--- /dev/null
+.. include:: common.rst
+
+.. _examples:
+
+Examples
+========
+This section contains a few short and straightforward examples which
+show how to use the Babeltrace |~| 2 Python bindings.
+
+The :mod:`bt2` package provides the Babeltrace |~| 2 Python bindings.
+Note that the :mod:`babeltrace` package is part of the Babeltrace |~| 1
+project: it's somewhat out-of-date and not compatible with the
+:mod:`bt2` package.
+
+Assume that all the examples below are named :file:`example.py`.
+
+.. _examples_tcmi:
+
+Iterate trace events
+--------------------
+The most convenient and high-level way to iterate the events of one or
+more traces is with a :class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator`
+object.
+
+A :class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator` object roughly offers the
+same features as the ``convert`` command of the :command:`babeltrace2`
+command-line program (see the :bt2man:`babeltrace2-convert(1)` manual
+page), but in a programmatic, Pythonic way.
+
+As of Babeltrace |~| |version|, the trace collection message iterator
+class is a Python bindings-only feature: the Python code uses
+libbabeltrace2 internally, but the latter does not offer this utility as
+such.
+
+The :class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator` interface features:
+
+* **Automatic source component (trace format) discovery**.
+
+ ``convert`` command equivalent example:
+
+ .. code-block:: text
+
+ $ babeltrace2 /path/to/my/trace
+
+* **Explicit component class instantiation**.
+
+ ``convert`` command equivalent example:
+
+ .. code-block:: text
+
+ $ babeltrace2 --component=source.my.format
+
+* **Passing initialization parameters to both auto-discovered and
+ explicitly created components**.
+
+ ``convert`` command equivalent example:
+
+ .. code-block:: text
+
+ $ babeltrace2 /path/to/my/trace --params=detailed=no \
+ --component=source.ctf.fs \
+ --params='inputs=["/path/to/my/trace"]'
+
+* **Trace event muxing**.
+
+ The message iterator muxes (combines) the events from multiple
+ compatible streams into a single, time-sorted sequence of events.
+
+ .. code-block:: text
+
+ $ babeltrace2 /path/to/trace1 /path/to/trace2 /path/to/trace3
+
+* **Stream intersection mode**.
+
+ ``convert`` command equivalent example:
+
+ .. code-block:: text
+
+ $ babeltrace2 /path/to/my/trace --stream-intersection
+
+* **Stream trimming with beginning and/or end times**.
+
+ ``convert`` command equivalent example:
+
+ .. code-block:: text
+
+ $ babeltrace2 /path/to/my/trace --begin=22:14:38 --end=22:15:07
+
+While the :command:`babeltrace2 convert` command creates a ``sink.text.pretty``
+component class (by default) to pretty-print events as plain text lines,
+a :class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator` object is a Python
+iterator which makes its user a message consumer (there's no sink
+component)::
+
+ import bt2
+
+ for msg in bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator('/path/to/trace'):
+ if type(msg) is bt2._EventMessageConst:
+ print(msg.event.name)
+
+.. _examples_tcmi_autodisc:
+
+Discover traces
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Pass one or more file paths, directory paths, or other strings when you
+build a :class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator` object to let it
+automatically determine which source components to create for you.
+
+If you pass a directory path, the message iterator traverses the
+directory recursively to find traces, automatically selecting the
+appropriate source component classes to instantiate.
+
+The :class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator` object and the
+:command:`babeltrace2 convert` CLI command share the same automatic
+component discovery algorithm. See the
+:bt2link:`Create implicit components from non-option arguments <https://babeltrace.org/docs/v@ver@/man1/babeltrace2-convert.1/#doc-comp-create-impl-non-opt>`
+section of the :bt2man:`babeltrace2-convert(1)` manual page for more
+details.
+
+The following example shows how to use a
+:class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator` object to automatically
+discover one or more traces from a single path (file or directory). For
+each trace event, the example prints its name::
+
+ import bt2
+ import sys
+
+ # Get the trace path from the first command-line argument.
+ path = sys.argv[1]
+
+ # Create a trace collection message iterator with this path.
