# Build Step Timings

**URL:** https://www.finalbuilder.com/forums/t/build-step-timings/1057
**Category:** Discussion
**Created:** [December 18, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://www.finalbuilder.com/forums/t/build-step-timings/1057 "2008-12-18T06:23:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![deleted\_user](https://www.finalbuilder.com/forums/user_avatar/www.finalbuilder.com/deleted_user/32/937_2.png) [@deleted\_user](https://www.finalbuilder.com/forums/u/deleted_user)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://www.finalbuilder.com/forums/t/build-step-timings/1057/1 "2008-12-18T06:23:01Z")

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hi,

I've got a build project broken up into several steps.&nbsp;&nbsp; many of these steps call other final build projects.&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm trying to gather timings for each of the major steps.&nbsp; The end goal is to have these timings written out to an XML file for display on a webpage.&nbsp;&nbsp;I have an approach but I'm hoping for feedback if there is&nbsp;a better way.

My approach is I'm getting the current date/time when I start and end.&nbsp;&nbsp; Then using the simple math step to calculate the duration.&nbsp; Then writting it out to an XML file..&nbsp; simple enough.&nbsp; But this approach has several issue mainly because the&nbsp;getdatetime action doesn't support a format that makes the calculation easy.&nbsp;&nbsp;

I noticed there is a "run time" value in the build log.&nbsp;&nbsp; Is there a way to to retieve that value?&nbsp;&nbsp; any other solutions I don't know about?

Thanks in advance.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

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### Author: ![paulsamways](https://www.finalbuilder.com/forums/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@paulsamways](https://www.finalbuilder.com/forums/u/paulsamways)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://www.finalbuilder.com/forums/t/build-step-timings/1057/2 "2008-12-19T02:04:57Z")

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Hi Chad,

You can either use the 'Export Log to File' action to log a fragment of the build to an XML file and parse it to retrieve the runtime of the action, or you can use script to create a stopwatch around the actions. I've attached an example project which demonstrates using script to create a stopwatch.

Regards,  
Paul.

[001\_StopwatchExample.fbz6](https://www.finalbuilder.com/forums/uploads/default/original/2X/f/f3ce411c46d70226f5e7aea97c0268f6783f037f.fbz6) (2.229 KB)