This group discusses the functions that allow you to get the time spent in a part of a code.

Before using the counter system, Eina must be initialized with eina_init() and later shut down with eina_shutdown(). To create a counter, use eina_counter_new(). To free it, use eina_counter_free().

To time a part of a code, call eina_counter_start() just before it, and eina_counter_stop() just after it. Each time you start to time a code, a clock is added to a list. You can give the number of that clock with the second argument of eina_counter_stop(). To send all the registered clocks to a stream (like stdout, for a file), use eina_counter_dump().

Here is a straightforward example:

 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>

 #include <eina_counter.h>

 void test_malloc(void)
 {
    int i;

    for (i = 0; i < 100000; ++i)
    {
       void *buf;

       buf = malloc(100);
       free(buf);
    }
 }

 int main(void)
 {
    Eina_Counter *counter;

    if (!eina_init())
    {
        printf("Error during the initialization of eina\n");
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }

    counter = eina_counter_new("malloc");

    eina_counter_start(counter);
    test_malloc();
    eina_counter_stop(counter, 1);

    char* result = eina_counter_dump(counter);
    printf("%s", result);
    free(result);

    eina_counter_free(counter);
    eina_shutdown();

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }

Compile this code with the following command:

 * gcc -Wall -o test_eina_counter test_eina.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs eina`
 *

The result should be something like this:

 * \# specimen    experiment time    starting time    ending time
 * 1              9794125            783816           10577941
 *

Note:: The displayed time is in nanoseconds.

Functions
Eina_Counter *	eina_counter_new (const char *name)
	Returns a counter.
void	eina_counter_free (Eina_Counter *counter)
	Deletes a counter.
void	eina_counter_start (Eina_Counter *counter)
	Starts the time count.
void	eina_counter_stop (Eina_Counter *counter, int specimen)
	Stops the time count.
char *	eina_counter_dump (Eina_Counter *counter)
	Dumps the result of all the clocks of a counter to a stream.
Typedefs
typedef struct _Eina_Counter	Eina_Counter
	An opaque type for counter.

Function Documentation

char* eina_counter_dump ( Eina_Counter * counter )

Dumps the result of all the clocks of a counter to a stream.

This function returns an malloc'd string containing the dump of all the valid clocks of counter. If counter is NULL, the functions exits immediately. Otherwise, the output is formatted like this:

Parameters:

[in] counter The counter

Returns:: A string with a summary of the test

 * \# specimen    experiment time    starting time    ending time
 * 1              208                120000           120208
 *

Note:: The unit of time is nanoseconds.

Since :: 2.3

void eina_counter_free ( Eina_Counter * counter )

Deletes a counter.

This function removes the clock of counter from the used clocks (see eina_counter_start()) and frees the memory allocated for counter. If counter is NULL, the function returns immediately.

Parameters:

[in] counter The counter to delete

Since :: 2.3

Eina_Counter* eina_counter_new ( const char * name )

Returns a counter.

This function returns a new counter. It is characterized by name. If name is NULL, the function returns NULL immediately. If memory allocation fails, NULL is returned.

Parameters:

[in] name The name of the counter

Returns:: A newly allocated counter

Note:: Whe the new counter is not needed anymore, use eina_counter_free() to free the allocated memory.

Since :: 2.3

void eina_counter_start ( Eina_Counter * counter )

Starts the time count.

This function specifies that the part of the code beginning just after its call is being timed, using counter. If counter is NULL, this function returns immediately.

Parameters:

[in] counter The counter

Note:: This function adds the clock associated to counter in a list. If the memory needed by that clock can not be allocated, the function returns and nothing is done.; To stop the timing, eina_counter_stop() must be called with the same counter.

Since :: 2.3

void eina_counter_stop	(	Eina_Counter *	counter,
		int	specimen
	)

Stops the time count.

This function stops the timing that has been started with eina_counter_start(). counter must be the same as the one used with eina_counter_start(). specimen is the number of the test. If counter or its associated clock is NULL, or if the time can't be retrieved the function exits.

Parameters:

[in]	counter	The counter
[in]	specimen	The number of the test

Since :: 2.3

Functions

Typedefs

Function Documentation