Chapter 26: Tracing and Profiling Applications

Profiling Routine View

The Routine view displays statistics for a routine, its calling routines, and its called routines. It uses multiple DataWindow objects to display information for a routine:

Called routines The top DataWindow lists functions and events called by the current routine.
Current routine The middle DataWindow and the DataWindow on the right highlight the current routine and show detailed statistics.
Calling routines The bottom DataWindow lists functions and events that call the routine displayed in the middle DataWindow.

The Routine view has two tabs:

Detail Shows statistics only
Source Shows statistics and source code for those routines that originated in PowerScript source

The Routine view uses the call graph model to show the call chain and cumulative statistics for routines and called routines.

Figure 26-2: Profiling Routine View

The sample routine view shows a Data Window at top left titled Calls. It shows the functions and events called by the current routine. The middle Data Window, titled Routines, highlights the current routine. Visible are figures for Hits, Self, %Self, and Self plus Called for all routines on the list. The Data Window at bottom left shows < System > as the origin of the call to the highlighted routine. On the right side of the screen are the tabs Detail and Source. The Detail tab show statistics for the highlighted routine.

You can specify the current routine by clicking in the various DataWindows.

**Table 26-5: Specifying the current routine in the Profiling Routine View**
To do this	Click here
Establish a new current routine in the current routine DataWindow	On the routine. The profiling tool updates the top and bottom DataWindows with information on called and calling routines.
Select a calling routine as the new routine	On the routine in the top DataWindow. The profiling tool makes it the current routine in the middle DataWindow.
Select a called routine as the new routine	On the routine in the bottom DataWindow. The profiling tool makes it the current routine in the middle DataWindow.

You can sort items by clicking the column headings.

Routine view metrics

The Routine view displays nine metrics. The profiling tool accesses these metrics from instances of the ProfileCall and ProfileRoutine objects. The time scale you specified in the Preferences dialog box determines how times are displayed.

**Table 26-6: Metrics in the Profiling Routine View**
Metric	What it means
Hits (Called on Detail tab)	The number of times a routine executed in a particular context.
Self	The time spent in the routine or line itself. If the routine or line was executed more than once, this is the total time spent in the routine or line itself; it does not include time spent in routines called by this routine.
%Self	Self as a percentage of the total time the calling routine was active.
Self Min	The shortest time spent in the routine or line itself. If the routine or line was executed only once, this is the same as AbsoluteSelfTime.
Self Max	The longest time spent in the routine or line itself. If the routine or line was executed only once, this is the same as AbsoluteSelfTime.
Self+Called	The time spent in the routine or line and in routines or lines called from the routine or line. If the routine or line was executed more than once, this is the total time spent in the routine or line and in called routines or lines.
%Self+Called	Self+Called as a percentage of the total time that tracing was enabled.
Self+Called Min	The shortest time spent in the routine or line and in called routines or lines. If the routine or line was executed only once, this is the same as AbsoluteTotalTime.
Self+Called Max	The longest time spent in the routine or line and in called routines or lines. If the routine or line was executed only once, this is the same as AbsoluteTotalTime.

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