Background
A global hot key is a mechanism whereby you associate a combination of keystrokes with an action. For example, on Windows* the key combination, “Ctrl-Alt-Del”, performs a system action. Both Windows* and Linux* have standard solutions for assigning an action to a key or key combination. By using VTune Amplifier XE’s command line scripting, it is possible to control the data collection and display of results using a global hot key.
Overview
The global hotkey techniques are different for Linux and Windows, the following first describes the process on Linux followed by Windows.
Linux
The most common hot key manager available for X-windows is xbindkeys. To use it for Amplifier XE collection control, do the following:
- Download the xbindkeys here.
- Configure, make, install as described in the package documentation. If Guile has not been installed on the system then xbindkeys needs to disable this feature explicitly. Execute "./configure --disable-guile"..
- Run "xbindkeys --defaults > $HOME/.xbindkeysrc" to create the default key bindings file, then add two commands to it by pasting the following four lines:
"~/axe-hot-profile.sh start" control+shift + s "~/axe-hot-profile.sh finish" control+shift + f
- In this script, duration of the data collection is set by the variable AXE_DURATION and specifies the number of seconds to collect data. This duration time can be modified or specified as “unlimited”. In addition a collection can also be stopped by the stop hot key.
- Before you define your hot key you should verify that the sequence of key strokes is not being used by another application. For example, on Ubuntu systems you can view keyboard shortcuts using the System->Preferences->Keyboard Shortcuts dialog.
- Create an axe-hot-profile.sh script in your home directory with the following respective content (adjusting AXE_HOME to your installation path):
#!/bin/bash
RESULT_DIR_BASE=/tmp/amplxe-auto-result
AXE_HOME=/opt/intel/vtune_amplifier_xe_2011
AXE_ATYPE=lightweight-hotspots
AXE_DURATION=120
if
then
echo "Usage: `basename $0` {start | finish}" >&2
exit 1
fi
if ; then
echo "Profiling system-wide with Amplifier XE, press CTRL-SHIFT-F to finish..."
rm -rf "${RESULT_DIR_BASE}.1" || exit 1
if [ -d "${RESULT_DIR_BASE}.0" ]; then mv "${RESULT_DIR_BASE}.0" "${RESULT_DIR_BASE}.1" ; fi
xterm -e "${AXE_HOME}/bin64/amplxe-cl" -c "${AXE_ATYPE}" -duration ${AXE_DURATION} -r "${RESULT_DIR_BASE}.0"
"${AXE_HOME}/bin64/amplxe-gui" "${RESULT_DIR_BASE}.0"
else
"${AXE_HOME}/bin64/amplxe-cl" -C stop -r "${RESULT_DIR_BASE}.0"
fi
|
- Make sure to set the executable bit on the script.
- Run xbindkeys in the background by executing the command "xbindkeys &".
Windows
On Windows you can use the standard OS capability to create a shortcut to a command and set a hot key for it:
- In this script, the maximum duration is set by the variable AXE_DURATION and specifies the number of seconds to collect data. This duration time can be modified or specified as “unlimited”. In the case of an unlimited duration the collection would run until stopped by the stop hot key.
- In the following script after once a collection is completed, after using the start hotkey, the amplxe-gui is invoked on the collection result.
- Create a batch file with the following content (adjusting AXE_HOME to your installation path):
@echo off
set RESULT_DIR_BASE=%TMP%amplxe-auto-result
set AXE_HOME=C:Program Files (x86)IntelVTune Amplifier XE 2011
set AXE_ATYPE=lightweight-hotspots
set AXE_DURATION=120
if "%1" == "start" goto :ok
if "%1" == "finish" goto :ok
echo Usage: axe-hot-profile.bat {start ^| finish} >&2
exit /b 1
:ok
if "%1" == "start" (
echo Profiling system-wide with Amplifier XE, press CTRL-SHIFT-F to finish...
if exist "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.1" (
del /s /q "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.1" || exit /b 1
)
if exist "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.0" (
move "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.0" "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.1"
)
if exist "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.0" (
echo Couldn't rename the auto result directory -- GUI session is running?
exit /b 2
)
"%AXE_HOME%bin32amplxe-cl.exe" -c "%AXE_ATYPE%" -duration %AXE_DURATION% -r "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.0"
"%AXE_HOME%bin32amplxe-gui.exe" "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.0"
) else (
"%AXE_HOME%bin32amplxe-cl.exe" -command stop -r "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.0"
)
|
- Right-click on the Windows desktop and select New -> Shortcut. In the wizard, specify for the location of the command a string like "<path to the batch file> start". Click "OK".
- Right-click the shortcut and select Properties. In the dialog select "Shortcut key" and press CTRL-SHIFT-S to set that as the hot key for starting the collection.
- Repeat the two steps again and create a shortcut for "<path to the batch file> finish" command setting CTRL-SHIFT-F as the hot key.
Hot Keys in Action
- Press CTRL-SHIFT-S to launch Amplifier XE data collection any time. On collection start, the previously collected result is renamed to have suffix ".1" so that you can access it if still needed.
- Press CTRL-SHIFT-F to finish the data collection and open the GUI.
- There is a limitation that you can't have multiple data collection sessions running at the same time, the second data collection will fail trying to move the first collection.
Performing start/stop with a single hot key
It is possible to use a single hotkey to do both start and stop of a collection. There are several ways to achieve this. In the method presented, you will need to use a file to record when Amplifier XE is in the “running” state. If running, then the hot key will perform a “stop” function, if not running then a collection will be started. The following is a snippet that shows this functionality on Windows.
if exist "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.running" ( echo Stopping collection ... Code of collection stop ... del "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.running" ) else ( echo Starting collection type NUL > "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.running" ... Code of collection startup ... del "%RESULT_DIR_BASE%.running )