NWNX Timer Plugin Documentation

This plugin implements a simple, yet highly accurate timer. Perfect for knowing how long your functions really take to execute.

Usage instructions:

1) Import the include file

Import nwnx_time.erf into your module and include this file in every script where you want to call the timer functions:

  #include "nwnx_time"

2) Measure times

To measure times, call the StartTimer function, do something which takes a bit of time, and then call the StopTimer function. Here is an example:

  int i,j; 
  string elapsed; 
  object oModule = GetModule(); 
  StartTimer(oModule, "MyTimer");
  for (i=0; i<500; i++) 
  { 
    j = i*2; 
  } 
  elapsed = StopTimer(oModule, "MyTimer"); 
  WriteTimestampedLogEntry("The loop took " + elapsed + " microseconds to complete.");

3) Output

In nwserverlog.txt you will find something like this:

  The loop took 249 microseconds to complete.

xp_time.txt (in NWNX installation directory) will look like this:

  NWNX Timer Plugin V.0.0.1
  (c) 2006 by Ingmar Stieger (Papillon)
  visit us at http://www.nwnx.org
  * Plugin initialized.
  o Starting timer MyTimer0
  o Stopping timer MyTimer0: 249µs / 0.249 msec / 0.000 sec

4) Technical background info

The Timer plugin uses functions provided by the operating system (e.g. QueryPerformanceCounter) to store a timestamp when StartTimer is called. When StopTimer is called, it takes the current timestamp and computes the difference between both. You can let a timer run a long as you want, without taking a performance hit or costing lag.