+ msg_it = bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator(path)
+
+ # Iterate the trace messages.
+ for msg in msg_it:
+ # `bt2._EventMessageConst` is the Python type of an event message.
+ if type(msg) is bt2._EventMessageConst:
+ # An event message holds a trace event.
+ event = msg.event
+
+ # Print event's name.
+ print(event.name)
+
+Run this example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ $ python3 example.py /path/to/one/or/more/traces
+
+Output example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ kmem_kmalloc
+ kmem_kfree
+ kmem_cache_alloc_node
+ block_getrq
+ kmem_kmalloc
+ block_plug
+ kmem_kfree
+ block_rq_insert
+ kmem_kmalloc
+ kmem_kfree
+ kmem_kmalloc
+ kmem_kfree
+
+The example above is simplistic; it does not catch the exceptions that
+some statements can raise:
+
+* ``bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator(path)`` raises an exception if
+ it cannot find any trace.
+
+* Each iteration of the loop, or, more precisely, the
+ :meth:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator.__next__` method, raises
+ an exception if there's any error during the iteration process.
+
+ For example, an internal source component message iterator can fail
+ when trying to decode a malformed trace file.
+
+.. _examples_tcmi_expl:
+
+Create explicit source components
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+If `automatic source component discovery <#examples-tcmi-autodisc>`_
+doesn't work for you (for example, because the source component class
+you actually need to instantiate doesn't offer the
+``babeltrace.support-info`` query object), create explicit source
+components when you build a :class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator`
+object.
+
+The following example builds a trace collection message iterator to
+explicitly instantiate a ``source.ctf.fs`` component class (found in the
+``ctf`` plugin). Again, for each trace event, the example prints its
+name::
+
+ import bt2
+ import sys
+
+ # Find the `ctf` plugin (shipped with Babeltrace 2).
+ ctf_plugin = bt2.find_plugin('ctf')
+
+ # Get the `source.ctf.fs` component class from the plugin.
+ fs_cc = ctf_plugin.source_component_classes['fs']
+
+ # Create a trace collection message iterator, instantiating a single
+ # `source.ctf.fs` component class with the `inputs` initialization
+ # parameter set to open a single CTF trace.
+ msg_it = bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator(bt2.ComponentSpec(fs_cc, {
+ # Get the CTF trace path from the first command-line argument.
+ 'inputs': [sys.argv[1]],
+ }))
+
+ # Iterate the trace messages.
+ for msg in msg_it:
+ # `bt2._EventMessageConst` is the Python type of an event message.
+ if type(msg) is bt2._EventMessageConst:
+ # Print event's name.
+ print(msg.event.name)
+
+Run this example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ $ python3 example.py /path/to/ctf/trace
+
+Output example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ kmem_kmalloc
+ kmem_kfree
+ kmem_cache_alloc_node
+ block_getrq
+ kmem_kmalloc
+ block_plug
+ kmem_kfree
+ block_rq_insert
+ kmem_kmalloc
+ kmem_kfree
+ kmem_kmalloc
+ kmem_kfree
+
+The example above looks similar to the previous one using
+`automatic source component discovery <#examples-tcmi-autodisc>`_,
+but there are notable differences:
+
+* A ``source.ctf.fs`` component expects to receive the path to a
+ *single* `CTF <https://diamon.org/ctf/>`_ trace (a directory
+ containing a file named ``metadata``).
+
+ Unlike the previous example, you must pass the exact
+ :abbr:`CTF (Common Trace Format)` trace directory path, *not* a
+ parent directory path.
+
+* Unlike the previous example, the example above can only read a single
+ trace.
+
+ If you want to read multiple :abbr:`CTF (Common Trace Format)` traces
+ using explicit component class instantiation with a single trace
+ collection message iterator, you must create one ``source.ctf.fs``
+ component per trace.
+
+Note that the :class:`bt2.ComponentSpec` class offers the
+:meth:`from_named_plugin_and_component_class` convenience static method
+which finds the plugin and component class for you. You could therefore
+rewrite the trace collection message iterator creation part of the
+example above as::
+
+ # Create a trace collection message iterator, instantiating a single
+ # `source.ctf.fs` component class with the `inputs` initialization
+ # parameter set to open a single CTF trace.
