If you are:
•an admin level user
•using Microsoft compilers
•on a modern OS
•already know that you create debug info in your debug and release product
...then you're more than likely good to go and dive in!
Otherwise, we recommend reading these topics from the Overview section before starting:
•What do you need to run Performance Validator?
You can test drive the capabilities of Performance Validator by launching the example program supplied with Performance Validator - nativeExample.exe.
The example program can be used in conjunction with the Performance Validator tutorials.
Your application needs to be compiled to produce debugging information and linked to make that debugging information available.
If you have no PDB debugging information but you do have a Microsoft format MAP file available, it must contain line number information by using the /MAPINFO:LINES linker directive.
To start your program click on the launch icon on the Session toolbar.
What you see next depends on the user interface mode (wizard or dialog style).
If you have just installed the software you will be shown the launch wizard:
Click Browse... to choose a program to launch Next Next Next Start Application...
If you have switched to Dialog mode you will be shown the launch dialog:
Click Browse... to choose a program to launch Launch
Performance Validator will start and inject the stub into the target program. Progress during this phase is displayed in the title header of the main window.
Once correctly installed in the target program, the stub will establish communications with Performance Validator and data can be collected and viewed until the target program exits.
The Statistics Tab and the Callstack Tab will update at intervals (unless set otherwise) to show data collected so far. Other tabs need manually refreshing.
When the target program exits, Performance Validator closes the session. The data collection icons on the session toolbar are disabled, and the launch icons are enabled again.
The Statistics display is automatically updated to reflect the final data, and the other tabs also continue to let you explore the data until the session is closed.
Even though the target program has exited, the session is still active and can be examined or saved until the session is closed:
File menu Close Session
You can have more than one session open at a time.