Timer Example: How to time your code

Introduction

We all know that timing code is needed for debugging and optimization purposes. ColdFusion already implements this with the CFTIMER tag. I use this a lot. However, most of the time I do not have the coldfusion debugging turned on, but I do have my ColdBox debugging panel on. So what do I do to time code execution. Well, the timer plugin.

• Please look at the Timer Plugin API

Usage

The timer plugin can be used in three ways:

logTime() Method

Using the logTime() method, this requires for you to time the execution and pass the results to the timer.

<!--- Start timing using the getTickCOunt method() --->
<cfset stime = getTickcount()>

<!--- All the code I want to time below --->
...
...

<!---Log Total Time with plugin --->
<cfset getPlugin("timer").logTime("My Label",totaltime)>

start() stop() Method

As a true timer using the start() and stop() methods. This is the preferred way of calling the timer.

Important Note: Just make sure that the labels are the same for start and stop.

<!--- Start Timer --->
<cfset getPlugin("timer").start("MyLabel")>

<!--- All the code I want to time below --->
...
...

<!--- Stop & Log timer --->
<cfset getPlugin("timer").stop("MyLabel")>

Custom Tag Method

The third and final way is to use the ColdBox timer custom tag and it is used similar to the cftimer tag:

<!--- Call the timer tag --->
<cfmodule template="/coldbox/system/includes/timer.cfm" timertag="Invoking Some Code Label">

  <!--- All the code I want to time --->
  ...
  ...
</cfmodule>

Conclusion

And there you go. You can now time code executions with ease using either the timer plugin or the timer tag included with ColdBox. Helping developers code with ease.