+ msg_it = bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator(
+ bt2.ComponentSpec.from_named_plugin_and_component_class('ctf', 'fs', {
+ # Get the CTF trace path from the first command-line argument.
+ 'inputs': [sys.argv[1]],
+ })
+ )
+
+.. _examples_tcmi_ev_field:
+
+Get a specific event field's value
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The :ref:`examples_tcmi_autodisc` and :ref:`examples_tcmi_expl` examples
+show that a :class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator` iterates the
+time-sorted *messages* of one or more traces.
+
+One specific type of message is :class:`bt2._EventMessageConst`, which
+holds a trace event object.
+
+.. note::
+
+ Everything you can find in the :mod:`bt2` package is publicly
+ accessible.
+
+ Names which start with ``_`` (underscore), like
+ :class:`bt2._EventMessageConst`, indicate that you can't
+ *instantiate* such a class (you cannot call the class). However, the
+ type itself remains public so that you can use its name to check an
+ object's type:
+
+ .. code-block:: python
+
+ if type(msg) is bt2._EventMessageConst:
+ # ...
+
+ .. code-block:: python
+
+ if isinstance(field, bt2._IntegerFieldConst):
+ # ...
+
+Access an event object's field by using the event as a simple mapping
+(like a read-only :class:`dict`), where keys are field names. The field
+can belong to any part of the event (contexts or payload) and to its
+packet's context, if any::
+
+ import bt2
+ import sys
+
+ # Create a trace collection message iterator from the first
+ # command-line argument.
+ msg_it = bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator(sys.argv[1])
+
+ # Iterate the trace messages.
+ for msg in msg_it:
+ # `bt2._EventMessageConst` is the Python type of an event message.
+ # Only keep such messages.
+ if type(msg) is not bt2._EventMessageConst:
+ continue
+
+ # An event message holds a trace event.
+ event = msg.event
+
+ # Only check `sched_switch` events.
+ if event.name != 'sched_switch':
+ continue
+
+ # In an LTTng trace, the `cpu_id` field is a packet context field.
+ # The mapping interface of `event` can still find it.
+ cpu_id = event['cpu_id']
+
+ # Previous and next process short names are found in the event's
+ # `prev_comm` and `next_comm` fields.
+ prev_comm = event['prev_comm']
+ next_comm = event['next_comm']
+
+ # Print line, using field values.
+ msg = 'CPU {}: Switching process `{}` → `{}`'
+ print(msg.format(cpu_id, prev_comm, next_comm))
+
+The example above assumes that the traces to open are
+`LTTng <https://lttng.org/>`_ Linux kernel traces.
+
+Run this example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ $ python3 example.py /path/to/one/or/more/lttng/traces
+
+Output example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ CPU 2: Switching process `Timer` → `swapper/2`
+ CPU 0: Switching process `swapper/0` → `firefox`
+ CPU 0: Switching process `firefox` → `swapper/0`
+ CPU 0: Switching process `swapper/0` → `rcu_preempt`
+ CPU 0: Switching process `rcu_preempt` → `swapper/0`
+ CPU 3: Switching process `swapper/3` → `alsa-sink-ALC26`
+ CPU 2: Switching process `swapper/2` → `Timer`
+ CPU 2: Switching process `Timer` → `swapper/2`
+ CPU 2: Switching process `swapper/2` → `pulseaudio`
+ CPU 0: Switching process `swapper/0` → `firefox`
+ CPU 1: Switching process `swapper/1` → `threaded-ml`
+ CPU 2: Switching process `pulseaudio` → `Timer`
+
+If you need to access a specific field, use:
+
+Event payload
+ :attr:`bt2._EventConst.payload_field` property.
+
+Event specific context
+ :attr:`bt2._EventConst.specific_context_field` property.
+
+Event common context
+ :attr:`bt2._EventConst.common_context_field` property.
+
+Packet context
+ :attr:`bt2._PacketConst.context_field` property.
