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Performance Validator Help

Navigation: The User Interface > Starting your target program

Launching the program (native and .Net)

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Launching the application

 

Having Performance Validator launch your program is the most common way to start up

 

When you're ready to start running a target program:

 

menu Launch menu instructionStep Applications instructionStep Launch Application... instructionStep Shows the launch program wizard or dialog below

 

Or use the shortcut:

 

b_f4  Start application

 

seeAlsoYou can easily re-launch the most recently run program.

 

 

User interface mode

 

There are two interface modes used while starting a program

 

Wizard mode guides you through the tasks in a linear fashion
 

Dialog mode has all options contained in a single dialog
 

All the options are the same - just in different places.

 

In this section we'll cover the Wizard mode first and the Dialog mode later.

 

 

The start application wizard

 

On first use, the wizard appears with fields cleared, but here's an example with a few fields set:

 

start-application-wizard

 

 

Enter the details for your program, or if you want to run a previous program select it from the application list to repopulate the details.

 

After entering the details click Next >> for the next page of the wizard.

 

 

Administrator privileges when launching your program

 

The following applies only if you did not start Performance Validator in administrator mode.

 

Anywhere you see the admin-priv-icon icon indicates that administrator privileges will be required to proceed.

 

If you started Performance Validator in administrator mode, you won't see any of these warnings, and everything will behave as normal.

 

 

Page 1: Entering details

 

Application to start instructionStep type or Browse to set the program name to launch

 
You can also choose a batch file and the first executable started in the batch file will be launched.

 

Application to monitor instructionStep choose the application that actually gets monitored

 
This will typically just be the program that you set to start - unless otherwise specified.

 

Alternatively you can monitor another application which will get launched by the start program.

 

If the start application has already been added to the Applications to Monitor settings with a default application then that default will be entered here automatically.

 

Otherwise, if nothing has been set up yet, you can do it from here:

 

Edit... instructionStep set the child applications that can be monitored for the start program

 

This uses the Applications to Monitor dialog - which is exactly equivalent to using the Applications to Monitor settings page.

 

A fallback option is to start monitoring <<Any application that is launched>>.

 

note If in doubt, just use the same as the start application.

 

seeAlsoSee also: Application to Monitor settings

 

Launch Count instructionStep when monitoring a child application, set its nth invocation as the one to monitor

 

If the application to start is the same as the application to monitor then this is set to 1 and cannot be changed.

 

This will be reset to 1 every time the Application to Monitor field selection changes.

 

note If in doubt, leave it set to 1.

 

seeAlsoSee also: Launch Count.

 

Command Line Arguments instructionStep enter program arguments exactly as passed to the target program

 

Startup Directory instructionStep enter or click Dir... to set the directory for the program to start in  

 
When setting your target program, this will default to the location of the executable

 

Environment Variables instructionStep click Edit... to set any additional environment variables before your program starts  

 
These are managed in the Environment Variables Dialog.

 

File to supply to stdin instructionStep optionally enter or Browse to set a file to be read and piped to the standard input of the application

 

File to supply to stdout instructionStep optionally enter or Browse to set a file to be written with data piped from the standard output of the application

 
 

Page 1: Using details from a previous run

 

The list at the bottom of the wizard shows previously run programs.

 

Selecting an item in the list populates all the details above as used on the last run for that program.

 

You can still edit those details before starting.

 

Full path instructionStep shows the full path to the executable in the list
 

Image Name instructionStep shows the short program name without path

 

Delete instructionStep removes a selected program from the list

 

Reset instructionStep clears all details in the wizard - including the list of previously run applications below

 

The Admin column in the list of previous runs may show a admin-priv-iconsymbol to indicate a requirement for administrator privileges in order to run the program. This is automatically detected from the program's manifestexternalLink.

 

 

Page 2: Data collection and redirection

 

Depending on your application, and what you want to test, you may want to start collecting data immediately, or do it later.

 

If your program has a complex start-up procedure, initialising lots of data, it may be much faster not to collect data until the program has launched.

 

Type of data collection instructionStep Are you only interested in Native data, .Net data or both Native data and .Net data?

