Start and Stop Profiling from Javascript in Chrome

Question

I would love to be able to start and stop the CPU Profiler in the Chrome developer window by making a javascript call. Something like:

chrome.cpuprofiler.start();   //do expensive operation   chrome.cpuprofiler.stop(); 

Right now, the best I can do is:

Click "start profiling".   //do expensive operation   Click "stop profiling".   

Is there even a shortcut key for this?

Answer 1

You can!

An example:

   if (window.console && window.console.profile) {      console.profile("label for profile");      // insert code to profile here,      // all function calls will be profiled      console.profileEnd();    } 

It also works on Safari, and with Firebug in Firefox.

Note: You can't use profile to time code that does not make a function call: if your code above is simply a for loop then the profiler won't find anything to profile. Use console.time() and console.timeEnd() to benchmark pure loops or code that does not call a function.