Getting started with Profiling Helper Tool

Profiling Helper Tool extracts profiling data from a Kanzi application instance and converts that data to a format that is compatible with visualization tools such as Google Chrome tracing view and Perfetto UI.

Profiling Helper Tool is a Kanzi Engine plugin and is delivered in source code format along with prebuilt binaries for selected platforms.

Configuring Profiling Helper Tool

You can configure the Profiling Helper Tool in the profilinghelper.cfg file.

Configuration option	Description
CollectingTimerRepeatInterval	Sets how often to collect samples in milliseconds. Enabling this option ensures that samples are not lost but also increases memory usage. Without this flag, only the most recent samples from enabled profiling categories are stored. Default value is 0 (disabled).
WritingTimerOnceInterval	Sets the timing of a one-time writing of the output to file in milliseconds. Default value is 5000 ms.
WritingTimerRepeatInterval	Controls the timing of how often the output is repeatedly written to file in milliseconds. Default value is 0 (disabled).
WritingOnExitEnabled	Sets whether to write the output to file when the application exits. Default value is 0 (disabled).
OutputFilename	Sets the name of the file for tracing format output. Default value is tracing_output.json. Current date and time is appended to the file name in YYMMDD_HHMMSS format.

Using the Profiling Helper Tool application project templates

Use the Profiling Helper Tool templates to create a new application project in Kanzi Studio with Profiling Helper Tool integrated into the project. For instructions on how to add the Profiling Helper Tool templates to Kanzi Studio, see Installing the plugin.

To use the Profiling Helper Tool template:

1. Install the Kanzi Studio Profiling Helper Tool templates. See Installing the plugin.

2. In Kanzi Studio, in the Quick Start window, click New Project. In the New Project window, set the Template to the Application with the ProfilingHelper plugin or Android Application with the ProfilingHelper plugin template.

   

3. Click Create.

   Kanzi Studio creates a project that has Profiling Helper Tool integrated into it. You can collect profiling data from an application built from that project.

Running a project on Windows

To run a project that contains the Profiling Helper Tool plugin on Windows:

1. In Kanzi Studio, open the project in the <ProjectDirectory>/Tool_project directory and select File > Export > Export KZB.

2. Select File > Open Kanzi Command Prompt.

   See Using the Kanzi Command Prompt.

3. In Kanzi Command Prompt, navigate to <ProjectDirectory>/Application directory and run the script that generates a Visual Studio solution for the project.

   For example, if you use Visual Studio 2019, run

   generate_cmake_vs2019_solution.bat
   

   This script generates a Visual Studio solution for the application in the directory <ProjectDirectory>/Application/build_vs2019.

4. In File Explorer go to the <ProjectDirectory>/Application/build_vs2019 directory and open the <ProjectName>.sln Visual Studio solution.

5. In Visual Studio, select the Profiling build configuration.

   

   Note

   Kanzi Engine provides instrumented data in the Profiling build. Debug and Release configurations only contain profiling data that you introduce.

6. In the Solution Explorer, right-click the <ProjectName>_executable project and select Set as Startup Project.

7. Press Ctrl F5 to build and launch the application.

   The application creates a <ProjectDirectory>/Application/bin/tracing_output.json file after the time set in the WritingTimerOnceInterval configuration option elapses. The default time is 5 seconds.

   This file contains profiling data and it is compatible with the Perfetto UI and Google Chrome tracing view visualization tools.

To learn how to visualize the profiling data, see Using Perfetto UI to visualize Kanzi profiling data and Using Google Chrome to visualize Kanzi profiling data.

See also

Integration

Using prebuilt binaries