+
+Use Python's ``in`` operator to verify if:
+
+A specific "root" field (in the list above) contains a given field by name
+ .. code-block:: python
+
+ if 'next_comm' in event.payload_field:
+ # ...
+
+Any of the root fields contains a given field by name
+ .. code-block:: python
+
+ if 'next_comm' in event:
+ # ...
+
+The following example iterates the events of a given trace, printing the
+value of the ``fd`` payload field if it's available::
+
+ import bt2
+ import sys
+
+ # Create a trace collection message iterator from the first command-line
+ # argument.
+ msg_it = bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator(sys.argv[1])
+
+ # Iterate the trace messages.
+ for msg in msg_it:
+ # `bt2._EventMessageConst` is the Python type of an event message.
+ if type(msg) is bt2._EventMessageConst:
+ # Check if the `fd` event payload field exists.
+ if 'fd' in msg.event.payload_field:
+ # Print the `fd` event payload field's value.
+ print(msg.event.payload_field['fd'])
+
+Output example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ 14
+ 15
+ 16
+ 19
+ 30
+ 31
+ 33
+ 42
+ 0
+ 1
+ 2
+ 3
+
+.. _examples_tcmi_ev_time:
+
+Get an event's time
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The time, or timestamp, of an event object belongs to its message as
+a *default clock snapshot*.
+
+An event's clock snapshot is a *snapshot* (an immutable value) of the
+value of the event's stream's clock when the event occurred. As of
+Babeltrace |~| |version|, a stream can only have one clock: its default
+clock.
+
+Use the :attr:`default_clock_snapshot` property of an event message
+to get its default clock snapshot. A clock snapshot object offers,
+amongst other things, the following properties:
+
+:attr:`value` (:class:`int`)
+ Value of the clock snapshot in clock cycles.
+
+ A stream clock can have any frequency (Hz).
+
+:attr:`ns_from_origin` (:class:`int`)
+ Number of nanoseconds from the stream clock's origin (often the Unix
+ epoch).
+
+The following example prints, for each event, its name, its date/time,
+and the difference, in seconds, since the previous event's time (if
+any)::
+
+ import bt2
+ import sys
+ import datetime
+
+ # Create a trace collection message iterator from the first command-line
+ # argument.
+ msg_it = bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator(sys.argv[1])
+
+ # Last event's time (ns from origin).
+ last_event_ns_from_origin = None
+
+ # Iterate the trace messages.
+ for msg in msg_it:
+ # `bt2._EventMessageConst` is the Python type of an event message.
+ if type(msg) is bt2._EventMessageConst:
+ # Get event message's default clock snapshot's ns from origin
+ # value.
+ ns_from_origin = msg.default_clock_snapshot.ns_from_origin
+
+ # Compute the time difference since the last event message.
+ diff_s = 0
+
+ if last_event_ns_from_origin is not None:
+ diff_s = (ns_from_origin - last_event_ns_from_origin) / 1e9
+
+ # Create a `datetime.datetime` object from `ns_from_origin` for
+ # presentation. Note that such an object is less accurate than
+ # `ns_from_origin` as it holds microseconds, not nanoseconds.
+ dt = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(ns_from_origin / 1e9)
+
+ # Print line.
+ fmt = '{} (+{:.6f} s): {}'
+ print(fmt.format(dt, diff_s, msg.event.name))
+
+ # Update last event's time.
+ last_event_ns_from_origin = ns_from_origin
+
+Run this example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ $ python3 example.py /path/to/one/or/more/traces
+
+Output example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ 2015-09-09 22:40:41.551451 (+0.000004 s): lttng_ust_statedump:end
+ 2015-09-09 22:40:43.003397 (+1.451946 s): lttng_ust_dl:dlopen
+ 2015-09-09 22:40:43.003412 (+0.000015 s): lttng_ust_dl:build_id
+ 2015-09-09 22:40:43.003861 (+0.000449 s): lttng_ust_dl:dlopen
+ 2015-09-09 22:40:43.003865 (+0.000004 s): lttng_ust_dl:build_id
+ 2015-09-09 22:40:43.003879 (+0.000014 s): my_provider:my_first_tracepoint
+ 2015-09-09 22:40:43.003895 (+0.000016 s): my_provider:my_first_tracepoint
+ 2015-09-09 22:40:43.003898 (+0.000003 s): my_provider:my_other_tracepoint
+ 2015-09-09 22:40:43.003922 (+0.000023 s): lttng_ust_dl:dlclose
+
+Bonus: Print top 5 running processes using LTTng
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+As :ref:`examples_tcmi_ev_field` shows, a
+:class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator` can read
+`LTTng <https://lttng.org/>`_ traces.