 

dataCollectType

 

Native Only instructionStep Ignore all .Net data in the target application.

 

.Net Only instructionStep Ignore all Native data in the target application.

 

Mixed Mode instructionStep Collect both Native and .Net data from the target application

 

This setting cannot be changed after the application is launched

 

Collect data from application instructionStep if it's the startup performance you want to monitor, then obviously start collecting data from launch
 

start-application-wizard-collect

 

seeAlsoSee the section on controlling data collection for how to turn collection on and off after launch.

 

Collect function times instructionStep tick to collect data that will allow overall function timings to be calculated
 

start-application-wizard-function

 

Collect line times instructionStep tick to allow individual line timings to be calculated
 

start-application-wizard-line

 

A warning dialog may be displayed to remind you of the possible performance slowdown when using line timing.

 

line-timing-warning

 

This warning only appears if the Enable line timing warning option on the Performance settings is checked.

 

The option at the bottom to edit line timing filters can be used to set specific classes, methods and functions to be included in, or excluded from, the hooking process and is identical to the Line Timing Filters page of the global settings dialog.

 

Redirect standard output instructionStep Controls redirection of stdout and stderr

 

Use this option if you want to collect the output of stdout and stderr for later analysis.

 

Be aware that if the output of the program under test generates a lot of data via stdout or stderr that this data will need to be stored in memory and could exhaust Performance Validator's memory.

 

Display command prompt instructionStep Shows or hides the launched application.

 

If you are collecting stdout and stderr you may not be interested in viewing the application (or the command prompt if it is a console application). This provides you the option to hide the application when it is running.

 

Be aware that if you hide a command prompt you will not be able to type anything into the application.

 

note Unchecking function and line times means not collecting any data at all!

 

 

Page 3: Summary and starting your program

 

The last page is just a summary of the options you have chosen.

 

note Something missing? The choice of launch method is no longer necessary and has been removed.

 

If you're happy with the settings, go ahead:

 

Start Application... instructionStep start your program and attach Performance Validator to it

 

Cmd Line... instructionStep display the command line builder
 

start-application-wizard-summary

 

Administrator privileges in wizard mode

 

If administrator privileges are required you'll be reminded of the need to restart here:

 

start-application-wizard-start-admin-priv

 

Start Application... instructionStep shows the Administrator Privileges Required confirmation dialog before restarting

 

admin-privileges-required-dialog

 

 

Dialog mode

 

In Dialog mode, all the settings are in one dialog which looks very much like the first page of the launch wizard above.

 

At the top are the options to collect line times and to start collecting data immediately.

 

Launch instructionStep start your program and attach Performance Validator to it

 

Cmd Line... instructionStep display the command line builder

 

Double clicking a program in the list will also start it immediately.
 

start-an-application-dialog-selected

 

 

Administrator privileges in dialog mode

 

If administrator privileges are required, the Launch button will show the privileges icon reminding you of the need to restart.

 

admin-privileges-in-dialog-mode-go

 

 

Launch instructionStep shows the Administrator Privileges Required confirmation dialog before restarting.

 

admin-privileges-required-dialog  

 

If you started Performance Validator in administrator mode, you won't see any of these warnings, and everything will behave as normal.

 

 

How do I use Application to Monitor and Launch Count?

 

The three fields Application to Start, Application to Monitor and Launch Count work together to control which application actually gets monitored by Performance Validator.

 

Let's say we have a program P.

 

In the simplest case, simply:

 

start P

monitor P

the Launch Count defaults to 1 and cannot be changed.

 

 

If P launches an application and you just want to monitor whatever that is:

 

start P

monitor <<Any application that is launched>>

leave the Launch Count at 1

 

 

If P launches an application A and maybe others as well, and you specifically want to monitor only A as it's launched:

 

use the Application to Monitor settings to add a definition for P and child applications A

start P

monitor A

leave the Launch Count at 1

 

 

If P launches an application A many times and you specifically want to monitor the third invocation:

 

use the Application to Monitor settings to add a definition for P and child applications A

start P

monitor A

set the Launch Count to 3