This chapter provides a reference to the WindView GUI commands. They are presented in alphabetical order by command or icon name:
There are two places where commands are located in the WindView GUI:
In one of the WindView Main window's menus: File, Windows, or Help. The Main window, as shown in Figure 5-1, displays when the windview command is invoked; see “Starting WindView”.
In the icon bar across the top of the View Graph, as shown in Figure 5-2. The View Graph is displayed with the “New Graph” command in the Main window's Windows menu.
For general information on using WindView, see Chapter 2, “Collecting Event Data.”
This command is located in the Help menu. When invoked, it displays the About WindView window, as shown in Figure 5-3, which contains version and copyright information on the WindView product.
When you are finished with the screen, click OK or Cancel to remove it. Click Help to get online information about this window.
This command is located in the File menu. When invoked, it displays the Analyze Event Log window, as shown in Figure 5-4, which lets you import a raw event log collected with the rtmon-client tool into WindView.
You will notice a difference in the amount of time it takes to import a processed event log with the “Open” command and the amount of time it takes to analyze a raw event log with the “Analyze” command. When a processed log is imported, it takes a constant, minimal amount of time, because the information that the WindView GUI needs to depict the event data is already present. Conversely, because this information is not yet present in a raw evert log, the time to analyze such a log is longer, and is in proportion to the size of the log. Because of this depiction of information, a processed event log is much larger than a raw event log.
The current working directory is displayed in the Filter and Selection fields by default. As you move to other directories, the Directories and Files fields are automatically resized to show as much information as possible.
To use this window, follow these steps:
To search for the raw event log to open, use the Filter field to specify a particular directory, double-clicking names in the Directories subwindow, clicking the Filter button, or pressing the <Return> key, as appropriate.
As you “filter” directories, they are listed in the Selection field, and their subdirectories and files are listed in the Directories and Files subwindows. You can continue filtering directories in this manner until the appropriate directory name is specified in the Selection field.
Once you are in the correct directory, use the Selection field to specify the particular raw event log to open. You can click the name in the Files subwindow or type the name in. Files are named with the syntax name.processor_number.wvr.
Double-click the event log name, click the OK button, or press <Return> to analyze the file and remove the Analyze Event Log window from the screen.
![]() | Note: Raw event logs have the .wvr suffix; if you attempt to open a processed event log (with the .wv suffix), an error message appears. |
If the raw event log is successfully opened, a message like the following appears in the Main window message area:
Processor 1: CPU: R4400 BSP: Silicon Graphics |
Then, if the View Graph is displayed, the event log is displayed there; see “New Graph Command”. (Note that you can display the View Graph either before or after you have opened a raw event log.)
At any time, you can click the Cancel button to remove the Analyze Event Log window from the screen, or click the Help button to display information on this window.
This command is located in the File menu. The “Analyze All” command is similar to the “Analyze” command, described above, but is used to open a View Graph that displays multiple processors. When invoked, it displays the Analyze All Event Log window, similar to Figure 5-4, that lets you import the first raw event log in a series of similarly named logs collected with the rtmon-client tool.
As an example, to create traces for multiple processors, in this example, processors 1 through 3, and save them to the file, mp_test, type:
/usr/react/bin/rtmon_client -f mp_test -p 1-3 -t 10 |
This command creates three files, mp_test.1.wvr, mp_test.2.wvr, and mp_test.3.wvr. (Note the syntax of the new filename is name.processor_number.wvr.) The filenames display in the Files pane of the Analyze All window. Selecting the first name in the series (mp_test.1.wvr, for example) opens a trace that displays the activity of all three processors. Additionally, each of the processor traces could be opened separately with the “Analyze” command.
This command is located in the Help menu. When invoked, it displays the WindView Help Contents window, as shown in Figure 5-5, which lets you scroll and jump among the various help topics.
For information on how to use the help, choose the “Using Help” command from this window's Help menu.
