About this guide

This guide contains comprehensive information about TraceX, the Microsoft Windows-based system analysis tool for Eclipse ThreadX.

It is intended for the embedded real-time software developer using ThreadX Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) and add-on components. The developer should be familiar with standard ThreadX, FileX, and NetX Duo concepts.

Organization

  • Chapter 1 - contains an basic overview of TraceX and describes its relationship to real-time development.
  • Chapter 2 - gives the basic steps to install and use TraceX to analyze your application right out of the box.
  • Chapter 3 - describes the main features of TraceX.
  • Chapter 4 - details performance analysis features of TraceX.
  • Chapter 5 - describes how to set up ThreadX, FileX, and NetX Duo in order to generate a trace buffer that is viewable by TraceX.
  • Chapter 6 - describes TraceX events in detail.
  • Chapter 7 - describes FileX events in detail.
  • Chapter 8 - describes NetX Duo events in detail.
  • Chapter 9 - describes USBX events in detail.
  • Chapter 10 - describes creating custom user events in detail.
  • Chapter 11 - describes the internal trace buffer in detail.
  • Appendix A - ThreadX port-specific file with its time-stamp source for gathering trace events.
  • Appendix B - ThreadX tx_trace.h file that shows implementation details regarding the event trace buffer.
  • Appendix C - Summarizes command line utilities for converting various file formats into proper TraceX binary files.
  • Appendix D - Examples of dumping trace files from various development tools.

Guide Conventions

Italics - Typeface denotes book titles, emphasizes important words, and indicates variables.

Boldface - Typeface denotes file names, key words, and further emphasizes important words and variables.

Note: Indicates information of note.

Troubleshooting

For troubleshooting, be sure to collect the following information:

  1. A detailed description of the problem, including frequency of occurrence and whether it can be reliably reproduced.
  2. A detailed description of any changes to the application and/or ThreadX that preceded the problem.
  3. The contents of the _tx_version_id string found in the tx_port.h file of your distribution. This string provides valuable information regarding your run-time environment.
  4. The contents in RAM of the _tx_build_options ULONG variable. This variable gives information on how your ThreadX library was built.