Intel® System Debugger User Guide
Timeline Viewer
Double click on a Timeline Definition file to open it in a Timeline Viewer, or, if the default editor has changed, right click the file and select Open With > Timeline Viewer.
As the Timeline Viewer works in conjunction with a trace session, the message “No Session Opened” is displayed if no session is opened.
Open a session to view the corresponding visualization.
Use the mouse wheel to zoom in or out.
To pan the timeline horizontally, use the horizontal scroll bar or press the SHIFT key and scroll. To pan the timeline vertically, use the vertical scroll bar or press the CTRL key and scroll.
Additionally, the zoom range is in sync by default with the Message Distribution view (see Analyzing Message Distribution) and other Timeline Viewers. That is, updating the range selection in one view will update it for the others. To disable this behavior, open the context menu on Timeline Viewer and toggle the Disable/Enable Sync button or go to the Message Distribution view toolbar and toggle the Sync Range with Timeline Viewer button.
Double clicking anywhere in the timeline area activates a marker that indicates the current selection. This action also selects the closest message in the MessageView and set the corresponding marker in the Message Distribution view.
Dragging the mouse cursor anywhere in the timeline area activates the quick measurement tool that displays the time difference between two points on the time axis. To remove the quick measurement, right click any place within the timeline area again.
In addition to this, when a mouse is hovered over a message in the timeline, an arrow indicator with the same color is displayed. Working in conjunction with the marker and quick measurement tool described above, the indicator indicates that the timestamp of the first hovered message is used, instead of the extrapolated timestamp of the hovered pixel. This is useful for selecting and measuring timestamp with the exact precision.
You can assign a new name for a specific lane of a VCD or Timeline Definition File. Set an alias to a lane by right-clicking the specific lane and selecting Set Alias. You can also set the alias by the following steps below:
Select Window > Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box.
Navigate to System Trace > Viewer > Lane Alias.
Define the alias for the lane. You can import a JSON file into the list and export the current list into a JSON file for further use.
Click Apply to save your changes or Apply and Close to save changes and close the dialog.
In the editor toolbar, you can find six buttons for quick settings. The functionalities of these buttons are explained below.
To open the context menu, right-click the Timeline Viewer with the following options:
Scale To Fit: Scale the resolution to fit the whole timeline range within the visible timeline area. This button is also available in the editor toolbar.
Show/Hide Value: Show the value of each lane, if applicable, at the timeline marker. This button is also available in the editor toolbar.
Show/Hide Details: Show the details box with timestamp details when the mouse is hovered over a message in a message lane. The details box contains information about timestamp, source, and catalog string. This button is also available in the editor toolbar.
Suspend/Resume Details: “Suspend Details” to keep the selected details information shown. “Resume Details” to continue updating details box with current mouse position.
Show/Hide Grid: Show or hide grid lines. This button is also available in the editor toolbar.
Change Theme: Choose between difference themes. The main difference is the background of the timeline area having a default or darker color. This button is also available in the editor toolbar.
Change Color: Open a dialog box to modify the color of a lane.
Set Alias: Open a dialog box to modify the displayed name of a lane.
Hide Lane: Hide or show lanes
Hide This: Hide the lane that the mouse is hovered over.
Unhide All: Show all hidden lanes.
Reload: Recompute the timeline data. If the content of the Timeline Definition file has changed, clicking this button will show the timeline with the updated configuration. This button is also available in the editor toolbar.
Search: Search for a certain parameter in the selected lane(s).
Select: Select the lane to search for.
Customize: Set the search parameters for each selected lane.
Select All: Add all lanes to the search selection.
Deselect All: Clear the search selection.
Find Next Match: Find the next match in the selected lane(s).
Find Previous Match: Find the previous match in the selected lane(s).
Go To: Show timeline marker at the specified timestamp, message index, next trigger, available marker, beginning or end of interval:
Start: Go to the beginning of the interval until it reaches the beginning of timeline.
End: Go to the end of the interval until it reaches the end of timeline.
Timestamp: Open a graphical interface to go to the specified timestamp.
Message Index: Open a graphical interface to go to the specified message index.
Trigger: Go to the next available trigger.
Marker: Open a graphical interface to go to the available marker.
Mouse Cursor: Go to the current position of the mouse cursor.
Measure Time Difference: Open a graphical interface dialog box to measure the time difference between two points of interest, including: timestamp, message index, trigger, marker, beginning or end of interval.
Marker: Mark the timestamp of trace entries for later use. (See 6.9 Basic Trace Analysis: Marking Trace Entries)
Add: Open a graphical interface dialog box to specify marker parameters such as name and color. Add the timestamp that the mouse is hovered over to the marker list.
Quick Add: Quickly add timestamp to the marker list without specifying the parameters.
Go To: Open a graphical interface to go to the available marker.
Marker Preferences: Open a graphical interface to set advanced marker parameters.
Disable/Enable Sync: Disable or enable synchronization between the Message Distribution view and other Timeline Viewers.
Zoom In: Zoom in the timeline. You can also use the mouse wheel.
Zoom Out: Zoom out the timeline. You can also use the mouse wheel.
Zoom Into: Zoom into the selected range shown within the quick measurement tool.