Introduction
The CapeSoft Profiler allows you to locate the slow points in your
application code. Profiler runs your application in its environment, and
builds a list of all the source lines, allowing you to see which lines are
taking the most time. Using the source list Profiler will point you to where you need to re-factor
your code to optimize your application.
Note : Now supports Windows 2000, Windows XP,
Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit) and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit).
Features
- Simple to use with your program (just turn on full debugging and compile.)
- Gathers useful statistics such as the number of times that a source line is
executed and the CPU time taken to execute.
- Reveals slow sections in your application that appear even in well written code.
Support
| CapeSoft Support |
| Email |
 |
| Telephone |
+27 21 715 4000 |
| Fax |
+27 21 715 2535 |
| Post |
PO Box 511, Plumstead, 7801, Cape Town, South Africa
|
Your questions, comments and suggestions are welcome. Check our web page (
www.capesoft.com) for new versions. You
can also contact us in one of the following ways.
Profiler is available for purchase from:
| CapeSoft Sales |
| Web |
www.capesoft.com |
| Email |
 |
| Telephone |
+27 21 715 4000 |
| Fax |
+27 21 715 2535 |
| Post |
PO Box 511, Plumstead, 7801, Cape Town, South Africa |
Overview
The Profiler is a tool to show you which parts of your code are using the most
CPU time. The Profiler can be used to highlight the slow points in your code
however it is up to you to assess if the time taken is reasonable or not.
The method that the Profiler uses to compute the CPU time for each line of your
source code adds a huge overhead to the work that the CPU has to do. This means
that your program will run very slowly in the sections of code being profiled.
The good news is that you do not usually have to complete the whole process
to find the slow points. By running the process and watching where the time is
being spent you can often pinpoint the problem areas without waiting hours for
complete profiling of your application.
The CapeSoft Profiler will run your application as a child process. This is
done in the same way as running your application under the clarion debugger. You
will notice that if you quit the Profiler then your application will be
terminated.
The GoFaster demo application code is supplied with Profiler. See your
\ClarionX\3rdParty\Examples\Profiler
folder. This is an ordinary Clarion application. You may recompile GoFaster in
LOCAL or STANDALONE modes if you would like to. The Profiler will work with
either.
Installation
- Run the supplied installation file.
Preparing your Application for profiling
In Clarion 7 or 8:
- While the App is Open, select Debug from the Set Configuration item in
the Build menu:
- Now compile your application
In Clarion 6:
- While the App is Open go to the Project Editor.
Click on Properties
- Ensure that the "Build Release System" option is OFF.
- In the "Debug Information" section select the "Mode"
as "Full".
- Click on the OK button. (Close the Global Options)
- Close the Project Editor.
- Compile the Application.
Using the Profiler
Profiling your Application is easy.
- Run the Profiler. It will open on the "Select File to
Profile" window.
- Type the full path and filename of the Application to be
profiled into the "File to Profile" entry box. You may use the file
selector button.
- Optionally enter any required command line switches into the "Command
Line Parameters" entry box.
- Optionally enter a start in folder. The default is the Application folder.
- In the "Source Search Directories" group, enter the Clarion folder used to compile your Application in the
"Clarion Directory" entry box. The Profiler will search here for
source files that are not found in your Application folder.
- Optionally specify a folder to be searched if the source file
has not been located. This is useful for profiling DLL's used that are
compiled elsewhere.
- Click "Load" to run your Application under the Profiler.
This opens the "Add Source Lines to be profiled" window.
- Select the Modules / Procedures that are to be profiled. You can
either right-click and use the popup menu, are use the Add
Line/Procedure/Module button
- Click "Continue" to proceed with the profiling.
- Every time you click on a column header then the Profiler will
re-sort the data in that column order. Use this to locate the "slow" lines
of code by clicking on the "Total Time" column. You can
check the Refresh List Periodically check box to
periodically refresh the list according to the sort order that you have
chosen. To make your chosen sort order the default (it's a good idea to
use Approximate Total Time) next time you run, check the
Store
Sort Order checkbox.
- If you click on a profiled line then the procedure containing
that line will be shown in the list box below the profiler data. Use this
to locate where in your code the source line is.
The
Refresh List Periodically check box is used to force the
list to sort the queue every 10 seconds by the currently selected sort order
The
Time Taken is the sum total for all instructions executed (converted
to real time - as if the program was running outside the Profiler environment).
This excludes idle time.
The
Process Time is the time that the program has been running for within
the Profiler environment.
Examples
There is an example in your \ClarionX\3rdParty\Examples\Profiler
directory.
This is used with the Profiler "Run Tutorial" option.
Tips & FAQ's
Clarion Versions : Profiler works with Applications compiled in Clarion 5, 5.5, 6, 7 and 8.
- TIP 1: Place an EXIT statement at the end of each routine. This does
not change your code (the compiler adds this if you omit the EXIT)
however it makes interpreting the profiler data much easier.
- TIP 2: Place a RETURN at the end of each procedure. This does not
change your code (the compiler adds this if you omit the RETURN) however
it makes interpreting the profiler data much easier.
Install FAQ
- My SAF code that I received with my
Profiler purchase no longer works. This is most likely because you
are trying to download Profiler install, but you have not purchased an
upgrade to the latest. You can download the old Profiler version 2 (without
purchasing an upgrade) from:
www.capesoft.com/ftp/public/profiler2install.saf
Upgrade FAQ
- What's new in Profiler 3
- Windows 64 bit support: Profile your application in a 64 bit
operating system. (Your application is still a 32 bit application.)
