MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan Developer Documentation Develop for the Nokia N9

Using Instrumentation Dashboard


Instrumentation Dashboard is an extension to Qt Creator that provides data gathering and visualisation features for a subset of analysis tools available on the device. The visualisations enable the developers to see the behaviour of the device and/or applications in a graphical format. Tools for viewing the output in textual format are already available on the device terminal.

Instrumentation Dashboard provides adaptation for the following tools:

Note: mem-cpu-monitor is part of the sp-memusage package.

Instrumentation Dashboard also provides two utilities:

Installing the Instrumentation Dashboard

Precondition:

  • Qt Creator has been installed on you workstation.


To integrate the Instrumentation Dashboard with the Qt SDK, follow these steps:

  1. Open Qt Creator.
  2. Launch the Qt SDK Maintenance Tool by clicking Help in the top menu bar and selecting Start Updater.
  3. Select Package manager and click Next.
  4. In the Select Components window, under Experimental -> Harmattan, check the Instrumentation Dashboard box and click Next.
    Select Components window
  5. In the Ready to Update Packages window, click Update. Instrumentation Dashboard is now installed.
  6. Click Finish to exit the Qt SDK Maintenance Tool.
  7. Restart Qt Creator.

Connecting the Harmattan device

Before you can use the tools and utilities, you must install the tool packages on the Harmattan device and set up the connection between the device, Qt SDK and the Instrumentation Dashboard. Otherwise, the tools and utilities will be disabled in their respective menus in the Instrumentation Dashboard.

To prepare the Harmattan device and the Qt SDK connection, follow these steps:

  1. Activate developer mode.
  2. Depending on which tool you want to use, install necessary bundle packages:
    • To use strace and latrace, install the Tracing bundle package.
    • To use swaplogger, install the Performance bundle package.
    • To use mem-cpu-monitor, install the Resource usage analysis bundle package. The mem-cpu-monitor is included in sp-memusage package.
  3. Connect the device and Qt SDK.

To connect Instrumentation Dashboard and the device, follow these steps:

  1. In Qt Creator, click Tools in the top menu bar.
  2. Select External -> Instrumentation Dashboard.
    Open Instrumentation Dashboard
  3. In the Instrumentation Dashboard window, click File in the top menu bar.
  4. Select Connect -> Harmattan Device.
    Connect Harmattan device

Using the Instrumentation Dashboard

Using the Instrumentation Dashboard tools

For instructions on how to use the tools with the Instrumentation Dashboard, see the following tools sections:

It is possible to launch multiple instances of the tools.

Using Remote Processes utility

Remote Processes utility displays information about the running processes on the Harmattan device. The utility displays process ID (PID) and the process command information. To launch the Remote Processes utility, click Utilities and select Remote Processes.

The commands are displayed as a list in the Remote Processes view. Highlight a command to see the context menu. From this menu you can copy a command or copy a PID.

To retrieve updated process information from the device, use the refresh icon. Use the search box to highlight the first matching entry in the list of remote processes.

Open Instrumentation Dashboard

Using Deploy Package utility

With the Deploy Package utility you can transfer and install a Debian package to the connected Harmattan device.

To use the Deploy Package utility:

  1. Click Utilities and select Deploy Package.
  2. Navigate to the Debian package path in file browsing window.
  3. Select the Debian package to deploy.

After a successful deployment, a message window appears that states <package-name> deployed successfully. In case of failure, a message window appears that states <packagename> package deployment failed and the error message from the package manager.

Disconnecting the Harmattan device

  1. In the Instrumentation Dashboard window, click File in the top menu bar.
  2. Select Disonnect.

Updating the Instrumentation Dashboard default installation

To update the Instrumentation Dashboard to a new version, follow these steps:

  1. Open Qt Creator.
  2. Launch the Qt SDK Maintenance Tool by clicking Help in the top menu bar and selecting Start Updater.
  3. Select Update components and click Next.
  4. In the Select Components window, under Experimental -> Harmattan, check the box of the new version of the Instrumentation Dashboard and click Next.
  5. In the Ready to Update Packages window, click Update. Instrumentation Dashboard is now updated.
  6. Click Finish to exit the Qt SDK Wizard.

Uninstalling the Instrumentation Dashboard

To uninstall the Instrumentation Dashboard, follow these steps:

  1. Open Qt Creator.
  2. Launch the Qt SDK Maintenance Tool by clicking Help in the top menu bar and selecting Start Updater.
  3. Select Package manager and click Next.
  4. In the Select Components window, under Experimental -> Harmattan, uncheck the Instrumentation Dashboard box and click Next.
  5. In the Ready to Update Packages window, click Update. Instrumentation Dashboard is now uninstalled.
  6. Click Finish to exit the Qt SDK Wizard.