Bug 229779 NPE in performance tests
There are several NPEs within the UI session tests that prevent them from running. They all are due to calls to setDegredationComment() within the constructor of the tests. This should instead be called from within the test method itself - the test object does not exist when the constructor is invoked and this method will NPE.
tests/org.eclipse.ui.tests.performance/src/org/eclipse/ui/tests/performance/PerspectiveSwitchTest.java
IWorkbenchWindow window = openTestWindow(id1);
        final IWorkbenchPage page = window.getActivePage();
        assertNotNull(page);
        page.setPerspective(perspective2);
        
        
        IFile aFile = getProject().getFile(activeEditor);
        assertTrue(aFile.exists());
        IDE.openEditor(page, aFile, true);
       	tagIfNecessary("UI - Perspective Switch", Dimension.ELAPSED_PROCESS);
        
        exercise(new TestRunnable() {
            public void run() throws Exception {
                processEvents();
                
                startMeasuring();
                page.setPerspective(perspective1);
                processEvents();
                page.setPerspective(perspective2);
                processEvents();
                stopMeasuring();
            } 
        });
        
        commitMeasurements();
        assertPerformance();
    }
}