Excluding Code From Profiling

The object of this topic is the means of excluding files or functions that you will “never” want to profile, either in any application, or in the current project. In other words, we are talking about exclusions that are global AQTime settings, or entire-project settings. More-controlled exclusions are better defined through the areas facility.

Ignoring Standard Source Files

Many development environments include a number of their libraries in your application. For example, Borland Delphi IDE typically embeds System, Classes, Controls and other units. Generally, the source code of these libraries cannot be modified, so their performance cannot be improved. Therefore, you should focus only on those elements that you can change. To filter out modules provided by standard libraries, you can use AQTime’s Exclude standard source files option. The option can also be enabled via the Exclude Standard Source Files button located on the Setup panel.

Ignoring Specific Routines and Source Files

Sometimes, there are certain routines or even entire source files which clog up profiling results and which you do not normally want or need to profile. To specify routines or files to be excluded from profiling, use the Ignore Files and Routines dialog. The routines and files specified in this dialog will be ignored in all the projects. Sometimes, you may want the settings specified in the dialog not to be so restrictive. Instead of trying to undo and redo them, you can use the Bypass ignore settings option, which is normally off, but can easily be turned on -- and then back off to restore the normal behavior. If you choose Ignore for a serious project, make sure that you enable other means of restricting what to profile. See Controlling What to Profile.

You can also define files to exclude from the current project only. This is done through the Files to Ignore item of the Project menu (see Files to Ignore for Project Dialog).

Ignoring Routines With no Source Info

One more way to exclude files from profiling is to use the Exclude routines with no source info option. The debug information may not hold information about source files for some routines. If this option is enabled, these types of routines become “invisible” to AQTime services. They are excluded from profiling, they are not shown in the Setup panel, and so on.

There are some cases when the excluding settings are ignored:

• A routine that is added to an action or trigger is treated as a routine that is added to an area. These routines are not profiled if profiling is off during the routines’ execution. For more information, see About Actions and About Triggers.
• All your settings that exclude managed code from profiling are ignored, if the Entire .NET Code box is checked in the Setup panel. Therefore, if you add a managed routine to the Ignore Files and Routines dialog and Entire .NET Code is checked, the routine will still be available for profiling. More information about the Entire .NET Code box you will find in one of the next steps.

See Also

Controlling What to Profile
About Areas
Ignore Files and Routines Dialog
Files to Ignore for Project Dialog