Procedures: Using the Chart Configuration Features

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This section provides an example of how to extend Message Analyzer data viewing capabilities by creating a custom Chart data viewer that you can use to analyze message volume against HTTP payload content types.

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Procedure Overviews
A brief description of the procedure in this section is included below for review. Note that more Chart development procedures will be provided in the future.
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Create and Edit an HTTP Chart Data Viewer — demonstrates how you can create your own chart-style data viewer for enhanced data analysis perspectives. This particular Chart exposes the message volume associated with various HTTP content types being delivered to a client computer in HTTP response messages, which can provide an indication of the load on a web server.

Create and Edit an HTTP Chart Data Viewer

This example demonstrates how to create a new Chart viewer that is named “HTTP Content Types”, which provides a Bar Chart visualizer component that shows the relative volume distributions of the content types for HTTP messages captured in a trace.

To create and edit a Chart viewer

  1. From the Start menu, Start page, or taskbar of your computer, click the Microsoft Message Analyzer icon to start Message Analyzer.

  2. From Favorites list on the Message Analyzer Start Page, click the Pre-Encryption for HTTPS Trace Scenario and then navigate to one or more web sites to generate browser traffic and capture HTTP messages.

    Message Analyzer begins to collect HTTP and other messages in the Analysis Grid viewer.

  3. At a suitable point, stop the trace by clicking the Stop button on the global Message Analyzer toolbar.

  4. From the New Viewer drop-down list on the global Message Analyzer toolbar, click the New Chart item to display the Chart visualizer surface and data entry tabs.

  5. In the Name property text box on the Chart Layout tab to the right of the Chart visualizer surface, enter the text “HTTP Content Types” to specify the name that will display for your new Chart viewer in the New Viewer drop-down list.

  6. In the Component Common section of the Component Layout tab to the right of the Chart visualizer surface, specify a title for your Chart viewer in the Name text box.

  7. In the Component Common section of the Component Layout tab to the right of the Chart visualizer surface, click the Type drop-down list and select the Bar Chart visualizer component.

  8. On the Data tab to the right of the Chart visualizer surface, click the ellipsis (…) on the right side of the Column Fields property box to display the Data Mapping Field Collection Editor dialog.

  9. In the Data Mapping Field Collection Editor dialog, click the Add drop-down list and select the Formula menu item.

    A new Formula item appears in the Members pane.

  10. Click the FormulaType drop-down list in the Formula properties pane of the Data Mapping Field Collection Editor and select the Count item.

  11. In the Formula properties pane of the Data Mapping Field Collection Editor dialog, click the ellipsis (…) to the right of the Arguments property to display the Argument Collection Editor.

  12. In the Argument Collection Editor, click the Add button to add an Argument item to the Members pane.

  13. In the Argument properties pane of the Argument Collection Editor, click the FieldName ellipsis (…) to display the Field Chooser Tool Window.

  14. In the Field Chooser window, scroll down to the HTTP node, expand it, and select the HTTP.Operation.ContentType field.

  15. In the Field Chooser, click the Select button to exit the dialog.

    The ContentType field displays in the Arguments list of the Data Mapping Field Collection Editor.

  16. Click OK to exit the Data Mapping Field Collection Editor.

  17. On the Data tab, click the Row Fields ellipsis (…) to display the Data Mapping Field Collection Editor again, click the Add button to display the Entity item.

    A new Entity displays in the Members pane of the editor.

  18. In the Entity properties pane, click the Name ellipsis (…) to display the Field Chooser window.

  19. In the Field Chooser window, scroll down to the HTTP node, expand it, and select the HTTP.Operation.ContentType field.

  20. In the Field Chooser window, click the Select button to exit the dialog.

    The ContentType field displays as the Name property in the ContentType properties pane of the Data Mapping Field Collection Editor.

  21. Click OK to exit the Data Mapping Field Collection Editor.

    Your new HTTP Content Types Chart displays each different HTTP content type as a separate horizontal bar in the Bar Chart visualizer component, with each bar representing the count of HTTP messages that carried the indicated ContentType payload, for example, image/gif, text/html, image/jpeg, and so on.

    To view the messages that correspond with the different content types, double-click any bar and the messages display in a separate Analysis Grid viewer tab.

  22. Save your existing Chart configuration by clicking the Save Chart command in the Charts submenu that appears in the global Message Analyzer Session menu.

    Your new Chart appears in all of the locations described in Built-In Chart Data Viewers, from where you can select the Chart as required for simple HTTP analysis.

  23. To edit your new Chart at any time, select it from the New Viewer drop-down list against a set of trace results and then click the Edit Chart item in the Charts submenu that appears in the global Message Analyzer Session menu.

    Your Chart enters the edit mode and the data entry tabs appear to the right of the Chart visualizer surface. From here, you can modify your Chart settings with the use of the Add Component, Remove Component, and New Data Mapping commands from the Charts submenu that appears in the global Session menu. Note that you can also modify settings directly from the data entry tabs.