Compare view
In the Compare view you can load two data sets, which the Profiler Analyzer displays in two different colors. It displays the information from both data sets in a similar way to the Single view and has the same panes and panels.
For information on navigating the window, see the Profile Analyzer window navigation documentation.
The Compare view with two data sets loaded.
Loading data
To load data into the Compare view, select the Pull Data button in the frame control pane, and the Profile Analyzer pulls in any data in the Profiler window. Alternatively, select the Load button to load Profile Analyzer (.pdata) data you have saved from a previous session.
Note
If you select the Load option, the data must be in the Profile Analyzer .pdata format. If you have data from the Profiler in the .data file format, open it in the Profiler first, and then select the Pull Data button in the Profile Analyzer.
For more information on how to pull data into the Profile Analyzer, see the workflow documentation on Collecting and viewing data.
Marker Comparison list
The Marker Comparison pane contains a sortable list of markers with a number of useful statistics, including the difference between the two sets. The proportional graphs with the < and > labels visualize the values of each marker, so you can see the difference between the timings of both samples.
If you select a marker in the list, the Marker Summary panel displays in depth information on the marker. Each marker in the list is an aggregation of all the instances of that marker, across all filtered threads and in all ranged frames.
You can filter the columns in the Marker Comparison list to a more relevant set. This is particularly useful if you want to filter out irrelevant data when you look for Time or Count values. To filter the columns, select the Marker columns dropdown from the Filters pane. For more information on how to filter data, see the Filters documentation.
Marker Comparison columns and groups
By default, the Marker columns dropdown in the Filters pane has six preset column layouts that you can use to adjust the layout of the Marker Comparison pane. They are:
- Time and count: Displays information on the average timings and number of times the markers were called.
- Time: Displays information on the average timings of the markers.
- Totals: Displays information about the total amount of time the markers took on the whole data set.
- Time with totals: Displays information about both the average and total times of the markers.
- Count totals: Displays information about the total number of times the markers were called.
- Count per frame: Displays information on the average total per frame the markers were called.
- Depths: Displays information on where the markers are in the Hierarchy. For more information, see the documentation on Depth Slices in Filters pane.
- Threads: Displays the name of the thread that the markers appear on. For more information, see the documentation on the Thread window in Filters pane.
You can also use the Custom column layout to select your own custom mix of columns to add to the layout. To do this, right click on the header of any column, and manually enable or disable any of the columns as necessary.
The list of columns you can add to the Marker Comparison pane
Note
In this pane, the Left label refers to the first data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, which is colored blue. The Right label refers to the second data set, which is colored orange.
The following table shows the columns that the Profile Analyzer displays when you select that layout.
| Time and count | Time | Totals | Time with totals | Count totals | Count per frame | Depths | Threads | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marker Name | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Left Median Right Median |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
<> |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Diff | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||
| Abs Diff | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Count Left Count Right |
✓ | ✓ | ||||||
< Count > Count |
✓ | |||||||
| Count Delta | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||
| Abs Count | ✓ | |||||||
| Count Left Frame Count Right Frame |
✓ | |||||||
< Frame Count > Frame Count |
✓ | |||||||
| Count Delta Frame | ✓ | |||||||
| Abs Frame Count | ✓ | |||||||
| Total Left Total Right |
✓ | ✓ | ||||||
< Total > Total |
✓ | ✓ | ||||||
| Total Delta | ✓ | |||||||
| Abs Total | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||
| Depth Left Depth Right |
✓ | |||||||
| Depth Diff | ✓ | |||||||
| Threads Left Threads Right |
✓ |
The following table explains what each column does:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Marker Name | Displays the name of the marker. |
| Left Median Right Median |
The sum of activity for the marker. Left Median displays the first data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored blue. Right Median displays the second data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored orange. |
< > |
A visual representation of the Left Median (<) and Right Median (>) data. |
| Diff | The difference between the summed values in each data set. Negative values mean that the left (blue) set of data is bigger, positive means the right (orange) set of data is bigger. |
| Abs Diff | The absolute difference between the summed values in each data set. |
| Count Left Count Right |
The number of times the marker started or stopped. Count Left displays the first data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored blue. Count Right displays the second data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored orange. |
< Count > Count |
A visual representation of the Count Left and Count Right data. |
| Count Delta | The difference between the Count values in each data set. Negative values mean that the left (blue) set of data is bigger, positive means the right (orange) set of data is bigger. |
| Abs Count | The absolute difference between the Count values for the selected frames. Negative values mean that the left (blue) set of data is bigger, positive means the right (orange) set of data is bigger. |
| Count Left Frame Count Right Frame |
The average count of the marker over all non-zero frames. Count Left Frame displays the first data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored blue. Count Right Frame displays the second data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored orange. |
< Frame Count > Frame Count |
A visual representation of the Count Left Frame and Count Right Frame data. |
| Count Delta Frame | The difference between the Count Left Frame and Count Right Frame values. Negative values mean that the left (blue) set of data is bigger, positive means the right (orange) set of data is bigger. |
| Abs Frame Count | The absolute difference between the number of times the marker started or stopped in each data set. |
| Total Left Total Right |
The total time for the marker over the selected frames. Total Left displays the first data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored blue. Total Right displays the second data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored orange. |
< Total > Total |
A visual representation of the Total Left and Total Right data. |
| Total Delta | The difference between the total times over the selected frames in each data set. Negative values mean that the left (blue) set of data is bigger, positive means the right (orange) set of data is bigger. |
| Abs Total | The absolute difference between the total times over all of the selected frames in each data set. |
| Depth Left Depth Right |
The level, or depth, that the marker appears at. The marker might appear on multiple depth levels. Depth Left displays the first data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored blue. Depth Right displays the second data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored orange. |
| Depth Diff | The difference between the Depth Left and Depth Right values. |
| Threads Left Threads Right |
The name of the thread that the marker appears on. Threads Left displays the first data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored blue. Threads Right displays the second data set loaded into the Frame Control pane, colored orange. |
Marker Comparison context menu commands
If you right-click on a marker in the Marker Comparison list you can control the filter and list even further.
The context menu of the Marker Comparison pane
| Command | Function |
|---|---|
| Select Frames that contain this marker (within whole data set) | Select all the frames from the entire data set that contain an instance of this marker. |
| Select Frames that contain this marker (within current selection) | Select all the frames from a selected range of data that contain an instance of this marker. |
| Select All | Selects the entire data set, if you have a range of data selected. |
| Add to / Remove From Include Filter | Add or remove the selected marker to the Include filter. This filters the marker list to only markers that match. |
| Add to Exclude Filter | Add the selected marker to the Exclude filter. This removes the marker from the marker list. This is useful if you want to remove markers that are using up resources and skewing the markers that you are interested in. |
| Set as Parent Marker Filter | Limit the analysis to this marker and markers included below it on the callstack. For more information, see the Parent Marker documentation on the Filters page. |
| Clear Parent Marker Filter | Select this to clear the marker as a parent marker filter. |
| Copy To Clipboard | Copies the selected value to the clipboard. |
Analyzing data in Compare view
For further information on how to analyze data in Compare view, see the workflow documentation on Comparing frames from different data sets and Comparing frames from the same data set.