1/2 of the book was disappointing because of its layout so i don't know if i'd recommend buying it even if it were available. the first 7 chapters were not impaired because of the layout so those are still very useful and it's in chapter 7 that app performance and memory management are discussed. below is the most relevant information
Memory Tracking, Memory Use and Performance Testing
The code below is adapted from Damian Connolly's code at divillysausages.com. The MT class reports frame rate, memory consumption and what objects are still in memory. Using it is easy: Import it and initialize it from the document class
import com.kglad.MT;
MT.init(this,reportFrequency);
where this references your document class (i.e., the main timeline) and reportFrequency is an integer. The main timeline reference is used to compute the realized frame rate and reportFrequency is the frequency in seconds that you want trace output reporting the frame rate and amount of memory consumed by your Flash game. If you don't want any frame rate/memory reporting pass 0 (or anything less). You can still use the memory tracker part of this class.
To track objects you create in your game, use:
MT.track(whatever_object,any_detail);
where the first parameter is the object you want to track (to see if it is ever removed from memory) and the second parameter is anything you want (typically a string that supplies details about what, where and/or when you started tracking that object).
When you want a report of whether your tracked objects still exist in memory, use:
MT.report();
I'll show sample code using MT after discussing details of the MT class in the MT class comments. It is not necessary that you understand the class to use it but it is a good idea to check how the Dictionary class is used to store weak references to all the objects passed to MT.track().
Similar to the observer effect in physics, the mere fact that we are measuring the frame rate and/or memory and/or tracking memory, changes the frame rate and memory of the game. However, the effect of measurement should be minimal if the trace output is relatively infrequent. In addition, the absolute numbers are usually not important. It is the change in frame rate and/or memory use over time that is important, and for that, this class works well.
This class does not allow more than once per second trace output to help minimize spuriously low frame rate reports caused by frequent use of trace. (i.e., frequent trace output slows performance.) And, you can always eliminate trace output as a confounder of frame rate determination by using a textfield instead of trace output.
The MT class is the only tool needed to check memory usage and pinpoint memory problems, as well as, indirectly measure CPU/GPU usage (by checking actual frame rate of an executing app).
com.kglad.MT
package com.kglad{
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.utils.getTimer;
import flash.system.System;
import flash.utils.Dictionary;
// adapted from @author Damian Connolly
// http://divillysausages.com/blog/tracking_memory_leaks_in_as3
public class MT {
// Used to calculate the real frame rate
private static var startTime:int=getTimer();
// Used to generate trace output intermittantly
private static var traceN:int=0;
// Megabyte constant to convert from bytes to megabytes.
private static const MB:int=1024*1024;
private static var mc:MovieClip;
// d is used to store weak references to objects that you want to track. // It is the essential object used to memory track in this class. // The true parameter used in the constructor designates that // all references are weak. That is, the dictionary reference itself // won't prohibit the object from being gc'd.
private static var d:Dictionary = new Dictionary(true);
// Used to trigger a report on the tracked objects
private static var reportBool:Boolean;
// Used to (help) ensure gc takes place
private static var gcN:int;
// This is the variable that will store the reportFrequency value that // you pass.
private static var freq:int;
// A constructor is not needed
public function MT() {
}
// traceF() is the listener function for an Enter.ENTER_FRAME event. If // the game is running at its maximum frame rate (=stage.frameRate), // traceF() will be called stage.frameRate times per second.
private static function traceF(e:Event):void {
traceN++;
// This conditional ensures trace output occurs no more frequently // than every freq seconds. If the game is running at // stage.frameRate, output will occur at approximately freq // seconds.
if (traceN%(freq*mc.stage.frameRate)==0) {
// This is used to (try and) force gc.
gcN = 0;
forceGC();
trace("FPS:",int(traceN*1000/(getTimer()-startTime)),"||","Memory Use:",int(100*System.totalMemory/MB)/100," MB");
traceN=0;
startTime=getTimer();
}
}
// Called just prior to the above trace() and called just prior to a // memory report. When called just prior to a memory report, reportBool // is assigned true.
private static function forceGC():void {
// The first call to System.gc() marks items that are available // for gc. The second should sweep them and the third is for good // luck because you can't count on anything being predictably // gc'd when you think it should be.
mc.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,gcF,false,0,true);
gcN = 0;
}
private static function gcF(e:Event):void {
// System.gc() initiates the gc process during testing only. It // does not work outside the test environment. So, if you are using this class to test a game that is installed on a mobile device, System.gc() will not clear memory of objects ready to be g
System.gc();
gcN++;
// 3 System.gc() statements is usually enough to clear memory of // objects that can be cleared from memory.
if (gcN>2) {
mc.removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,gcF,false);
// Here's where reportBool being true triggers the memory // report.
if(reportBool){
reportBool = false;
reportF();
}
}
}
// Memory report. All objects passed to d in the track() function, // if they still exist, will be displayed by the trace statement along // with the additional information you passed to track()
private static function reportF():void{
trace("** MEMORY REPORT AT:",int(getTimer()/1000));
for(var obj:* in d){
trace(obj,"exists",d[obj]);
}
}
public static function init(_mc:MovieClip,_freq:int=0):void{
mc=_mc;
freq=_freq;
if(freq>0){
mc.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,traceF,false,0,true);
}
}
// This the function you use to pass objects you want tracked.
public static function track(obj:*,detail:*=null):void{
d[obj] = detail;
}
// This is the function that triggers a memory report.
public static function report():void{
reportBool = true;
forceGC();
}
}
}
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