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I am using eclipse to write java code. If I'm debugging some code I can set a breakpoint and follow along as the code goes through each of the functions or I can backtrack. I can also look at the call hierarchy or the references to get an idea. But that's not enough.

I would like to have a some sort of time-based visualization of what each thread is doing along the process from ... let's say "point A" (pressing a button on the interface) to "point B" (getting the result). I want to see which classes/methods were called in what order. I want a good way to visualize what kind of output is coming from one method and going into another method which fires off a new process ...etc.

Is a profiler the only thing available for this type of visualization? Basically I want an action diagram or flow diagram created. Is there some plugin or app which can generate something like this?

Edit: Here is an example of what I'm thinking ... at least visually: essmodel.sourceforge.net/index.html It has some flow of where the code is leading. But I think this is just a static map of what classes lead to other classes and what inputs/output options are available. I would want to map the flow based on a specific case.

user701273
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  • what do you think about AOP, something like aspectj? Intercept the method calls you care about, and log what you want. – Ron Mar 30 '12 at 15:59

2 Answers2

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JProfiler offers such a view, it's called the "Call tracer":

enter image description here

It's important to restrict your filters very carefully in order not to record to much data.

Disclaimer: My company develops JProfiler.

Ingo Kegel
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I believe using a profiler is going to be your best option. Are you familiar with VisualVM? It comes with the JDK (look for "jvisualvm.exe" inside your JDK's bin directory) and is capable of profiling local virtual machines automatically as well as remote machines when configured properly. And it does give a pretty slick overview of what threads are running and the code they are spending time in, so I think you could easily do what you need from it. And best of all, it's free :)

As I said, local profiling is a breeze. You just run JVisualVM.exe standalone, and it will find any and all java processes running on the local machine automatically (you can just pick them out of a menu that VisualVM gives you upfront). If you want to profile remotely, set the following VM arguments for whatever it is that you're running:

-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=[0-65535]
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false

Then within VisualVM, use the hostname of the machine your remote JVM is running on and the port you configured in the first VM argument above.

CodeBlind
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  • visualVM only has cumulated call stack information without chronological information, not the time-resolved view that the question asked for. – Ingo Kegel Mar 27 '12 at 09:06
  • I was thinking of something more visual like this: http://essmodel.sourceforge.net/index.html It has some flow of where the code is leading. But I think this is just a static map of what classes lead to other classes and what inputs/output options are available. I would want to map it based on a specific case. – user701273 Mar 30 '12 at 15:46