Intel® System Debugger User Guide
Analyze Message Distribution
The Message Distribution view visualizes the distribution of messages over time to provide a better overview of the trace and assist you in identifying interesting regions. This can be a good starting point for trace analysis.
Message Distribution no longer works with new service based Message View. This feature will be phased out in the future. In the meantime, the feature will still be accessible by decoding a capture using the “legacy” tagged usecases.
To open the view:
Select Window > Show View > Other… from the menu bar.
Select System Trace > Message Distribution and click OK.
The Message Distribution view is opened.
The Message Distribution view contains the following panes:
Graph pane on the left:
Full View (the lower graph) shows the full range of the trace.
Zoomed View (the upper graph) shows the selected range if set.
Source Selection - the legend box on the right.
It lists all sources present in the trace with the corresponding color code in plot. Setting the checkbox shows or hides the source in the graphs accordingly.
A point or a pixel on the horizontal axis in the graph represents a time frame known as Slice and the value on the vertical axis is the total number of events within that Slice. More information of the Slice is shown in the top right corner of the view, including the timestamp and the index of the first message in the Slice.
The Zooming Range Selection (the semi-transparent yellow box on the Full View) represents the portion of the full trace that the Zoomed View is showing.
To select a region of the trace to zoom into, left click on the intended starting point in the Full View and drag to the intended end point.
You can update the Zooming Range Selection using the following controls:
Select Zooming Range | left mouse click on the Full View and drag to left or right |
Resize Zooming Range | left mouse click on the left or right edge of the Zooming Range Selection and drag to left or right |
Zoom In | scroll wheel up up arrow key |
Zoom Out | scroll wheel down down arrow key |
Pan Left | left mouse click in the Zooming Range Selection and drag to left middle mouse click on the Full View and drag to left left arrow key |
Pan Right | left mouse click in the Zooming Range Selection and drag to right middle mouse click on the Full View and drag to right right arrow key |
To see more information for a particular Slice, hover the mouse pointer over the Zoomed View or the Full View.
The Cursor (the dotted line) is displayed at where the mouse pointer is hovering.
If the mouse pointer is hovering in the Zoomed View, a Cursor is always shown at the corresponding Slice in the Full View.
If the mouse pointer is hovering in the Full View, a Cursor is shown at the corresponding Slice in the Zoomed View only if it is within the selected range.
To select the first message of a Slice in the Trace Message view, double click on the Slice in the Zoomed View or the Full View.
The Marker is displayed in the Full View, and the Zoomed View if applicable.
The next nearest message from the point marked in the graphs is selected in the Trace Message view.
On the other hand, selecting a message in the Trace Message view positions the Marker in the Message Distribution view on the Slice that contains the selected message.
To show or hide a source in the graphs, set or clear the checkbox for the source in the Source Selection.
In this example, the source that is overwhelming the distribution data of the other sources, is hidden in the graphs. This allows you to study the other sources more effectively.
The Cursor and the Marker ignore the hidden sources. For instance, setting the Marker in the Message Distribution view selects the next nearest message of visible sources only in the Trace Message view.
In the toolbar, you can find four buttons for settings:
Select All Sources: Show all available sources in the graphs.
Deselect All Sources: Hide all available sources in the graphs.
Show Logarithmic Scale: Display the graphs in logarithmic or linear scale.
Disable/Enable Sync: Disable or enable synchronization between the Message Distribution view and other Timeline Viewers.