This command is located in the View Control window, which is located in the View Graph (displayed with the New Graph command); see “View Control Window Icon”.
Clicking the Display Events button on the View Control window displays the Display Events/States window, as shown in Figure 5-6.
Toggling these event and state types on or off controls which elements are displayed in the View Graph. System clock ticks (Ticks), ISR entrances and exits (Interrupts), and vertical lines between process or interrupt contexts and ISRs (Interrupt Transitions) are not displayed by default.
Note that this is different from the Target window, which controls event logging; see “Target Command”.
The following describes the event and state types you can display:
This command is located in the Help menu and it allows you to get context-sensitive help on any portion of the user interface.
When you choose this command, the cursor turns into a question mark. Move this question mark over the user interface element of interest and click with the left mouse button to display information for that element.
The Legend Window icon is located in the icon bar of the View Graph, which is displayed with the “New Graph” command in the Windows menu.
Clicking this icon displays a scrollable Legend window, as shown in Figure 5-8, that shows what each event icon and stipple means. For more information on these icons and stipples, choose “For Context” from the Main window's Help menu, then click the question mark over the icon or stipple of interest in the Legend window.
This command is located in the Windows menu. When invoked, it displays a View Graph, as shown in Figure 5-9, where you can examine event data.
Use your window manager to resize the View Graph, if needed. You can refresh the View Graph at any time by moving the cursor into the window and clicking the right mouse button.
The View Graph is a window into the event data; in most cases, it does not show the entire event log. Instead, what is shown is a time interval.
The first View Graph that you display is labeled View 1. You can display up to 16 View Graph windows at one time, which can be useful for looking at different portions of the same event log. Each one is numbered in the order that it is displayed; that is, the second View Graph is labeled View 2, and so on.
When you display auxiliary windows (for example, by clicking the V icon) to display the View Control window, see “View Control Window Icon”), they are numbered to match the View Graph from which they were invoked. For example, if you display a View Control window from View 2, it is also labeled View 2.
This command is located in the File menu. When invoked, it displays the Open Event File window, as shown in Figure 5-10, which lets you open a processed event log (created with the Save command; see “Save Command”).
The current working directory is displayed in the Filter and Selection fields by default. As you move to other directories, the Directories and Files subwindows are automatically resized to show as much information as possible.
To search for the processed event log to open, use the Filter field to specify a particular directory, double-clicking names in the Directories subwindow, clicking the Filter button, or pressing the <Return> key, as appropriate.
As you “filter” directories, they are listed in the Selection field, and their subdirectories and files are listed in the Directories and Files subwindows. You can continue filtering directories in this manner until the appropriate directory name is specified in the Selection field.
Once you are in the correct directory, use the Selection field to specify the particular processed event log to open. You can click on the name in the Files subwindow or type the name in.
Double-click the event log name, click the OK button, or press <Return> to open the file and remove the Open Event File window from the screen.
![]() | Note: Processed event logs have the .wv suffix; if you attempt to open a raw event log (with the .wvr suffix), an error message appears. |
If the processed event log is successfully opened, a message like the following appears in the Main window message area:
Processor 1: CPU: R4400 BSP: Silicon Graphics |
Then, if the View Graph is displayed, the event log is displayed there; see “New Graph Command”. (Note that you can display the View Graph either before or after you have opened a processed event log.)
At any time, you can click the Cancel button to remove the Open Event File window from the screen, or click the Help button to display information on this window.
These icons are located in the icon bar of the View Graph, which is displayed with the “New Graph” command in the Windows menu.
Pan Left and Pan Right move the time interval one page to the left or right, where a page is the width of the current time interval.
These icons are located in the icon bar of the View Graph, which is displayed with the “New Graph” command in the Windows menu.
The Push icon saves the current time interval. You can later move back to this time interval with the Pop or Exchange icon. You can push up to 16 time intervals; if you push more than 16, the oldest intervals are discarded in FIFO order.
The Pop icon causes the most recently pushed time interval to be displayed.
