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TraceView Concepts

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This topic explains the concepts that are used in TraceView.

For information about concepts that are common to the tracing tools in the WDK, see Tracing Tool Concepts.

Trace Session Group

TraceView lets you combine trace log displays or real-time trace sessions into a trace session group and manage them as though they were a single session. When trace logs or sessions are in the same trace session group, their messages are combined in one trace message list.

By default, each trace session is a member of a trace session group that consists of only that trace session.

For information about creating trace session groups, see Grouping Trace Sessions.

Workspace

In TraceView, a workspace is a set of trace session properties and trace log display properties that you can save and reuse. With workspaces, you can display a frequently used log or start a carefully configured trace session in one quick step.

A workspace includes:

When you open the workspace for a real-time trace session, TraceView starts a new trace session with the saved properties and configuration settings. When you open the workspace for a trace log display, the log appears exactly as you had configured it.

For more information, see Using TraceView Workspaces.

Specifying Trace Providers

To create a trace session, you must identify the trace providers and locate the formatting instructions for the binary trace messages that the providers generate. You can do this any one of the following ways:

  • Locate the executable binary for the source code that lines the providers. TraceView can extract all the information necessary to enable and format TraceLogging and manifested ETW events. It will also attempt to locate the PDB symbol file to enable any WPP Software Tracing providers.

  • Locate the PDB symbol file for the source code that includes WPP Software Tracing providers. TraceView can extract from the PDB file all of the information that it needs to identify the providers and format their trace messages.

  • Locate a control GUID (.ctl) file for the provider and specify the TMF file or the path to a directory where TMF files are stored.

  • Enter the control GUID of the provider and specify the TMF file or the path to a directory where TMF files are stored.

    If you enter a provider name preceded by an asterisk (e.g. *SampleProvider), TraceView will automatically turn the name into a GUID using a standard algorithm. Not all providers follow this standard, but many, such as providers written using .NET's EventSource Class, do.

  • Select a registered provider from the list that TraceView assembles and specify the TMF file or the path to a directory where TMF files are stored.

  • Select an NT Kernel Logger Trace Session, then select one or more operating system events to trace.

Set TMF Search Path and Select TMF Files Options

When enabling WPP providers, unless you have the PDB symbol file for the provider, you must specify a directory in which TraceView can find the TMF files or must locate the TMF files for the provider's trace messages.

TraceView supports two methods:

  • Use the Set TMF Search Path option when you are not sure which TMF files to use for the trace provider. TraceView searches all of the TMF files in the specified directory and matches the message GUID of the message that is generated to the name of the TMF file. The TMF files must be located in the specified directory. TraceView does not search recursively.

  • Use the Select TMF files option when you know which TMF file to use for the trace provider, or when the TMF files you need are in different directories. You must also use this option if the name of the TMF file is not a message GUID, because TraceView cannot find it in a directory.

If the TMF files that are specified or those that TraceView finds in the specified directory do not match the trace messages that are generated by the trace provider, TraceView cannot format the messages. Instead, it displays the trace message GUID and the following error message:

No Format Information found.

To create TMF files from a PDB symbol file, in a Command Prompt window, use Tracepdb.