Reference: Windows Performance Analyzer views

Article
10/29/2021

The C++ Build Insights tools are available in Visual Studio 2019 and later. To see the documentation for this version, set the Visual Studio Version selector control for this article to Visual Studio 2019 or later. It's found at the top of the table of contents on this page.

This article provides details on each of the C++ Build Insights views available in Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA). Use this page to find:

data column descriptions; and
available presets for each view, including their intended use and preferred viewing mode.

If you're new to WPA, we recommend that you first familiarize yourself with the basics of WPA for C++ Build Insights.

Build Explorer

The Build Explorer view is used to:

diagnose parallelism issues,
determine if your build time is dominated by parsing, code generation, or linking, and
identify bottlenecks and unusually long build activities.

Build Explorer view data columns

Column Name	Description
BuildTimelineDescription	A textual description the timeline the current activity or property occurs on.
BuildTimelineId	A zero-based identifier for the timeline the current activity or property occurs on.
Component	The component being compiled or linked when the current event was emitted. The value of this column is <Invocation X Info> when no component is associated with this event. X is a unique numerical identifier for the invocation being executed at the time the event was emitted. This identifier is the same as the one in the InvocationId column for this event.
Count	The number of activities or properties represented by this data row. This value is always 1, and is only useful in aggregation scenarios when multiple rows are grouped.
ExclusiveCPUTime	The amount of CPU time in milliseconds used by this activity. The time spent in child activities isn't included in this amount.
ExclusiveDuration	The millisecond duration of the activity. The duration of child activities isn't included in this amount.
InclusiveCPUTime	The amount of CPU time in milliseconds used by this activity and all child activities.
InclusiveDuration	The millisecond duration of this activity, including all child activities.
InvocationDescription	A textual description of the invocation this event occurred in. The description includes whether it was cl.exe or link.exe, and a unique numerical invocation identifier. If applicable, it includes the full path to the component compiled or linked during the invocation. For invocations that don't build any component, or for the ones that build multiple components, the path is blank. The invocation identifier is the same as the one in the InvocationId column.
InvocationId	A unique numerical identifier for the invocation this event occurred in.
Name	The name of the activity or property represented by this event.
Time	A timestamp that identifies when the event occurred.
Tool	The tool executing when this event occurred. The value of this column is either CL or Link.
Type	The type of the current event. This value is either Activity or Property.
Value	If the current event is a property, this column contains its value. This column is left blank when the current event is an activity.

Build Explorer view presets

Preset Name	Preferred View Mode	How to Use
Activity Statistics	Graph / Table	Use this preset to view aggregated statistics for all Build Explorer activities. In table mode, tell at a glance if your build is dominated by parsing, code generation, or the linker. The aggregated durations for each activity are sorted in descending order. Drill in by expanding the top node to easily find which invocations take the most time for these top activities. If you like, you can adjust WPA settings to show averages or other types of aggregations. In graph mode, see when each activity is active during your build.
Invocations	Graph	Scroll down through a list of invocations in the graph view sorted by start time. You can use it together with the CPU (Sampled) view to find invocations that align with low CPU utilization zones. Detect parallelism issues.
Invocation Properties	Table	Quickly find key information about a given compiler or linker invocation. Determine its version, working directory, or the full command line used to invoke it.
Timelines	Graph	See a bar graph of how your build was parallelized. Identify parallelism issues and bottlenecks at a glance. Configure WPA to assign different meanings to the bars according to your needs. Choose invocation descriptions as the last grouped column to view a color coded bar graph of all your invocations. It helps you quickly identify time consuming culprits. Then, zoom in and choose the activity name as the last grouped column to see the longest parts.

Files

The Files view is used to:

determine which headers get included the most often, and
help you decide what to include in a pre-compiled header (PCH).

Files view data columns

Column Name	Description
ActivityName	The activity in progress when this file event was emitted. Currently, this value is always Parsing.
BuildTimelineDescription	*
BuildTimelineId	*
Component	*
Count	*
Depth	The zero-based position in the include tree in which this file is found. Counting starts at the root of the include tree. A value of 0 typically corresponds to a .c/.cpp file.
ExclusiveDuration	*
IncludedBy	The full path of the file that included the current file.
IncludedPath	The full path of the current file.
InclusiveDuration	*
InvocationId	*
StartTime	A timestamp that represents the time at which the current file event was emitted.
Tool	*

* The value of this column is the same as in the Build Explorer view.

Files view presets

Preset Name	Preferred View Mode	How to Use
Statistics	Table	See which files had the highest aggregated parsing time by looking at the list in descending order. Use this information to help you restructure your headers or decide what to include in your PCH.

Functions

The Functions view is used to identify functions with an excessively long code generation time.

Functions view data columns

Column Name	Description
ActivityName	The activity in progress when this function event was emitted. Currently, this value is always CodeGeneration.
BuildTimelineDescription	*
BuildTimelineId	*
Component	*
Count	*
Duration	The duration of the code generation activity for this function.
FunctionName	The name of the function undergoing code generation.
InvocationId	*
StartTime	A timestamp that represents when the current function event was emitted.
Tool	*

* The value of this column is the same as in the Build Explorer view.

Functions view presets

Preset Name	Preferred View Mode	How to Use
Statistics	Table	See which functions had the highest aggregated code generation time by looking at the list in descending order. They may hint where your code overuses the `__forceinline` keyword, or that some functions may be too large.
Timelines	Graph	Look at this bar graph to learn the location and duration of functions that take the most time to generate. See if they align with bottlenecks in the Build Explorer view. If they do, take appropriate action to reduce their code generation time and benefit your build times.

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