+
+The following example is similar to :ref:`examples_tcmi_ev_time`: it
+reads a whole LTTng Linux kernel trace, but instead of printing the time
+difference for each event, it accumulates them to print the short names
+of the top |~| 5 running processes on CPU |~| 0 during the whole trace.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+ import bt2
+ import sys
+ import collections
+
+ # Create a trace collection message iterator from the first command-line
+ # argument.
+ msg_it = bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator(sys.argv[1])
+
+ # This counter dictionary will hold execution times:
+ #
+ # Task command name -> Total execution time (ns)
+ exec_times = collections.Counter()
+
+ # This holds the last `sched_switch` event time.
+ last_ns_from_origin = None
+
+ for msg in msg_it:
+ # `bt2._EventMessageConst` is the Python type of an event message.
+ # Only keep such messages.
+ if type(msg) is not bt2._EventMessageConst:
+ continue
+
+ # An event message holds a trace event.
+ event = msg.event
+
+ # Only check `sched_switch` events.
+ if event.name != 'sched_switch':
+ continue
+
+ # Keep only events which occurred on CPU 0.
+ if event['cpu_id'] != 0:
+ continue
+
+ # Get event message's default clock snapshot's ns from origin value.
+ ns_from_origin = msg.default_clock_snapshot.ns_from_origin
+
+ if last_ns_from_origin is None:
+ # We start here.
+ last_ns_from_origin = ns_from_origin
+
+ # Previous process's short name.
+ prev_comm = str(event['prev_comm'])
+
+ # Initialize an entry in our dictionary if not done yet.
+ if prev_comm not in exec_times:
+ exec_times[prev_comm] = 0
+
+ # Compute previous process's execution time.
+ diff_ns = ns_from_origin - last_ns_from_origin
+
+ # Update execution time of this command.
+ exec_times[prev_comm] += diff_ns
+
+ # Update last event's time.
+ last_ns_from_origin = ns_from_origin
+
+ # Print top 5.
+ for comm, ns in exec_times.most_common(5):
+ print('{:20}{} s'.format(comm, ns / 1e9))
+
+Run this example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ $ python3 example.py /path/to/lttng/trace
+
+Output example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ swapper/0 326.294314471 s
+ chromium 2.500456202 s
+ Xorg.bin 0.546656895 s
+ threaded-ml 0.545098185 s
+ pulseaudio 0.53677713 s
+
+Note that ``swapper/0`` is the "idle" process of CPU |~| 0 on Linux;
+since we weren't using the CPU that much when tracing, its first
+position in the list makes sense.
+
+Inspect event classes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Each event stream is a *stream class* instance.
+
+A stream class contains *event classes*. A stream class's event classes
+describe all the possible events you can find in its instances. Stream
+classes and event classes form the *metadata* of streams and events.
+
+The following example shows how to list all the event classes of a
+stream class. For each event class, the example also prints the names of
+its payload field class's first-level members.
+
+.. note::
+
+ As of Babeltrace |~| |version|, there's no way to access a stream class
+ without consuming at least one message for one of its instances
+ (streams).
+
+ A source component can add new event classes to existing stream
+ classes during the trace processing task. Therefore, this example
+ only lists the initial stream class's event classes.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+ import bt2
+ import sys
+
+ # Create a trace collection message iterator from the first command-line
+ # argument.
+ msg_it = bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator(sys.argv[1])
+
+ # Get the message iterator's first stream beginning message.
+ for msg in msg_it:
+ # `bt2._StreamBeginningMessageConst` is the Python type of a stream
+ # beginning message.
