Profiling an application

The Method Details Invocation tab provides statistical data on a selected method. This tab can be opened on a selected method in Execution Flow view or in any tab of the Execution Statistics view.

About this task

Note: This tab is populated with data only when execution flow graphical information is collected.

The following data is provided in this view:

  • Selected method: This table shows details including the number of times the selected method is called, the class and package information, and the time taken by this method.Selected method table with 7 columns: Number of calls, Method, Class, Package, Base Time, Average Base Time and Cumulative Time
  • Selected method invoked by: This table shows details of each method that calls the selected method, including the number of calls to the selected method, and the number of times the selected method is invoked by the caller.Table with 8 columns: Invokes, Method, Class, Package, Base Time, Average Base Time, Cumulative Time, and Calls
  • Selected method invokes: This table shows details of each method invoked by the selected method including the method name invoked, the number of times the method is invoked, the number of calls from the selected method to the invoked method, package and class information for the invoked method and the time spent on the invoked method.Table with 8 columns: Invokes, Method, Class, Package, Base Time, Average Base Time, Cumulative Time, and Calls
Note: The profiling views are described here using Java™. Profiling data from a different application context might change the terms and syntax used in the views. For more information, see Understanding application contexts in profiling views.
  • Overview of the Java Profiling tool
    The workbench supports two types of profiling: trace-based Java profiling and sample-based profiling.
  • Profiling views
    The profiling tools have a number of views that you can use when you profile your applications.
  • Launching or attaching to a process for profiling
    The Profiling Tool provides the ability to attach to a running application or to launch an application for profiling.
  • Analyzing method execution: Using profiling views to analyze data
    The Profiling Tool provides a number of different views and tables to help visualize the profiling data.
  • Profiling resources
    The term, profiling resource, refers to the level of granularity used to open the profiling views. The levels of resource are found in the Profiling Monitor view. Selecting a resource enables you to open an aggregated view based on that resource.
  • Importing profiling resources
    You can import profiling resources such as profiling data or profiling filters from a file. The profiling file could have been generated by a stand-alone profiling session, redirected by the Agent Controller, or saved to an external file during an earlier profiling session.
  • Saving profiling resources
    Profiling resources such as the data collected, or the profiling filters created can be saved to an external file.
  • Generating report on profiling data
    Profiling data can be exported to reports of different formats. These reports allow users to further analysis the data as well as sharing the profiling data.
  • Setting profiling preferences
    To change the defaults used while profiling an application, follow these steps:

Controls

Table 1. Toolbar controls
Icon Definition
open source icon Opens the source of a selected item.
Show as percentage Show the Raw Cumulative time as a percentage.
Export icon Export records to available report formats. The New Report dialog allows you to select the report type and open the document using the default system editor.
drop down menu icon

Select the Show Time option to select the time basis of the graph.

  • Raw time: the time that an application takes to run, including the profiling overhead.
  • Compensated time: time the application takes minus the time attributed to profiling.

Select the Display Application Context option to display profiling data based on a programming language or data collection context. For more information, see Understanding application contexts in profiling views.
Table 2. Pop-up menu controls
Menu item Definition
Refresh Views icon Refresh the view.
method invocation details button Show Method Invocation Details for the selected method.
Open method invocation for the selected method Show Method Invocation for the selected method.
Select the columns to be displayed in the method invocation table Choose columns to display the table.
open source code button Open source code for the method.
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