User Interface Basics

When starting KCachegrind with a profile data file as argument, or after loading one with File/Open, you will see a sidebar containing the function list at the left, and on the right the main part, an area with visualizations for a selected function. This visualization area can be arbitrary configured to show multiple visualizations at once.

At first start, this area will be divided into a top and a bottom part, each with different visualizations selectable by tabs. To move visualization views, use the context menu of the tabs, and adjust the splitters between visualizations. To fast switch between different visualisation layouts, use View/Layouts/Duplicate, change the layout and switch between layouts with View/Layout/Next (or better according keyboard shortcuts).

Important for visualization is the active event type: for Callgrind, this is e.g. Cache Misses or Cycle Estimation, for OProfile, this is "Timer" in the simplest case. You can change the event type via a combobox in the toolbar or in the Event Type view. A first overview of the runtime characteristics should be given when you select function main in the left list, and look at the call graph visualization. There, you see calls happening in your program. Note that the call graph view only shows functions with high event count. By doubleclicking a function in the graph, it will change to show the called functions around the selected one.

To explore the GUI further, in addition to this manual, also have a look at the documentation section on the web site http://kcachegrind.sf.net. Besides, every widget in KCachegrind has “Whats' this” help.