- Clarion 8 support: Improved support for running in a Clarion 8
environment.
- Cleaner interface: Improvements to stored settings, easier to manage
selection (wizard shortened), resizing improvements, etc.
- For more info, check the Version History
What must I do to my application after upgrading to Profiler 3:
- Nothing. Continue using Profiler exactly as you were using Profiler
2 previously.
How do I upgrade: You need to purchase an upgrade from
ClarionShop:
https://www.clarionshop.com/checkout.cfm?pid=1409&q=1&
Why is Capesoft charging for an upgrade: As much as we
can we try to keep upgrades free. Charging an upgrade gives us the resources
to pack in a whole lot of extra functionality into a product, that we would
otherwise not be able to do. We are not forcing you to upgrade - and we will
continue supporting Profiler 2 with it's current limitations.
FAQ
- Why does the Profiler show some of my procedure variables and
class declarations as being executed when the procedure is profiled?
This occurs where the variables are declared, locally or inside your
class, and are initialized to some value. What happens is that the
clarion compiler adds code to the beginning of your application which
initializes these variables to zero or spaces as required. Using
the AUTO attribute may be an option for your application however you
might then need to initialize these variable yourself.
- Why does lots of time get allocated to the last line of my
routine? I expect the RETURN to be quick.
The Profiler allocates all the CPU time from the start of a profiled line to the
start of the next profiled line. This can be confusing.
As an example if routine A calls routine B.
If you profile routine A but not routine B then all the CPU time for
routine B is allocated to the "DO routine B" line in routine A.
If you profile both routines then the "DO routine B" line is quick and
each line of routine B gets its own CPU time.
If you only profile routine B then all the CPU time outside of routine B
is allocated to the last line of routine B.
- When I try to profile my application, I get a 'Load failed'
message.
The most likely reason is that there is a resource that your application
uses that is not in the application directory. The easiest way to find
this is to clear your PATH environment variable (google on how to do
this), and then run your application, and it will complain about the
missing resource. Locate the dll/resource and copy it into your
application directory. Rinse and repeat until your application runs with
all the resources in the application directory. You should then be able
to profile successfully.
What the Users are saying
Jim Kane (article on the softvelocity.clarion.third_party news group), 13 April 2006:
....I ran the profiler first and it showed me that a call to a com method was
taking virtually 99% of the time for a procedure to run. Optimizing queue
vs array would have been pointless. Sometimes knowing what not to do is as
important as what to do.
Highly recommended. Beats the heck out of flying blind.
Gregory Bailey (article on the softvelocity.clarion.third_party news group), 13 April 2006:
I found that using it made a huge difference in the wall clock timing of a large
piece of code that I inherited from another long gone developer....Rewriting
those bits of code allowed the process to complete in 1 - 3 hours a night.
The customer is ecstatic with the results. Sure this could have been done without
Profiler, but I still would be looking for code to optimize and might not have
connected the 5 places in different portions of the code that read that same file.
Andre Doman (an email February 03, 2012):
I just started using profiler. What a stunning product. It took me 10
minutes and I know where my problem is.
Russ Eggen:
"consider Profiler a mandatory tool in your debugging tool kit."
Bill Wilson:
"But with Profiler and the techniques Bruce demonstrated, I had loaded this
project, found over 3.5 seconds of the (4 second) problem, fixed it and
recompiled within 10 minutes...So a big thanks to Bruce and the Team at
CapeSoft for an exceptional tool. 10/10!"
License & Copyright
This product is copyright © 2015 by CapeSoft Software.
You are
not allowed to copy any of the files, including but not
limited to, csProfiler.exe and documentation files.
None of the included files may be distributed.
Each developer needs his own license to use Profiler.
(Need to
buy more licenses?)
This product is provided as-is. Use
it entirely at your own risk. Use of this product implies your acceptance of
this, along with the recognition of copyright stated above. In no way will CapeSoft
Software, their employees or affiliates be liable in any way for any
damages or business losses you may incur as a direct or indirect result of using
this product.
Version History
Download latest version
here
Version 3.11 (20 April 2016)
Version 3.10 (10 March 2015)
- Updated Interface
- Fixed problem with Command Line Parameters option not priming
correctly
Version 3.00 Beta: (7 November 2012)
- Full support for Clarion 7 and 8
- Full support for Windows 64bit OS
- Combined Select File to Profile and Source Search Directories into
one window
- Auto-detect clarion 7 or Above switch (from previous stored
setting).
- Clean up tool bar buttons (Zero Stats was displayed superfluously).
- Match Add Lines/Procedures/Modules/All Lines button to the
right-click option.
- Default to select line 1 in left list (for Add Source Lines to be
profiled window).
- Move SendTo button to the toolbar
- Fix resize of lists (to not overlap options, Source Search and Info
group on the bottom left).
- Add "Refresh List Periodically" option
- Add "Store Sort Order" option
- AnyFont added (ability to change global font if font size is too
large/small)
Version 2.01 Gold: (17 March 2010)
- First public gold release (no changes from the 2.00 release).
Version 1.20 Beta: (21 January 2010)
- Clarion 7.1 compatible install.
- SendTo added (allows saved output to Excel/Word/Printer/Email)
- Source search added (allows search through profiled lines in pause mode)
- EXE bound to one processor.
- New "Back to Add lines" which allows you to add other modules and
procedures without having to quit and restart the profiler.
Version 1.01 Beta: (10 November 2008)
- Clarion 7 compatible install.
Version 1.00 Beta: (24 November 2005)
