Writing Performance Data to a Log File

The following example writes real time performance data to a log file. The example calls the PdhOpenQuery and PdhAddCounter functions to create a query to collect Processor Time counter data. The example then calls the PdhOpenLog function to create the log file to write the data to. The example calls the PdhUpdateLog function to collect a sample and update the log file once a second for 20 seconds.

For an example that reads the generated log file, see Reading Performance Data from a Log File.

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <pdh.h>
#include <pdhmsg.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "pdh.lib")

CONST PWSTR COUNTER_PATH    = L"\\Processor(0)\\% Processor Time";
CONST ULONG SAMPLE_INTERVAL_MS = 1000;

void DisplayCommandLineHelp(void)
{
    wprintf(L"The command line must include a valid log file name.\n"); 
}

void wmain(int argc, WCHAR **argv)
{
    HQUERY hQuery = NULL;
    HLOG hLog = NULL;
    PDH_STATUS pdhStatus;
    DWORD dwLogType = PDH_LOG_TYPE_CSV;
    HCOUNTER hCounter;
    DWORD dwCount;

    if (argc != 2) 
    {
        DisplayCommandLineHelp();
        goto cleanup;
    }

    // Open a query object.
    pdhStatus = PdhOpenQuery(NULL, 0, &hQuery);

    if (pdhStatus != ERROR_SUCCESS)
    {
        wprintf(L"PdhOpenQuery failed with 0x%x\n", pdhStatus);
        goto cleanup;
    }

    // Add one counter that will provide the data.
    pdhStatus = PdhAddCounter(hQuery,
        COUNTER_PATH,
        0,
        &hCounter);

    if (pdhStatus != ERROR_SUCCESS)
    {
        wprintf(L"PdhAddCounter failed with 0x%x\n", pdhStatus);
        goto cleanup;
    }

    // Open the log file for write access.
    pdhStatus = PdhOpenLog(argv[1], 
        PDH_LOG_WRITE_ACCESS | PDH_LOG_CREATE_ALWAYS,
        &dwLogType,
        hQuery,
        0, 
        NULL,
        &hLog);

    if (pdhStatus != ERROR_SUCCESS)
    {
        wprintf(L"PdhOpenLog failed with 0x%x\n", pdhStatus);
        goto cleanup;
    }
 
    // Write 10 records to the log file.
    for (dwCount = 0; dwCount < 10; dwCount++) 
    {
        wprintf(L"Writing record %d\n", dwCount);

        pdhStatus = PdhUpdateLog (hLog, NULL);
        if (ERROR_SUCCESS != pdhStatus)
        {
            wprintf(L"PdhUpdateLog failed with 0x%x\n", pdhStatus);
            goto cleanup;
        }

        // Wait one second between samples for a counter update.
        Sleep(SAMPLE_INTERVAL_MS); 
    }

cleanup:

    // Close the log file.
    if (hLog)
        PdhCloseLog (hLog, 0);

    // Close the query object.
    if (hQuery)
        PdhCloseQuery (hQuery);
}