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HPjmeter 4.1 User's Guide

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  HPjmeter 4.1 User's Guide > Chapter 8 Using Visualizer Functions   

Using Visualizer Tool Bars

All visualizers offer buttons and other controls that help you manipulate the information displayed. See the following sections for details.

Common Tool Bar Buttons

A few buttons appear on most visualizers. They are the following:

Bring console
to front Bring Console to Front

Bring console to the front of all other HPjmeter visualizers and viewers.

Compare
data Compare Data

Compare data from one or more comparable data sets. For details, see Comparing Profiling Data Files or Comparing Garbage Collection Data Files .

Refresh Data

Refresh the visualizer presentation. When viewing a live monitoring session, the refresh will be a new snapshot of the current state of the application. When viewing vgc data, the refresh will update the visualizer with the most recent data from a log file.

Print Print

Print the data presented in the visualizer pane.

Save to
file Save to File

Save data from a metric display into a file for later viewing. For example, a graphic display of a metric will be saved as a Portable Network Graphics (PNG) file for viewing in software that can interpret this file type.

Tool Bar Buttons for Manipulating Tabular Data

These buttons appear depending on the metric in the visualizer.

Find Find

Brings up a dialog for keyword entry to start a search through the data. See Find a Search Pattern for details.

Find immediately Find Immediately

Immediately start searching on current keyword. See Find a Search Pattern for details.

Mark item for search Mark

Mark an item for search across visualizers. See Mark an Item for Search for details.

Find previous selected item Find Previous Selected Item

Cycle back to a previously selected item. See Find a Search Pattern for details.

Find next selected item Find Next Selected Item

Cycle forward to a previously selected item. See Find a Search Pattern for details.

Refresh live objectsRefresh Live Objects

Collect data and immediately display live objects in the heap at that moment.

Copy Selection to bufferCopy Selection to Buffer

Copy a selected portion of the current data display into a buffer. Use standard keyboard shortcuts to paste this temporarily stored data into a spreadsheet or other similar document.

Copy all to bufferCopy All to Buffer

Instantly copy all of the current data display into a buffer. Use standard keyboard shortcuts to paste this temporarily stored data into a spreadsheet or other similar document.

Tool Bar Buttons for Manipulating Graphical Data

These buttons appear depending on the metric in the visualizer.

Unfreeze display Unfreeze Display

Allow the display to continue to scroll as data is updated. SeePause or Resume Graphical Time-based Scrolling for details.

Freeze display Freeze Display

Stop the data display from scrolling. See Pause or Resume Graphical Time-based Scrolling for details.

Tool Bar Buttons for Manipulating Garbage Collection Data

These buttons appear depending on the metric in the visualizer.

Toggle clock to hours:minutes Show Hours:Minutes

Show data along the X-axis according to the hour and minutes at which each event occurred.

Toggle clock to total seconds Show Cumulative Seconds

Show data along the X-axis according to the cumulative number of seconds that have passed since the recording started.

Toggle connecting lines on Connecting Lines On

Show GC events with black lines connecting each representative dot in order of occurrence.

Toggle connecting lines off Connecting Lines Off

Show GC events as unconnected dots .

Toggle color distinctions for GC types on Color Distinctions for GC Types On

Show colors that indicate the types of garbage collection used during the application run.

Toggle color distinctions for GC types off Color Distinctions for GC Types Off

Turn off colors that indicate the types of garbage collection used during the application run.

View entire graph Zoom Out

Zoom out from selected interval to show entire graphed area for current metric.

Apply selected interval to all metrics Apply Selected Interval to All Metrics

Apply interval selected in current metric to all other metrics in viewer. Note that the graph automatically zooms in on the Y-axis to provide a more fine-grained view of the data points while in this mode. See also Changing Time Interval in GC Data Visualizers.

Reset default interval for all metrics Reset Default Interval for All Metrics

For all metrics in the viewer, reset the current interval to the default setting.

Filter allocation site statistics data Filter Allocation Site Data

Bring up a pop-up window to filter allocation site statistics data.

Display allocation site data in combined sets Display Allocation Site Data in Combined Sets

Display allocation site statistics data in combined sets.

Display allocation site data in separated sets Display Allocation Site Data in Separated Sets

Display allocation site statistics data in separated sets grouped by times. The time column is added at the left side of the table to display the date, which is collected at different times. A clock icon is enabled on the toolbar to toggle between a display of elapsed time in seconds and clock time.

Select metrics for display Select Metrics for Display

For the Multiple User-Defined, Glance Adviser, and Glance System Call tabs, opens a pop-up window that lets you configure the metrics you want to display by using the check boxes to select the desired metric or combination of metrics.

Special Button or Other Gadget Functions

This section gives you more detailed information about the functions of some visualizer buttons to help you make better use of these features. See the following sections for details.

Mark an Item for Search

To enable you to work efficiently with multiple windows, the visualizers provide a simple means of marking selected items such as methods, types, objects, and classes, and then locating marked items in other windows, or in displays showing other monitoring metrics. The marking mechanism is based on names, so it works across different data files provided they contain items with matching names.

