Flex: How to time an UI action using Flex Builder profiler?

Question

My flex application, processes user request and makes an HTTP request to the backend, for data processing, and renders the data on the UI. (typical HTTP request-response based application).

I need to do a performance analysis on the whole system, in order to identify and resolve bottlenecks, hence need to measure the time-split of the whole cycle. (time since the user performed the action on UI to the time he got the result on the UI, after rendering and all).

Would it be possible to use Flex profiler to map these times (split per action) somehow?. My initial interaction with it (and I have to say, I am a Flex and Profiler newbie), does not suggest it would be possible, though I can get data for time spent on different functions.

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

Flex Profiler is not exactly unintrusive. When I had problems with the UI, I used good old hand measured values (with "(new DATE()).time"). It was a fast, easy and unintrusive approach, as I got the actual time before the next update and after (2 calls), then calculated the difference (very cheap if you use uints) and had my result. In my case, it wasn't the gui, but the server response, which I found out by using Charles Proxy.