Using UML2 Trace Interaction views

Opening a trace interactions diagram view

To open a trace interaction diagram view, follow these steps:

1. Select the monitor that represents the application cluster in the Profiling Monitor view.
   Note: Switch to Distributed Layout to view monitors.
2. Right click, then select Open With and select interaction diagram type that you want to view. The Sequence Diagram view opens and shows entities that correspond to the monitoring level selected. The following table lists the interaction views available for each selected monitoring level.

For large views where scrolling is required, the overview can be used to navigate to and from different pages within the sequence diagram.

To open the sequence diagram overview, click on the button at the lower right-hand corner of the view.

Note: This button is only displayed when scrolling is required.

Navigating lifelines and messages

For views with multiple pages, there are several methods of navigation available.

• Navigation menu item
  1. From the toolbar drop-down menu, select Navigation. A navigation sub-menu is displayed.
  2. Select one of the navigation options.
• Pages menu item
  1. From the toolbar drop-down menu, select Pages. The Sequence Diagram Pages dialog box opens
  2. Type the page number that you want to go to. Click OK. The view refreshes with the target page.
• From the toolbar or from the toolbar drop-down menu, navigate using the Go to next page and Go to previous page buttons.
• Go to message
  1. Select a message. Right click to bring up the context menu.
  2. To view to the return of a method call, select Go to message return from the context menu.
  3. To view to the start of a method call, select Go to message from the context menu.

Collapsing and expanding lifelines

Collapsing and expanding lifelines can be used to hide or expand sections of data within a view.

• To collapse a lifeline
  1. While pressing the CTRL key, click on the lifelines that you want to collapse.
  2. Right click to bring up the context menu.
  3. Select Collapse selected classes or objects. The view refreshes with the selected lifelines merged together in one lifeline. The collapsed lifeline is indicated by this icon .
• To expanding lifelines
  1. Click on the collapsed lifeline that you want to expand. To view the full name of the lifeline, hover the mouse over the lifeline.
  2. Right click to bring up the context menu.
  3. Select Expand selected lifeline. The view refreshes with the selected lifeline expanded.
  Note: This applies to Object or Class Interactions only.

Collapsing and Expanding messages

Collapsing and expanding messages can be used to hide or show all method calls invoked from a selected method.

• To Collapse messages
  1. Click on a message within the sequence diagram.
  2. Right click to bring up the context menu.
  3. Select Collapse invoked methods. The sequence diagram refreshes hiding all method calls within the selected method. The collapsed message is indicated by this icon .
• To expand messages
  1. Click a collapsed message within the sequence diagram.
  2. Right-click to bring up the context menu.
  3. Select Expand invoked methods. The sequence diagram refreshes showing all method calls invoked from the selected method.

Drilling down into lifelines

Drilling down into a lifeline allows you to view all the trace interactions within a particular lifeline. This feature allows a user to trace the root cause of a problem from a host, to a process, to a thread and eventually to a class or an object. The drill down option is available on host, agent, process and thread interactions. To drill down in a lifeline, select the lifeline, right-click and select Drill down into selected lifeline. To reset drill down options, use the Reset all drill down actions toolbar option and drop-down list.

Highlighting a call stack

Highlighting a call stack allows you to view all the methods invocations in a call stack. To highlight a call stack, select a method, right-click and select Highlight call stack. All method invocations in the call stack will be highlighted.

The time compression bar along the left edge of a trace diagram indicates the time elapsed between consecutive events. The time compression scale shows where the time falls between the minimum and maximum delta times. The intensity of the color is used to indicate the length of time, namely, the deeper the intensity, the higher the delta time. The time compression bar and scale may provide accurate indication as to which part of a method consumes the most time. It may be located between two calls, at a call and method entry or exit, or it may cover a whole method.

Hiding and displaying patterns in lifelines and messages allow you to examine only objects of interest in the view.

• To hide a lifeline, select the lifeline, right-click and select Hide selected lifeline. The lifeline will be hidden from the view.
• To display only a selected lifeline, select the lifeline, and then right-click and select Display only selected lifeline. Only the selected lifeline will remain in the view. All other lifelines are removed.
• To hide a message, select the message, right-click and select Hide selected message. The message will be hidden from the view.
• To reset the hide and display options selected, follow these instructions:
  1. In the drop-down menu, select Hide/Display Patterns.
  2. In the Sequence Diagram Hide/Display Patterns dialog box, clear the hide/display patterns that you no longer want to apply to the view.
  3. Click OK.
• To add a custom hide pattern, follow these instructions:
  1. In the drop-down menu, select Hide/Display Patterns.
  2. In the Sequence Diagram Hide/Display Patterns dialog, select Add.
  3. Define a string match pattern, and select whether this pattern should be searched for in an Object/Class or Method Entry/Exit.
  4. Click Create. In the Hide/Display pattern list, the newly created pattern is automatically selected.
  5. Click OK to apply the hide pattern to the view.
• Internal messages are calls from a lifeline to itself. For example, a method call inside the same class or object. To hide internal messages, follow these instructions:
  1. Open toolbar drop-down menu.
  2. Select Hide internal messages. This will filter all internal messages.
  3. To show the internal messages again, re-select the menu item from the drop-down menu.

To create search criteria, follow these steps:

1. Open the toolbar drop-down menu.
2. Select Find. The Sequence Diagram Find dialog box opens.
3. In the Matching string field, specify a pattern that you want to search for in the profiling data.
4. Select whether you want to search for the pattern in an Object or Class, or a Method Entry or Exit; or both options.
   Note: Ensure that at least one of the options, Object or Class or a Method Entry or Exit, are selected in the Find dialog box. If neither are selected, the Find command will appear disabled.
5. Click Find. The current view is refreshed with messages or lifelines matching the search criteria.

To return the view to the default display size (reset zoom factor), to zoom in, or to zoom out, use this set of toolbar controls.