Using the Execution Statistics view

The Execution Statistics views displays statistics about the application execution time. It provides data such as the number of methods called, and the amount of time taken to to execute every method. Execution statistics are available at the package, class, method and instance level.

The Execution Statistics view provides a number of controls to allow you to manipulate the information shown within the view:

Working with display modes

  1. There are four display modes are available based on the four object types: packages, classes, and instances. To switch between the package, class, and instance modes, select one of the following toolbar controls:
  2. The data displayed can also be shown as percentages. To display the data as percentages, select Show as Percentage % in the toolbar.

The data displayed depends what object type is selected. The following table summarizes the data available in each display mode.

Column heading Package statistics 
Icon for package
Class statistics
Icon for package
Method statistics
Icon for package
Instance statistics
Icon for package
Base Time: For any invocation, the base time is the time taken to execute the invocation, excluding the time spent in other methods that were called during the invocation.  The summed base time for the classes in the package The summed base time for the methods in the class The time spent executing a given method Time
Average Base Time: The base time divided by the number of calls. Available Available Available Not available
Inherited Base Time: Similar to the base time spent in the selected package or class including the time spent in other inherited methods that were called during the invocation. The summed base time for the classes in the package The summed base time for the methods in the class Not available Time
Cumulative Time: For any invocation, the cumulative time is the time taken to execute all methods called from an invocation. If an invocation has no additional method calls, then the cumulative time will be equal to the base time. The summed cumulative time for the classes in the package The time spent executing the methods in the class The time spent executing the given method. Time
Inherited Cumulative Time: Similar to the cumulative time of the selected package or class including the time spent in other inherited methods that were called during the invocation. The summed cumulative time for the classes in the package The time spent executing the methods in the class Not available Time
Calls: The number of calls made by a selected method. Not available Accumulated by class Count Not available
Inherited Calls: The number of calls made by a method and by its inherited methods. Accumulated by package Accumulated by class Not available Count
Cumulative CPU Time: The amount of CPU time spent in a method. Accumulated by package Accumulated by class Accumulated by method Not available

Working with columns

There are different controls available that allow you to manipulate the columns displayed in this view.

  1. To specify which columns to display in the view, select the Choose Column Choose column icon button in the toolbar.
  2. In the Choose Columns dialog, select the columns that you want displayed in the view. Click OK to apply the changes.
  3. To show the change in each numeric column since the last refresh, select Show Delta Columns Show Delta icon in the toolbar.
  4. To sort column data, click the title of a column. Click the title of the column again to sort it in reverse order. The title of the column is prefixed with < if the column is sorted in ascending order or with > if it is sorted in descending order.

Filtering profiling data

The Memory Statistics view provides a filter mechanism which allows you to reduce the amount of data shown in the view. Profiling filters can be used across different profiling views as long as the view supports the filter.

  1. To work with filters, from the toolbar menu, select Manage Filters Filter icon.
  2. To add a new filter, select New.
  3. In the Edit Filters dialog, select Profiling Filter and click OK.
  4. Define your filter by using one or both of the Filter mechanisms on the two tabs: Standard or Advanced. The Standard tab lets you quickly set some simple, common filters. The Advanced tab lets you create highly customized filters.
  5. To define a standard filter:
    1. To filter out data that matches a pattern, specify a string pattern in the Filter String field.
    2. Select the object type to filter by, i.e. fitler by package, class or method.
    3. Click the Show information matching check box if you want only a specific set of data. Use the drop-down boxes to define the filter. In the example below, the filter is specified to show the highest 10 entries by the number of calls.
      basic filter
  6. To define an advanced filter:
    1. Click the Advanced tab. The Advanced filtering table shows all the filter criteria defined. Profiling data entries that match one or more of the criteria will be filtered out of the view.
    2. To add an entry in the table, click Add. Select the attribute you want to filter on from Attribute list. Select the operator (like performs a pattern match). Enter a value that profiling data entry must have for that attribute in order to be filtered:
      • Use an asterisk (*) to represent any string.
      • Use a bar (|) to represent a non-exclusive "or".
    3. Click OK.

    4. To edit an existing entry, select it, click Edit and modify the fields.
    5. To remove an entry, select it and click Remove.
  7. To edit an existing filter, select Manage filters from the toolbar or select the filter listed in the drop down menu.

Opening other views

Other profiling views and source code views can be opened from the Execution Statistics view.

  1. To open the object references of a selected object, right-click and select Show Object References Show object references. The Object References view will be opened and populated with data for the selected object.
  2. To open the Method Invocation view on method, you need to be switch to the Package, Class or Method display mode. Select a method, right-click and select Show Method Invocation Show method invocation.
  3. To open the source code view of a selected object, right-click and select Open Source Open source icon.

Exporting the data in the view

The data within the Memory Statistics view can be exported to an HTML document.

  1. To export the data in the view, select Export to HTML Export HTML icon in the toolbar.
  2. In the Export to HTML dialog, specify the file name that the data will be saved to.
  3. Click OK to save the data.

Refreshing the view

The Memory Statistics view can be refreshed using the Refresh Refresh Views icon button in the toolbar. When the view is refreshed, changes are marked with delta icons:

 


Related concepts
Overview of the Profiling Tool
Profiling resources

Related tasks
Profiling an application
Identifying memory-intensive classes


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