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CapeSoft Profiler
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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.

Features

Support

CapeSoft Support
Email
Telephone +27 87 828 0123

Your questions, comments and suggestions are welcome. Check our web page (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 sales at capesoft dot com
Telephone +27 87 828 0123

Buy Online
Web Buy now at ClarionShop
New License 		Buy now at ClarionShop
Upgrade from Profiler 2

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 \Clarion\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

  1. Run the supplied installation file.

Preparing your Application for profiling

  1. While the App is Open, select Debug from the Set Configuration item in the Build menu:




  2. Now compile your application

Using the Profiler

Profiling your Application is easy.
  1. Run the Profiler. It will open on the "Select File to Profile" window.
  2. 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.
  3. Optionally enter any required command line switches into the "Command Line Parameters" entry box.
  4. Optionally enter a start in folder. The default is the Application folder.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Click "Load" to run your Application under the Profiler. This opens the "Add Source Lines to be profiled" window.
  8. 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
  9. Click "Continue" to proceed with the profiling.
  10. 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.
  11. 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 \Clarion\Examples\Profiler directory.
This is used with the Profiler "Run Tutorial" option.

Tips & FAQ's

Clarion Versions : Profiler works with Applications compiled in all Clarion versions.

Install FAQ
  1. 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
  1. 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:
    1. 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
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 © 2024 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. CapeSoft Software and CapeSoft Electronics (collectively trading as CapeSoft), their employees and dealers explicitly accept no liability for any loss or damages which may occur from using this package. Use of this package constitutes agreement with this license. This package is used entirely at your own risk.

Use of this product implies your acceptance of this, along with the recognition of the copyright stated above. In no way will CapeSoft , 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.

For the full EULA see https://capesoft.com/eula.html

Version History

Download latest version here

Version 3.20 (13 March 2020) Version 3.11 (20 April 2016) Version 3.10 (10 March 2015) Version 3.00 Beta: (7 November 2012) Version 2.01 Gold: (17 March 2010) Version 1.20 Beta: (21 January 2010) Version 1.01 Beta: (10 November 2008)
Version 1.00 Beta: (24 November 2005)