Flash / Actionscript CPU profiler

Question

Have you found such a tool and used it successfully?

Answer 1

This one is my personal favorite. Note that it's built on java and open source. http://github.com/bengarney/PBLabsProfiler

It uses undocumented features of flash/flex compiler. The same ones Flash Builder built-in profiler uses. And yes! I have successfully used it to optimize some of my flash code.

Answer 2

I wrote a flash profiler based on flasm a while ago (http://snow.prohosting.com/bensch/flasp.html) You need to use flasm to insert the profiling asm and then run the program.

Another (maybe) better way is to use David Chang's profiling code which doesn't require flasm at all. www.nochump.com/asprof/

cheers

Answer 3

There is a FlashPreloaderProfiler: http://jpauclair.net/flashpreloadprofiler

It's written in actionscript, doesn't need a java-application running in the background and have some more features like Memory Profiler.

But I prefer PBLabsProfiler too :)

Answer 4

It's important to note that the Flash Player implementation is different on each platform and to an extent each browser, so expect notable speed differences. So if you're developing a resource intensive application you should be using profiling tools specific to each OS you're targeting, like for example Instruments on OS X and of course test the performance in each browser.

Answer 5

I've used the profiler that comes with Flex Builder 3 with moderate success. I find out especially useful in finding memory leaks and or GC issues.

It was much less useful for me in the area of time-in-method performance due to the asynchronous nature of the application in question and the amount of time given to [onEnterFrame] and other internal methods, though I was still able to make some optimisations based on the output.

Answer 6

Adobe have recently released a new profiling tool for Flash called Adobe Scout:

http://gaming.adobe.com/technologies/scout/

It's a massive improvement on the old Flash Builder profiler - it gives you a detailed breakdown of CPU time, both for ActionScript execution, and internal player functions like rendering and networking.

It's free for a trial period - you just need to register for a free Creative Cloud account. After that, there will continue to be a free basic version, with the full version available as part of a paid Creative Cloud account.