HP UX Caliper Software manual Making Measurements, Tips for Using Views

Tips for Using Views

All views have the following features:

•Each view has its own Maximize and Minimize buttons (top right), and many views have their own pull-down menus (also top right).

•Double-clicking a view's tab causes the view to take up the entire GUI window. Double-clicking a view's tab a second time returns it to its previous size and restores the previous GUI layout. This feature is particularly useful when viewing performance data.

•Any view can be moved out of the main window of the GUI.

Motif, however, does not support this, so this feature is not available when running the GUI natively on HP-UX.

To move a view out of the main window, press and hold mouse button 1 over a view's tab, drag the view out of the main window, and release mouse button 1. You can return the view to the main window by again dragging the view (using the view's tab) back to the main window.

•You can retrieve views you have closed by selecting Window→Show View. To restore all views to their default state, select Window→Reset View Locations.

Making Measurements

The HP Caliper GUI guides you in selecting what measurement you would like to make and in setting all of the associated measurement parameters. There are defaults for all parameters, which are sufficient for most applications. You use the Collect view to set up and control measurement runs.

Making a measurement is often as simple as entering the application’s name and arguments on the Target page of the Collect view, selecting the type of measurement you wish to make on the Measurement page, and clicking on the Start button.

The GUI also allows you to attach to existing processes to make measurements. You can also perform system-wide measurement of all processes and the kernel.

Hints on How to Make Measurements

Here is some general advice for making measurements:

•Start with the Target page of the Collect view and use the Next and Previous buttons to navigate through the Collect view's other tabbed pages. The Next and Previous buttons will skip pages that are not appropriate for a given measurement or a given processor. (Alternatively, you can select pages using their tabs. If the text on the tab is grayed out, then the page does not apply to the given measurement.)

•In general, the Collect view does not allow you to enter information that is invalid. However, you might give data that is inconsistent or might omit a mandatory setting. In this case, the labels of affected data fields turn red, as do the tabs of affected pages, and the Start button is disabled. Look for and correct any red fields.

•You can start a measurement run from any Collect view page as long as there are no fields in error. There is no need to visit all of the tabbed pages. For the most part, you only need to set parameters when you want to change their default values.

•An elapsed time meter (Collection running) is shown in the lower right corner of the GUI window whenever a measurement is running. Only one measurement can be made at a time, but while one is running you can set up the next measurement you wish to make or explore already collected performance data.

•A measurement run will end whenever one of the following occurs:

38 Getting Started with the HP Caliper GUI