Dalvik Debug Monitor Service

  1. Dalvik Debug Monitor Service
  2. Dalvik Debug Monitor Service Manual
  3. Dalvik Debug Monitor Service Center
  4. Dalvik Debug Monitor Server

Dalvik Debug Monitor Service (DDMS) lets us explore what possible problems our Android application might have. In this short post we will explore the following potential problematic areas:

  • file explorer
  • logcat
  • traceview
  • hierarchy view

On the Android platform Android Monitor.bat utility is used while on the iOS platform, iPhone Configuration utility is used for debugging purposes. There are different tools for debugging which include: Android DDMS, Android Debug Bridge, iOS simulator, Debugging from Eclipse with ADT, Remote debugging on Android with Chrome, etc.

To open the DDMS eclipse view, we need to do the following. Go to Window > Open Perspective > Other, and select DDMS and click okay:

Dalvik
  • Android ships with a debugging tool called the Dalvik Debug Monitor Service (DDMS), which provides port-forwarding services, screen capture on the device, thread and heap information on the device, logcat, process, and radio state information, incoming call and SMS.
  • Dalvik Debug Monitor Service (DDMS) lets us explore what possible problems our Android application might have. In this short post we will explore the following potential problematic areas: file explorer; logcat; traceview; hierarchy view; To open the DDMS eclipse view, we need to do the following.

Then we can navigate to the file explorer tab, and see all the directories the device has. For example, the mnt directory is the external memory card storage:

To the bottom of the IDE you can see your application’s logcat view. It is the windows, in which you can see all of the logs of your application. As Android allows you to create your own log messages, you can see them too in there:

Dalvik Debug Monitor Service

Dalvik Debug Monitor Service

Traceview is a debug option that allows you to trace the methods, which the android application calls. In order to see the traceview, our application should have at least one break point, and to be run in Debug mode. Then we should switch to DDMS view, and click on the button under the Device tab that says Start Method Profiling:

Dalvik Debug Monitor Service Manual

Note that in my case all the buttons in the Devices tab are grey. This is because I am not running my android app in Debug mode. When I do, then the Start Method Profiling button will be black with a red dot in the top right corner. After enabling the button, go back to the Debug view and continue running the app in debug mode.

Dalvik Debug Monitor Service Center

UI Hierarchy view allows you to analyse the android app user interface to understand how it is organized. You can run your android app on your device/emulated device, and switch to hierarchy view:

Dalvik Debug Monitor Server

Now you can click on your application and see all the hierarchical view of your user interface. For example, a simple Hello World app will have an onClick screen that consists of two parts: a title part and a body part.