Code Profiling Utilities Manual

HP Code Profiling Utilities Manual—542684-003

4-1

4 Running the Application

Task Overview

In this step, you run the application with test data or a representative workload. A

program or DLL containing instrumented code generates a distinct raw data file each

time it completes execution. This raw data file is the record of what functions and basic

blocks were executed during the test run.

If an application is built by linking many source files and DLLs, the run generates one

raw data file that contains code coverage data from all instrumented components.

Prepare the Application for Testing

Preparing Test Cases

Select a set of test cases or a sample workload to use for your optimizations or code

coverage study.

Because instrumented code runs more slowly than uninstrumented code, you should

use instrumented code only when performing code coverage analysis or profile-guided

optimization; you should not release it for use in a production environment, as users

could experience degradation in throughput or response time.

When you prepare your test cases, consider that code coverage analysis and profile-

guided optimization have different usage scenarios. With code coverage, you are

usually trying to determine what portions of your code are being executed during

testing; the goal is to execute as much of the application as possible. With profile-

guided optimization, your objective should be to limit the execution of your application

to only those portions that are most likely to execute under a typical workload.

Figure 4-1. Producing the Raw Data for Code Coverage Analysis

vst004.vsd

Test Cases

Sample Workload

Instrumented

Application

Raw Data Files

(ZZPFnnnn, .dyn)