Visual resource profiler for graphical applications

• US 20080120543A1
• Filed: 11/16/2006
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cahill, Tim, Sheller, Jon
• Granted Patent: US 7,714,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/700
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/32 with visual or acoustical indication of the functioning of the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A visual representation of performance data is displayed for a target application. The visual representation includes a visual indicator associated with a visual element of the target application. The visual indicator graphically illustrates a processing cost for the associated visual element with respect to other visual elements in the target application. The processing cost for the visual element includes a relative and/or absolute processing cost. The processing cost may be separated into different categories, such as animation, layout, rendering, and the like.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for profiling a target application, comprising:

obtaining performance data for services used when executing the target application;

determining an element tree for a display generated by the target application;

displaying a visual representation of the performance data based on information in the element tree, the visual representation depicting a processing cost for each of a plurality of visual elements in the display.

2. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the processing cost comprises an absolute processing cost for each visual element.

3. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the processing cost comprises a relative processing cost for each visual element in relation to other visual elements.

4. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the processing cost includes an inclusive time that relates to the processing time associated with one of the visual elements and any visual children of the visual element and an exclusive time that relates to the processing time for the one visual element without including the processing time associated with any visual children of the one visual element.

5. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the processing cost for one visual element is divided among a plurality of services which are called to support the one visual element.

6. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the visual representation of the performance data includes an overlay displayed on top of the display.

7. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 6, wherein the overlay includes a region associated with each visual element, each region having a semi-transparent color being displayed that indicates a relative processing time for the associated visual element in comparison with the other visual elements.

8. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 7, wherein the color includes varying shades of the same color hue.

9. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 6, wherein the overlay includes a three-dimensional bar graph displayed on top of the visual elements in the display, the height of the three-dimensional bar graph indicating a relative processing time for the associated visual element in comparison with the other visual elements.

10. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 9, wherein the three-dimensional bar graph for the visual element graphically illustrates a breakdown of the processing time for the various services employed by the visual element.

11. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions for profiling a target application, comprising:

creating a visual representation of performance data obtained from profiling code executed in support of a target application;

displaying the visual representation in conjunction with a display generated by the target application, the visual representation including a visual indicator associated with each of a plurality of visual elements in the display.

12. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 11, wherein the visual indicator graphically illustrates a relative processing cost for the associated visual element in comparison to the other visual elements.

13. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 12, wherein the relative processing cost is illustrated by changing a color associated with the visual indicator.

14. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 11, wherein the visual representation is displayed on top of the display.

15. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 11, wherein the visual indicator comprises a three-dimensional bar graph.

16. A system configured to provide profiling information for a target application, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory into which a plurality of instructions are loaded, the plurality of instructions comprising;

a profiling service configured to receive performance data generated by profiling code, the performance data associating a processing time for visual elements displayed by the target application;

a visualization service configured to maintain an element tree based on a visual tree associated with the target application, the element tree providing drawing information associated with each visual element in the visual tree; and

a visualizer configured to accept the performance data and the element tree, the visualizer being further configured to graphically display the performance data in conjunction with the display generated by the target application.

17. The system recited in claim 16, wherein the profiling service further categorizes the processing time for one visual element into a plurality of services which were employed by the one visual element to perform processing associated with the visual element during execution of the target application.

18. The system recited in claim 16, wherein the processing time includes an absolute processing time and a relative processing time.

19. The system recited in claim 16, wherein the visualizer graphically displays the performance data based on a bounding box of the associated visual element.

20. The system recited in claim 19, wherein the visualizer further graphically displays the performance data using a color-coding scheme that indicates a relative processing time between the visual elements in the element tree.