VisualStudio extension and utilities used to display and highlight compilation profiling data. Know the real compilation cost of your code directly inside Visual Studio. Keep the compile times in check.
Download latest VSIX from the Visual Studio Marketplace 2022
Download latest VSIX from the Visual Studio Marketplace 2019
Download latest Data Extractor Executable
Compile times are one of the most important things that affect productivity and iterations while developing in C/C++. Slow compile times can be very frustrating, as they are usual case scenarios in big code productions. Being able to identify which pieces are expensive in the same place you code is key in order to keep tech debt under control.
Double-click any entry in the compile score window to open its timeline.
This window shows all the inclusion stacks that lead to the selected include, ending with the compilation units.
Right-click on any include entry and select Show Includers Graph to open its includers graph.
This will parse the given file and display why you need each include and how strong is the binding of this include with the parsed file. This view also merges the cost of the file coming from the build profile data combining the 'why I need this' with the 'how much it costs' in the same place.
- Zoom: Control + Mouse Wheel
- Scroll: Middle mouse press and drag
This repository also contains a standalone app with the same visualization and code as the VS extension. It can prove useful to compare results or open reports without having to open Visual Studio.
The app needs to be build. The project is inside the same solution as the VS extensions and it can be found at CompileScore/CompileScore.sln.
The main idea is to get the C++ compiler to output a trace for what happened during the build. We can then aggregate all that data using the Data Extractor in this repository, and consume it with the VS plugin or the standalone app.
The data extraction is an independent process in order to allow things like building the score file on a build server and consume it remotely. This can be useful in big codebases where we want the production floor to just use the reports from last night inside VS without having to profile locally.
In the VS extension options there is a field to tell the plugin where to find the report file (this is next to the solution file or root folder by default).
For more information check the Score Generation Page.
- Configurations and Options
- Score Generaton And Data Extractor
- Text Highlight Customization
- Article: How to use Compile Score by Sebastian Schöner
The Release workflow action contains a step by step process for building the Data Extractor, the VISX and the Standalone App.
Several Test Projects have been included in the repository.
- Visual Studio
- Clang 9+ ( support for -ftime-trace )
- Microsoft C++ Build Insights SDK ( MSVC 16.1 or higher )
If you're not using Visual Studio but are still interested in the data aggregation, you can use SeeProfiler, a standalone C++ compiler profiler which aggregates all the exported data from clang for a global view.
This project is open to code contributions.
If you found this extension useful you can always buy me a cup coffee.