+ if type(msg) is bt2._StreamBeginningMessageConst:
+ break
+
+ # A stream beginning message holds a stream.
+ stream = msg.stream
+
+ # Get the stream's class.
+ stream_class = stream.cls
+
+ # The stream class object offers a mapping interface (like a read-only
+ # `dict`), where keys are event class IDs and values are
+ # `bt2._EventClassConst` objects.
+ for event_class in stream_class.values():
+ print('{}:'.format(event_class.name))
+
+ # The `payload_field_class` property of an event class returns a
+ # `bt2._StructureFieldClassConst` object. This object offers a
+ # mapping interface, where keys are member names and values are
+ # `bt2._StructureFieldClassMemberConst` objects.
+ for member in event_class.payload_field_class.values():
+ fmt = ' {}: `{}.{}`'
+ print(fmt.format(member.name, bt2.__name__,
+ member.field_class.__class__.__name__))
+
+Run this example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ $ python3 example.py /path/to/trace
+
+Output example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ sched_migrate_task:
+ comm: `bt2._StringFieldClassConst`
+ tid: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ prio: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ orig_cpu: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ dest_cpu: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ sched_switch:
+ prev_comm: `bt2._StringFieldClassConst`
+ prev_tid: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ prev_prio: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ prev_state: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ next_comm: `bt2._StringFieldClassConst`
+ next_tid: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ next_prio: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ sched_wakeup_new:
+ comm: `bt2._StringFieldClassConst`
+ tid: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ prio: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+ target_cpu: `bt2._SignedIntegerFieldClassConst`
+
+.. _examples_graph:
+
+Build and run a trace processing graph
+--------------------------------------
+Internally, a :class:`bt2.TraceCollectionMessageIterator` object (see
+:ref:`examples_tcmi`) builds a *trace processing graph*, just like the
+:bt2man:`babeltrace2-convert(1)` CLI command, and then offers a
+Python iterator interface on top of it.
+
+See the :bt2man:`babeltrace2-intro(7)` manual page to learn more about
+the Babeltrace |~| 2 project and its core concepts.
+
+The following examples shows how to manually build and then run a trace
+processing graph yourself (like the :bt2man:`babeltrace2-run(1)` CLI
+command does). The general steps to do so are:
+
+#. Create an empty graph.
+
+#. Add components to the graph.
+
+ This process is also known as *instantiating a component class*
+ because the graph must first create the component from its class
+ before adding it.
+
+ A viable graph contains at least one source component and one sink
+ component.
+
+#. Connect component ports.
+
+ On initialization, components add input and output ports, depending
+ on their type.
+
+ You can connect component output ports to input ports within a graph.
+
+#. Run the graph.
+
+ This is a blocking operation which makes each sink component consume
+ some messages in a round robin fashion until there are no more.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+ import bt2
+ import sys
+
+ # Create an empty graph.
+ graph = bt2.Graph()
+
+ # Add a `source.text.dmesg` component.
+ #
+ # graph.add_component() returns the created and added component.
+ #
+ # Such a component reads Linux kernel ring buffer messages (see
+ # `dmesg(1)`) from the standard input and creates corresponding event
+ # messages. See `babeltrace2-source.text.dmesg(7)`.
+ #
+ # `my source` is the unique name of this component within `graph`.
+ comp_cls = bt2.find_plugin('text').source_component_classes['dmesg']
+ src_comp = graph.add_component(comp_cls, 'my source')
+
+ # Add a `sink.text.pretty` component.
+ #
+ # Such a component pretty-prints event messages on the standard output
+ # (one message per line). See `babeltrace2-sink.text.pretty(7)`.
+ #
+ # The `babeltrace2 convert` CLI command uses a `sink.text.pretty`
+ # sink component by default.
+ comp_cls = bt2.find_plugin('text').sink_component_classes['pretty']
+ sink_comp = graph.add_component(comp_cls, 'my sink')
+
+ # Connect the `out` output port of the `source.text.dmesg` component
+ # to the `in` input port of the `sink.text.pretty` component.
+ graph.connect_ports(src_comp.output_ports['out'],
+ sink_comp.input_ports['in'])
+
+ # Run the trace processing graph.