The Exchange icon swaps the currently displayed time interval with the most recently pushed time interval. For example, find an interval that is of interest to you and save it with the Push icon. Then click the Exchange icon repeatedly to move between that interval and the current interval.
This command is located in the File menu. When it is invoked, it exits WindView.
The WindView Main window and all other WindView windows are removed from the screen.
![]() | Note: When you exit WindView, you are not prompted to save your event data. To save event data before exiting, see “Save Command”. |
This command is located in the File menu. When it is invoked, it displays the Save Event File window, as shown in Figure 5-13, which lets you save processed event logs that you can open later with the “Open” command; see “Open Command”.
The current working directory is displayed in the Filter and Selection fields by default. As you move to other directories, the Directories and Files subwindows are automatically resized to show as much information as possible.
To search for the directory to save to, use the Filter field to specify the directory name, double-clicking names in the Directories subwindow, clicking the Filter button, or pressing the <Return> key, as appropriate.
As you “filter” directories, they are listed in the Selection field, and their subdirectories and files are listed in the Directories and Files subwindows. You can continue filtering directories in this manner until the appropriate directory name is specified in the Selection field.
Once you are in the correct directory, use the Selection field to specify the particular processed event log to save to. You can click the name in the Files subwindow or type the name in.
Double-click the event log name, click the OK button, or press the <Return> key to save the file and remove the Save Event File window from the screen.
When a processed event log is saved, two files are created: filename.wv and filename.wvd. These files must be kept together in the same directory, the .wv and .wvd suffixes intact, or the “Open” command will not be successful; see “Open Command”.
At any time, you can click the Cancel button to remove the Save Event File window from the screen, or click the Help button to display information on the window.
The Search Accelerator icons are located in the icon bar of the View Graph, which is displayed with the “New Graph” command in the Windows menu.
Clicking one of these icons finds the next or previous occurrence of the currently selected event.
The event may be selected because it was found by a previous search command, or you may have selected it with the middle mouse button (see “Selecting Data”).
The underlined arrows find the next (or previous) occurrence of the currently selected event in the same context, that is, in the same interrupt level, process, or idle loop context.
The arrows without underlines search for the next or previous occurrence of the currently selected event, regardless of context.
The Search Window icon is located in the icon bar of the View Graph, which is displayed with the “New Graph” command in the Windows menu.
When you click the Search Window icon, the Search window displays, as shown in Figure 5-16.
![]() | Note: You can display multiple Search windows for a View Graph. Each Search window is labeled sequentially: the first number represents the View Graph from which you invoked the Search window (1 in the example above), the second number represents which Search window it is relative to all Search windows currently displayed for this View Graph (again, 1 in the example above). The next Search window for View 1 would be labeled Search 1.2; the first Search window for View 2 would be labeled Search 2.1. The maximum number of Search windows that can be displayed for each View Graph is 16. |
With this window, you can search for a particular event, the next or previous event in a particular context, or the next or previous event of any type in any context. Follow these steps to use the Search window:
Specify a particular event by entering its name in the Event field, for example, sigwrapper.
Enter the event name by typing it or by dragging the icon of interest into the field; see “Selecting Data” for information on dragging event icons. You can also drag icons from the Legend window into this field; the exceptions are the defaultUser and unknown icons.
Leave this field blank if you are searching for any event in a particular context, or any event in any context.
You can further constrain the search for an event by specifying the event's object ID (the ID of the object being acted on; for example, a semaphore ID).
Enter the object information by typing it or by dragging the icon into the field.
If the Event field is blank, any data in the Object ID field is ignored.
You can further constrain the search for a particular event by specifying its context ID (interrupt level, process, or idle loop).
Enter the context information by typing it or by dragging the icon of interest into the field. Or, you can enter the information by selecting the context label from the vertical axis with the middle mouse button, then dragging the word “CONTEXT” that appears into the Context ID field.
