Getting started: Probekit for customized profiling

Probekit helps you create and apply probes, which are Java™ code fragments for monitoring specific characteristics of an application’s runtime behavior. They provide you a means to investigate whatever runtime characteristics interest you.

For example, there might be a method in your application for handling transactions. You can create a probe that targets this method and writes an entry to a log to record every transaction, or to record those transactions that meet some criteria you describe. The probe could even track the execution time of a transaction and issue a report to an operator when a transaction takes longer than expected.

Probekit helps you with the mechanics of creating, testing, and applying probes. To use Probekit:

  1. Create a Probekit probe.
    1. Create a Probekit project.
    2. Create a new Probekit source file (probe file) in the project.
    3. Use the Probekit editor to construct the probe.
    4. Build the probe. If your workspace is configured for auto-build, save the file and the probe will build automatically; otherwise, use the manual Build command. Errors are displayed in the Problems view. When your probe builds without errors, it is added to the list of available probes in the Probekit Registry.
  2. Test your probe. To test a probe, you can launch a Java application using a profiling configuration that has the probe selected in the Probe Insertion profiling type.
  3. Export your probe. This allows others to import and use it.
Note: In addition to creating your own probes, you can import and use probes that have been created by others.

For detailed Probekit instructions, see Collecting runtime data with user-defined probes.

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