When you set basic target application properties to configure the Intel Inspector projects, make sure you choose small, representative data sets to produce the most accurate and complete dynamic analysis results at the least cost.
About Setting Basic Target Application Properties
Most basic application properties are not specific to Intel Inspector projects and their purpose should be self-evident. Some are inheritable from the Visual Studio* property pages of the Startup project (Configuration Properties> Debugging). The following are of special note:
Use This | To Do This |
|---|---|
Microsoft* runtime environment drop-down list |
Note
|
Store result... radio buttons | Store results in the default project location or a custom location. |
Result location field (read-only) | Verify the result location and current result directory name template. |
About Choosing Small, Representative Data Sets
When you run a dynamic analysis, the Intel Inspector executes an application. Data set size and workload have a direct impact on application execution time and analysis speed.
For example, it takes longer to process a 1000x1000 pixel image than a 100x100 pixel image. A possible reason for the longer processing time: You may have loops with an iteration space of 1...1000 for the larger image, but only 1...100 for the smaller image. The exact same code paths may be executed in both cases. The difference is the number of times these code paths are repeated.
You may control analysis cost without sacrificing completeness by removing this kind of redundancy from your data set.
Instead of choosing large, repetitive data sets, choose small, representative data sets that fully create threads with minimal to moderate work per thread. Minimal to moderate means just enough work to demonstrate all the different behaviors a thread can perform.
Your objective: In as short a runtime period as possible, execute as many paths and the maximum number of tasks (parallel activities) as you can afford, while minimizing the redundant computation within each task to the bare minimum needed for good code coverage.
Data sets that run a few seconds are ideal. Create additional data sets to ensure all your code is inspected.
Note
If you plan to run threading analyses and your programming model uses dynamic scheduling, ensure sufficient work is available for assignment to more than one thread.
About Setting Advanced Target Application Properties
Advanced target application properties are specific to Intel Inspector projects.
About Managing Suppression Rules
You (and your development team) will always know more about your code than the Intel Inspector can ever know. For example:
Your team lead may know of error-prone third-party code.
Your team architect may know specific code passages are correct as coded.
You may know you are currently fixing a specific bug.
Suppressing known issues based on rules you define can improve your productivity by helping you focus on only those issues that currently require your attention.
You can manage the suppression rules applied to each project during analysis by adding information to or removing information from the Suppressions tab of the Project Properties dialog box.
About Searching Non-standard Directories
Intel Inspector is designed to search all standard directories for the supporting files necessary to execute an application during analysis and manage result data after analysis.
You can also configure the Intel Inspector to search non-standard directories. This can be useful when:
The binary is built outside the Visual Studio* IDE.
Specific PATH settings are required for correct operation.
Source files reside somewhere other than where debug information indicates.
Debug information files are not located with binary files.
Alert the Intel Inspector to search non-standard directories using the Binary/Symbol Search tab and the Source Search tab of the Project Properties dialog box.
Note
If you take full advantage of the solutions/projects paradigm to create application software in the Visual Studio* IDE, searching for non-standard directories should be unnecessary.