When you select an item in a display to mark (single-click the item with the left mouse button), click the Mark button [mark to find button] in the tool bar, or Mark to Find in the Edit menu. Marking an item copies the name and/or other properties of the current item (highlighted by blue-green color) into the search pattern. A status message will display in the lower right bottom of the visualizer widow, confirming the selection that is the current mark. The message will look similar to this:

Marked java.util.BitSet.recalculatedUnitsinUse

Using the Marked Object List on the Console

Each time an object is marked in a visualizer, a history list on the console is updated. The list is limited to the seven most recent marked items.

Drop-down of
marked objects, located in the console

Use this list to locate marked objects across sessions or data files; anywhere within the data sets that are currently viewable in the console.

To use this feature, do the following:

  1. Open the Marked drop-down and view objects marked thus far in HPjmeter visualizers.

  2. Click the object that you want to locate.

    This makes the selected object in the drop-down become the current marked object.

  3. Now open the visualizer where you want to search for the object.

  4. Click the Find or Find Immediately button to search for the object.

Find a Search Pattern

In the Edit menu (and on the tool button bar), there are two find options:

Find Immediately [Find Immediately button], which uses the current values in the search pattern (usually stored by the most recent Mark operation) or Find [Find button], which opens a dialog window that allows you to edit the search pattern before starting the search.

The elements of the search pattern used for matching the items depend on the actual kind of items being searched (types, methods, objects, for example) and are a subset of the following list:

  • Java package name

  • Java class name

  • Java type name (classes, primitive types, and arrays)

  • Java method name

  • Java object reference (ID)

As a result of the search, all found items are highlighted. The first found item becomes the current selected item (shown with a blue background), and the window is scrolled automatically to make it visible. The remaining selected items, if any, are displayed on a light yellow background. The number of matches displays briefly in the message area in the lower right bottom of the visualizer window.

If there are multiple selected items, you can change the current item using Find Previous Selected and Find Next Selected from the Edit menu or use the appropriate buttons on the tool bar. These actions also automatically scroll the window. (See Tool Bar Buttons for Manipulating Tabular Data for the complete list of Mark and Find buttons and their meaning.)

You can also add additional items to the highlighted set by holding down the SHIFT key while clicking the left mouse button. Each new item added to the selected set is also highlighted in light yellow.

Figure 8-41 Locating an Item

Data showing current item in a find
operation
Editing the Finder

For each search field , you can either type in a different value, or you can click Clear to eliminate information from the search. You can broaden the search (search on the package name only) or narrow the search (search on the class name and/or method name only).

Once the fields are the way that you want them, click Find All to start the search.

Pause or Resume Graphical Time-based Scrolling

You can pause and resume graphical time-based scrolling by clicking the clock icon in the upper left corner just above the visualizer display area.

The following image shows a display that is running. Pressing the clock would pause the scrolling of the data. Pressing the clock again would allow the display to resume scrolling.

Figure 8-42 Using the Pause Clock

Using the Pause Clock

Changing Time Interval in GC Data Visualizers

The GC viewer provides several ways for you to manipulate the breadth of the data in the specialized GC visualizer displays. You can

Select a Subset of the Available Data

To select a subset of data, click one location on the graph and drag the mouse cursor across the graph area from left to right until you have defined an area that you want to explore in more detail. Release the mouse button, and the screen repaints with the new interval filling the entire graphical area.

Using the View menu, you can choose whether to base the selection on the X axis, the Y axis , or both. The X axis is the default setting.

Figure 8-43 The View Menu Selections in the GC Viewer

The View Menu Selections in the GC Viewer

To drill in further, repeat this method of defining the area of view until you reach your desired resolution.

Use the slider underneath the graph to view additional ranges in the data without changing the resolution interval.

The following images show a selected area on a graph and the resulting display.

Figure 8-44 Specialized GC Graph with Area Selected for Finer Resolution

Specialized GC Graph with Area Selected for Finer Resolution

Figure 8-45 New Resolution After Selection

New Resolution After Selection
Apply Selected Interval Across All Metrics

When you have your desired resolution in one metric visualizer, click the Apply
Interval button to apply the selected time interval across all metrics in the GC viewer. This resolution will apply until the reset button is clicked or a new resolution is chosen.

Note that although the X-axis (Clock Time) has not changed from the previous figure, the graph automatically zooms in on the Y-axis to provide a more fine-grained view of the data points while in this mode.

Figure 8-46 Resolution After Interval Applied to All Metrics

Resolution After Interval Applied to All Metrics
Reset Interval to Default Settings Across All Metrics

Click the Reset Interval button to reset all metrics to their original graphic display seen on first opening the GC viewer.

Changing Time Interval in Monitoring Visualizers

To change the time interval currently displayed, click the drop down in the top right of a graphical monitoring visualizer, and select the time interval that you want to see. Shorter time intervals allow you to see more detail; longer intervals allow you to see trends over time. The following image shows a heap monitor set to show activity occurring over the past hour.

Figure 8-47 Time Interval Use in a Monitoring Visualizer

Time interval drop-down shows setting
at 1 hour.