If the Event field is blank, any data in the Object ID field is ignored, and the next or previous event of any type is found in the specified context.
If the Event field and the Context ID field are blank, then the next or previous event of any type in any context is found.
After you have specified the search parameters, click the appropriate arrow to perform the search.
When the next occurrence of the event is found, the View Graph displays the time interval in which it occurs and indicates the found occurrence by placing a vertical line through it. Timing information is displayed in the Detailed Information field (see “Understanding the View Graph”).
To search for another occurrence of the event, you can use the Search window again, or you can use the Search Accelerator icons in the View Graph. For information on these icons, see “Search Accelerator Icons”.
This command is located in the Windows menu. When invoked, it displays the Target window, as shown in Figure 5-17, which lets you do the following:
Specify the target system that is to receive RPC requests (the target can be the system executing the WindView program). The name of the target system can be found with the uname -n command.
Examine (and change, if appropriate) the event port number that WindView was successful in obtaining on invocation; the default is 6164.
Select the processor ID (the processor number where you will be collecting data).
Disconnect from the target system when you have completed event collection (or alternately, to clear the View Graph window upon the next data collection/display).
The successfully negotiated event port number is displayed in the Event Data Port field; in the figure above, WindView was successful in getting port 6164. If this is not the appropriate port number, you can change it with this window at any time.
To use this window, follow these steps:
Type the target system's name in the Target Name field (this is the same as the hostname).
If you used the -target flag to the windview command, that target name will be displayed in the Target Name field. If nothing is displayed, you must specify the target's name before using the Start and Stop buttons in this window.
If the event port number is appropriate for your use, skip to step 5.
If the event port number is not appropriate, type the minimum port number you would like to use in the Event Data Port field. The valid range is 5001 to 32767. For example, if you would like to use any port number above 5050, type 5050.
Press the <Return> key. WindView attempts to obtain a new event data port number, using your input into the Event Data Port field as its minimum. That is, if you type 5050, then 5050 is the lowest event data port WindView will attempt to own.
When WindView has obtained a port number, the number it was successful in obtaining is displayed in the Event Data Port field.
Type the processor number in the processor ID field. For example, to collect data on processor 3, type 3 in the Processor ID field.
Start the logging of events on the target by clicking the Start button. If you have not already done so, start the target application. Event data will begin to appear in the View Graph if it is displayed; see “New Graph Command”.
At any time, you can disconnect WindView from that event port by clicking the Disconnect button.
Stop event logging at any time by clicking the Stop button. You are now ready to analyze the event data; see Chapter 3, “Working with Event Data.”
You can choose another event logging mode and click Start to start event logging; note that a new mode does not take effect until you have stopped the logging of the previous one.
![]() | Note: If you stop event data collection and then click Start again, the event data displayed in the View Graph is overwritten by the new event data. You can save the previous event data to a processed event log with the “Save” command; see “Save Command”. |
This command is located in the Windows menu. When it is invoked, it displays the Tcl Evaluation window, as shown in Figure 5-18.
This window can be used to submit commands directly to the Tcl interpreter running in the WindView session. For example, you can use this window to read in Tcl files that you have created while WindView is running, or to debug Tcl scripts.
To use this window, type the Tcl command or commands in the window. Press <Return> to start a new text line, for example, if you are typing a multi-command string.
To send a command to the Tcl interpreter, hold the <Ctrl> key and press <Return>.
For example, to find out which version of Tcl is integrated into your WindView executable, type the following into the Tcl Evaluation window:
info tclversion <Ctrl-Return> |
The following information is printed in the window after your command line:
7.0 |
To read in a new file of Tcl commands, type the following:
source filename <Ctrl-Return> |
This allows you to re-read a particular Tcl initialization file after WindView is running. For example, to re-read your personal Tcl initialization file, type the following:
source /my_home/.windview.tcl <Ctrl-Return> |
This command is located in the Windows menu. When it is invoked, it displays the Event Inspector window, as shown in Figure 5-19.