+ graph.run()
+
+Run this example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ $ dmesg -t | python3 example.py
+
+Output example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ string: { str = "ata1.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported" }
+ string: { str = "ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/02:00:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) succeeded" }
+ string: { str = "ata1.00: ACPI cmd f5/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out" }
+ string: { str = "ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:03:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) filtered out" }
+ string: { str = "ata1.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported" }
+ string: { str = "ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133" }
+ string: { str = "ata1.00: Enabling discard_zeroes_data" }
+ string: { str = "OOM killer enabled." }
+ string: { str = "Restarting tasks ... done." }
+ string: { str = "PM: suspend exit" }
+
+Query a component class
+-----------------------
+Component classes, provided by plugins, can implement a method to
+support *query operations*.
+
+A query operation is similar to a function call: the caller makes a
+request (a query) with parameters and the component class's query
+method returns a result object.
+
+The query operation feature exists so that you can benefit from a
+component class's implementation to get information about a trace, a
+stream, a distant server, and so on. For example, the
+``source.ctf.lttng-live`` component class (see
+:bt2man:`babeltrace2-source.ctf.lttng-live(7)`) offers the ``sessions``
+object to list the available
+`LTTng live <https://lttng.org/docs/v2.11/#doc-lttng-live>`_ tracing
+session names and other properties.
+
+The semantics of the query parameters and the returned object are
+completely defined by the component class implementation: the library
+and its Python bindings don't enforce or suggest any layout.
+The best way to know which objects you can query from a component class,
+what are the expected and optional parameters, and what the returned
+object contains is to read this component class's documentation.
+
+The following example queries the "standard" ``babeltrace.support-info``
+query object (see
+:bt2man:`babeltrace2-query-babeltrace.support-info(7)`) from the
+``source.ctf.fs`` component class
+(see :bt2man:`babeltrace2-source.ctf.fs(7)`) and
+pretty-prints the result. The ``babeltrace.support-info`` query object
+indicates whether or not a given path locates a
+:abbr:`CTF (Common Trace Format)` trace directory::
+
+ import bt2
+ import sys
+
+ # Get the `source.ctf.fs` component class from the `ctf` plugin.
+ comp_cls = bt2.find_plugin('ctf').source_component_classes['fs']
+
+ # The `babeltrace.support-info` query operation expects a `type`
+ # parameter (set to `directory` here) and an `input` parameter (the
+ # actual path or string to check, in this case the first command-line
+ # argument).
+ #
+ # See `babeltrace2-query-babeltrace.support-info(7)`.
+ params = {
+ 'type': 'directory',
+ 'input': sys.argv[1],
+ }
+
+ # Create a query executor.
+ #
+ # This is the environment in which query operations happens. The
+ # queried component class has access to this executor, for example to
+ # retrieve the query operation's logging level.
+ query_exec = bt2.QueryExecutor(comp_cls, 'babeltrace.support-info',
+ params)
+
+ # Query the component class through the query executor.
+ #
+ # This method returns the result.
+ result = query_exec.query()
+
+ # Print the result.
+ print(result)
+
+As you can see, no trace processing graph is involved (like in
+:ref:`examples_tcmi` and :ref:`examples_graph`): a query operation
+is *not* a sequential trace processing task, but a simple, atomic
+procedure call.
+
+Run this example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ $ python3 example.py /path/to/ctf/trace
+
+Output example:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ {'group': '21c63a42-40bc-4c08-9761-3815ae01f43d', 'weight': 0.75}
+
+This result indicates that the component class is 75 |~| % confident that
+:file:`/path/to/ctf/trace` is a CTF trace directory path. It also shows
+that this specific CTF trace belongs to the
+``21c63a42-40bc-4c08-9761-3815ae01f43d`` group; a single component can
+handle multiple traces which belong to the same group.
+
+Let's try the sample example with a path that doesn't locate a CTF
+trace:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ $ python3 example.py /etc
+
+Output:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ {'weight': 0.0}
+
+As expected, the zero weight indicates that ``/etc`` isn't a CTF trace
+directory path.