/*=========================================================================

  Program:   Insight Segmentation & Registration Toolkit
  Module:    $RCSfile: itkTimeProbe.h,v $
  Language:  C++
  Date:      $Date: 2008-10-26 15:20:21 $
  Version:   $Revision: 1.9 $

  Copyright (c) Insight Software Consortium. All rights reserved.
  See ITKCopyright.txt or http://www.itk.org/HTML/Copyright.htm for details.

     This software is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even 
     the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 
     PURPOSE.  See the above copyright notices for more information.

=========================================================================*/
#ifndef __itkTimeProbe_h
#define __itkTimeProbe_h

#include "itkConfigure.h"
#include "itkResourceProbe.h"
#include "itkRealTimeClock.h"

namespace itk 
{
 
/** \class TimeProbe 
 * 
 *  \brief Class for computing the time passed between two points in the code.
 *   
 *   This class allows the user to trace the time passed between the execution
 *   of two pieces of code.  It can be started and stopped in order to evaluate
 *   the execution over multiple passes.  The values of time are taken from the
 *   RealTimeClock.
 *
 *   \sa RealTimeClock
 *
 */
class ITKCommon_EXPORT TimeProbe: public 
  ResourceProbe<RealTimeClock::TimeStampType,RealTimeClock::TimeStampType>
{

public:

  /** Type for counting how many times the probe has been started and stopped. */
  typedef unsigned long CountType;

  /** Type for measuring time. See the RealTimeClock class for details on the
   * precision and units of this clock signal */
  typedef RealTimeClock::TimeStampType  TimeStampType;

public:

  /** Constructor */
  TimeProbe();

  /** Destructor */
  virtual ~TimeProbe();

  /** Get the current time.
   *  Warning: the returned value is not the elapsed time since the last Start() call. 
   */ 
  virtual RealTimeClock::TimeStampType GetInstantValue(void)const;

  /** Returns the average times passed between the starts and stops of the
   *  probe. See the RealTimeClock for details on the precision and units of
   *  this time value. Obsolete method kept for backward compatibility, 
   *  use Probe::GetMean() instead.
   *  \deprecated
   */
  TimeStampType GetMeanTime(void) const;

private:
  RealTimeClock::Pointer   m_RealTimeClock;
};


} // end namespace itk

#endif //__itkTimeProbe_h
