Performance Explorer View

The Performance Explorer view has two sections:
  • The top of the view displays a tree of performance tuning related artifacts, such as Launch Configurations, Projects, Sessions and Activities.
  • The bottom of the view displays properties and shortcuts for the element that is selected in the tree. The bottom panel is also used to launch performance runs.
The tree in the top section has four root nodes:
  • Launch Configurations: Shows all Launch Configurations of the Remote Compiled Application type. The visibility of this node can be toggled from the view menu.
  • Sessions: This is the root of the Project/Session/Activity hierarchy.
  • Archive: Contains archived Activities.
  • Imported: Contains imported Activities.

Sessions and Activities

The most important artifacts shown in the Performance Explorer are Sessions and Activities.

  • An Activity is used to collect performance data for a single run of an application, and is used to access the data after it has been collected.
  • A Session contains a sequential list of Activities that are run on the same host.

To create a Session right click the Sessions node and select New Session, or click the New Session button in the view toolbar.

To create an Activity right click a Session and select New Activity.

Activities can be in one of four states:
  • New: The Activity is ready to be used to collect data.
  • Running: Data collection is in progress, you must wait for it to complete before analyzing the data.
  • Complete: The date and time that the Activity completed is shown next to the Activity. Double click the Activity to open it.
  • Failed: Data collection has failed. See the Results box for any error messages.

Data Collection

To run a data collection an Activity in the new state is required. When the Activity is selected the bottom panel of the view can be used to launch the application and run a data collection. The Begin Data Collection button is used to start the data collection. The results of the data collection will be shown in the Results box. When data collection is complete the Activity will go into the complete state.

Shortcuts

When a completed Activity is selected the bottom panel will display shortcut links. These are used to access the most commonly used actions available for Activities. More actions are available from the context menu by right-clicking the Activity.

Scheduled Runs

Click on a Session to see a list of the scheduled performance runs in the bottom panel.

Resetting a Failed Activity

If data collection fails the Activity will go into the failed state. When this happens the Activity can be reset back to the new state by selecting the Activity and clicking the link that says reset to new in the bottom panel.

Toolbar buttons

Button Command Description
New Session Opens the New Performance Tuning Session wizard.
Back Navigate to the previous level of focus.
Forward Navigate to the next level of focus.
Up Navigate the focus up one level in the tree.
Collapse All Collapse all tree nodes.

Toolbar Menu

Command Description
Show Launch Configurations Toggles the visibility of the Launch Configurations node in the tree.

Context Menu

Command Context Description
New Session... Session Root, Projects Opens the New Performance Tuning Session wizard.
New Activity... Sessions Opens the New Activity wizard to create an Activity for the selected Session.
Manage Scheduled Activities... Sessions Opens the Manage Scheduled Activities dialog.
Clone... Sessions, Activities Creates a copy of the selected Session or Activity. If an Activity is cloned it will be in the new state.
Refresh Sessions Refresh the Session and retreive Activities collected from scheduled performance runs.
Open Hotspots Activities (Hotspot Detection only) Opens the Hotspots Browser on the selected Activity.
Open Scorecard Activities Opens the Scorecard Viewer on the selected Activity.
Set as baseline Activities (Hotspot Detection only) Sets the selected Activity as the baseline for its Session.
Compare Activities (must select 2) Opens the Hotspots Comparison Browser on the two selected Activites.
Archive Activities Moves the selected Activities to the Archive section.
Go Into Session Root, Projects, Sessions Focuses the Performance Explorer on the selected node. The navigation buttons in the toolbar can then be used to change the focus.
Properties Session Root, Projects, Sessions, Activities Opens a properties dialog on the selected node.
Configure... Sessions, Activities Opens a dialog where properties of the Session or Activity may be edited.
Delete Sessions, Activities Deletes the selected elements.
Rename... Sessions, Activities Renames the selected element.
Launch Configurations... Launch Configurations Root Opens the Run Configurations dialog. Note that the Performance Explorer only supports Launch Configurations of the Remote Compiled Application type.
Edit... Launch Configurations Opens a dialog that allows you to edit the Launch Configuration properties.
Run Launch Configurations Runs the program specified in the selected Launch Configuration.
Debug Launch Configurations Launches a debug session using the program specified in the selected Launch Configuration.

Feedback