To use this window:
Click an event icon in an event log with the middle mouse button.
Drag the event icon to the Event Inspector window. The cursor changes to the shape of the event icon, letting you see what is being dragged.
“Drop” the icon into the Event Inspector. Information about that event appears.
(For details on what type of information is logged for an event at each mode, see Chapter 4, “Event Dictionary.”)
When you drag a new icon into the window, it overwrites the previous event's information. You can also move the cursor into the window and type the letter C to clear the Event Inspector.
This icon is located in the icon bar of the View Graph, which is displayed with the “New Graph” command in the Windows menu.
If you click and hold the left mouse button over this menu icon, you can choose the unit of time displayed in the Timeline and the Detailed Time Information field (see “Understanding the View Graph” for information on these locations). The choices are:
| sec | seconds (the default) | |
| msec | milliseconds | |
| usec | microseconds | |
| nsec | nanoseconds |
This icon is located in the icon bar of the View Graph, which is displayed with the “New Graph” command in the Windows menu.
When you click this icon, the View Control window is displayed, as shown in Figure 5-22. This window contains commands that let you change how the event log is displayed.
To use this window, follow these steps:
The Track Incoming Data toggle button controls how the View Graph is updated in relation to the importing of an event log. (This only affects data that is being imported as the target is running; see “Importing Event Data”. Event data imported with the “Analyze” and “Open” commands is brought into the View Graph all at once.)
If the Track Incoming Data button is toggled on (the default), the View Graph displays the event data in real time as it arrives. In this mode, you cannot work with the event data until collection is stopped.
If the button is toggled off, the View Graph is “frozen”: only the horizontal scrollbar is adjusted to show that more data has arrived. This mode allows you to examine something of interest while the event log continues to be imported. For example, you can examine a particular time interval, save it with the Push icon, then turn Track Incoming Data back on. When you find another time interval of interest, you can turn Track Incoming Data off again, then toggle between the two intervals with the Exchange icon.
In the From and To fields, you can specify which time interval, in units of seconds or event sequence numbers, you would like to examine.
For example, type 1 in the From field and 2.5 in the To field, and then click the Go To button to view the interval from second 1 to second 2.5. Use whole numbers to specify the range of event sequence numbers you want displayed; for example, from 0 to 25, or from 1500 to 2000.
The Left and Right Arrow buttons act like the Pan Left and Pan Right icons on the View Graph (see “Pan Left/Pan Right Icons”), but are constrained by the Preserve (%) field.
For example, if Preserve is set to 50, the arrows move the view forward or back one-half page at a time (where a page is the width of the current time interval). However, if Preserve is set to 90, they move forward and back just 10% of the current time interval at a time. If Preserve is set to 0, they act the same as the icons on the View Graph; if Preserve is 100, these arrows are disabled.
The Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons act like the zoom icons on the View Graph (see “Zoom In/Zoom Out Icons”), but are constrained by the Factor field.
For example, if Factor is set to 10, this Zoom In displays 1/10 of the current time interval and this Zoom Out displays 10 times the current time interval. If Factor is set to 2, they act the same as the zoom icons on the View Graph (Zoom In displays 1/2 the current time interval; Zoom Out displays 2 times the current interval). However, if Factor is set to less than 1, the actions of these zoom buttons are reversed.
Clicking on the Display Events button causes the Display Events/States window to appear; see “Display Events Command”.
These icons are located in the icon bar of the View Graph, which is displayed with the “New Graph” command in the Windows menu.
The capital Z (Zoom In) icon lets you focus on details; the lowercase z (Zoom Out) icon lets you focus on a bigger picture.
Zoom In halves the time interval displayed, preserving the screen's midpoint. If a sub-interval is selected, the boundaries of the sub-interval become the time interval's boundaries. For information on selecting a sub-interval, see “Selecting Data”.
Zoom Out doubles the current time interval (or a selected sub-interval), preserving the midpoint, if possible.