In this chapter you'll find step-by-step instructions that help you learn the basics of GuiProf.
Exploring Design Time Objects
The easiest way to learn GuiProf is to use the demo application.
Start GuiProf. Go to File → Open menu. Go to the place where you installed GuiProf (e.g. C:\Program Files\GuiProf), and then go to the DemoApplication folder. Open DemoApplication.exe.
Now you see the following picture on your screen:
This is the design-time structure of the Demo Application. You can browse through the forms and watch the child controls and their properties.
Like the most real-life applications, the Demo Application consists of multiple assemblies. Go to References tree node, select DemoUILibrary and select Context Menu→Open. Now you see the design-time objects of DemoUILibrary too.
Look at the progress bars to the right of the GUI objects. They are grey now. That means that you have never touched these objects in your tests.
Profiling
Now it's time to profile. Press Profile button 
. The Demo Application starts. Look at a big button named Click me. Press this button and return to GuiProf. Within 20 seconds GuiProf should update the test progress. Select the Click me button. It's progress bar is not grey any more. Look at the Event Counters. It must be 1 for Click event.
Now GuiProf screen looks like this:
Making Run-Time Snapshots
Notice that folder Run Time Objects is empty. How to add an object in this folder? Go to the Demo Application and press Show run-time form... . A form pops up. Let it open and go back to GuiProf. Press Snapshot button 
on the toolbar. You will notice that a new object appeared in Run Time Objects. Click on it to expand. You'll see the following picture:
The snapshot contains GUI elements that are currently visible in your running application. Most, but not all of them can be also found in the Design Time Objects folder. For instance, the form that you have just opened, has been created in run-time. It does not exists in Design Time Objects. Try to search for it in the <Search> box. To do that, enter text run-time in the box. You will see that the form occurs only once in the whole tree, in the Run Time Objects folder. This is what run-time snapshots are good for: they let you explore the GUI elements created in run-time.
Now you can play with the Demo Application a little, pressing buttons and clicking on the menus. You will see how GuiProf updates the coverage information. Try to reach 100% coverage for the whole project - this is the root node in the GuiProf tree view.
When you close the Demo Application, GuiProf stops profiling. Now you can save the project. When you next time open it, you will not need to reopen all the assemblies and make a new snapshot - they are saved in the project file.
See Also