, I have no idea what the best way to trace back the memory leak to its “producer” is.
@all: Is there anyone out there who can put WSMonitor into a Firefox extension? That would be great, because I’m not familar with Firefox Add-ons
March 31st, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Is there any way to make this monitor go slower, I wanna see more time on this window.
VELO
April 1st, 2008 at 9:51 am
VELO,
grab the source and customize it for all your needs. It’s open source
-Jens
April 28th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
PERFECT. Found a memory leak with your tool.
Can you release it on Google code?
April 29th, 2008 at 6:45 am
VELO,
thanks for your feedback!
Currently I don’t plan any further development on this tool. So I think it makes no sense to release it on Google Code.
However, you’ll find on my blog all what you need: The WSMonitor as a tool and its full source which is open source based on the Mozilla Public License 1.1.
-Jens
July 1st, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I know about the memory leaks, but I am having problems fixing the leaks. I have a few questions, can I ask them here?
August 14th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Hi
Great tool!
When running it, it shows red and green bars in the graph? What does it mean?
/perottobc
August 14th, 2009 at 11:11 am
@perottobc:
green – decreasing memory
red – increasing memory
gray – unchanged memory
-Jens
August 27th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
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September 14th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
I just downloaded this tool to monitor an auto-looping slide presentation we built. In WSMonitor “memory usage” field I start off with a reading of 3.1MB which climbs up to about 3.7MB over an hour and then drops back to 3.1MB and the pattern repeats over and over. However, in Task Manager “PF Usage” just keeps climbing all this time and never drops. How do I interpret this?
September 14th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Hm, ignore post above. Apparently running SWFs on their own didn’t actually work on my end. Now that I play both files though a browser, the numbers look more realistic. Thanks for the tool!
September 25th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
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December 9th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Awesome. Addressing memory leakage issues is a million times easier if you can see if and when they occur.
May 4th, 2010 at 5:30 am
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May 26th, 2010 at 1:10 am
Awesome tool. I’m catering towards low-end users with older computers, so tracking memory usage will definitely help create a better user experience. Thank you so much for making this!