Using the tnfview Timeline Window

The main tnfview screen displays the timeline of events generated by your program. Events of different types are represented by different colored shapes. Clicking on a single event selects it. Shift-clicking selects additional events.

The main window of tnfview has several control and display areas (in addition to the timeline graph):

• Event Table - Selecting an event causes the event's data fields to be displayed in the tnfview Event Table below the timeline graph. Shift-click additional events to add events to the Event Table.

• Navigation Menu - After you have selected an event, you can browse through the other events in the timeline, moving to the next or previous event in the same navigation category.

Table 6-3 Timeline Navigation Menu Categories

Menu Category	Definition
current probe	Probe name.
current tid	Solaris thread ID.
current lwpid	Solaris lightweight process ID.
cpu	Always zero for user-level traces.
current pid	Solaris process ID.
current vid	Virtual thread ID - A logical thread ID assigned when trace files from different nodes are merged.
time	Strict time sequence, by millisecond.

• The navigation categories are shown in Table 6-3.

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  Note -

  For single-threaded multi-process programs, the virtual thread ID is the same as the MPI rank of each process.

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• Next, Previous Buttons - Displays each subsequent event's data field values in the tnfview Event Table (or adds the current event's data field values to the events already listed in the tnfview Event Table if one or more events are already listed). Simply clicking on an event empties the Event Table of prior entries, so that the Event Table contains only the data fields of the most recently selected event.

• Scale Sliders - Adjusts the scale of either the X or Y axis (or both) of the timeline, zooming in or out. Note that the timeline Y axis is scaled by virtual ID, which is equivalent to processor rank in MPI programs.

• Panner Window - Controls the selection of the area displayed in the timeline graph. Dragging the middle mouse button, you can select a subset of the timeline in the panner window, creating a selection frame. You can drag that frame to another location in the timeline using the left mouse button.

• Graph Button - Opens the Graph window, in which you can create, modify, display, and analyze datasets based on events and event pairs (intervals).

• Print Button - Opens the Print dialog box, in which you specify the printer; prints the timeline view

Opening TNF Trace Files

The Open Tracefile selection on the File menu opens the Open File dialog box. Use this dialog box to select a trace file for performance analysis.

Figure 6-2 Open File Dialog Box

Bookmarking Events

You can set a bookmark. in the Timeline window on any selected event. Such bookmarks enable you to return to a specific view in the Timeline window. Bookmarks remain only for the duration of the current session. Once a bookmark has been set, you can select it from the Bookmark menu. Selecting a bookmark will return you to the event, restoring the contents of the Event Table and the zoom and scroll factors that were in effect when the bookmark was set.

Navigating and Controlling the tnfview Timeline Window

The tnfview Timeline Window uses a set of mouse commands for each region of its window. The tnfview mouse commands for each region are shown in Table 6-4 through Table 6-7.

Table 6-4 Timeline Graph Mouse Commands

Command	Description
Left Click	Select an event and clear previous selections
Shift-Left Click	Select an additional event and add it to the set of selected events
Middle Drag	Select area for zoom
Middle Click	Center view around point
Scroll Bars	Scroll view of graph at current zoom factor
Scale Bars	Adjust zoom factor of each axis independently

Table 6-5 Panner Graph Mouse Commands

Command	Description
Left Drag	Drag view rectangle
Middle Drag	Select area of timeline for viewing

Table 6-6 Navigation Control Mouse Commands

Command	Description
Left Arrow Button	Select previous event
Right Arrow Button	Select next event
Pull-down Menu	Select navigation criteria

Table 6-7 Event Table Mouse Commands

Command	Description
Left Click	Select an event
Up/Down Arrows (Keyboard)	Select next/previous event in table

Exiting tnfview

From the File menu, choose Exit to exit tnfview.

Exiting tnfview eliminates data generated during the current tnfview session. The tnfview program does not save generated datasets, bookmarks (described in "Bookmarking Events"), or any settings chosen during the session. Your original trace file remains unchanged.