Using the Performance Analyzer for HTML5 Apps in Windows 8

If you have built a Windows 8 app, you are probably familiar with the WACK (Windows App Certification Kit). This small utility allows a developer to make sure that their app passes the basic tests performed during the Windows Store certification process. Visual Studio 2012 advises you to run the WACK each time you create an app package. This tool is great for small and simple apps, but for more complex ones you will need a better way to evaluate their performance. That is why you should also test using the Performance Analyzer for HTML5 Apps.



The tool is installed on any Windows 8 machine that has Visual Studio 2012 or the Windows SDK. However, there is no tile for it in the start screen apps list. In order to use it, manually navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\[Platform]\AppPerfAnalyzer where [Platform] is either x86, x64, or arm. Chose the platform that matches the OS on the PC that you are currently on (e.g. x64 if you are running Windows 8 64bit). Open the appperfanalyzer_js executable and follow the onscreen instructions to run the tool.

In order to get the most accurate results, it is recommended to run the tool on a low-powered machine instead of your muscular development PC. To test our RadControls for Windows 8 JavaScript applications, we used a Microsoft Surface tablet with Windows RT. Since there is no Windows SDK installed there, we simply copied the C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\arm folder from a development PC to a flash drive and ran it from the Surface - no installation is required. Note that the test takes some time to finish (10-15 minutes) and it requires manual interaction with your app. This is in contrast with the WACK tool that does not require any interaction and runs on its own.

The specific tests that you run depend on what you want to measure and what the device you are running the test on is capable of. For more information about the tests and tips on optimizing your JavaScript Windows 8 app, refer to the following MSDN article about the Performance Analyzer - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj553524.aspx