Running a New Test

To run a new test:

From the File menu, choose New to create a new test. Any charts, numerical data, and operator notes are cleared if displayed, but the previous test setup is retained.
Click the Setup button. You see the Measurement Configuration Setup dialog box.
From the Measurement Type group, select a measurement type:

Thread switch latency measures the time of a one-way trip with a context switch between two threads via a yield.
Timer response latency measures the time from when the timer hardware interrupts until the application timer routine starts execution, including the clock read time.
API execution time measures the time duration to execute the selected Win32 API call. If you select this option, you must also select one of the following:

Available API Calls	Description
PulseEvent	A single operation that sets the state of an event object and then resets it after releasing the appropriate number of waiting threads.
ReleaseMutex	Relinquishes ownership of an RTSS mutex.
ReleaseSemaphore	Increases the count of the specified semaphore object by a specified amount.
ReSetEvent	Sets the state of an event object to non-signaled.
SetEvent	Sets the state of an event to signaled.
SetThreadPriority	Sets the priority value of a thread.
WaitForSingleObject	Returns when the specified object is in the signaled state.
ResumeThread	Subtracts one from a thread’s suspend count. When the suspend count is reduced to zero, the execution of the thread is resumed.
SuspendThread	Suspends a thread.

On dedicated systems, you must specify which Windows and RTSS processor(s) will run the test. The Timer Response Latency and API Execution Time tests use a single thread, so you only need to select one Windows and one RTSS processor. The Thread Switch Latency test uses two threads and switches between them so, for this test, you must specify two Windows and two RTSS processors (to run a Thread Switch Latency test on a single processor, select the same processor number from both drop-down menus).

NOTE: You can compare inter-processor communications on Windows processors versus RTSS processors using a configuration similar to the illustration above.

Click OK to return to the main RTX Platform Evaluator window.
From the Loads group, select one or more loads you want to be running during the test. Loads provide a way to simulate an actual load on your system. These loads allow you to test how your platform performs while other processes are loading down your system. Loads can be added during test setup or during a pause in an interactive test run. RTX Platform Evaluator contains two available loads:

Disk: A Win32 process that repeatedly creates a file, writes to it, and then deletes it on close. The data written to the file is not buffered so a disk write is forced every time.
Video: A Win32 process that creates two windows that are moved randomly around your screen. These windows are completely redrawn each time they are moved to simulate a large amount of display activity.

In the Histogram and Strip areas, select or deselect the data you want to see reflected in the histogram and strip views.
From the View menu, review your System Configuration.
From the View menu, click Operator Notes to add any applicable notation.
From the Commands menu, choose Start Test or click the Start icon on the toolbar.
RTX Platform Evaluator charts the data as soon as it is measured, giving you a dynamic view of the test.

While the test is running, you can:

Change the chart options located on the right side of the Test Controller window (or in the Chart menu).

Change the loads by pausing the test and then selecting the appropriate load options located in the Test Controller window (or in the Commands menu).