VS2010 C++ and Visualizer

Question

I'm a VS2005 C++ user and like the autoexp.dat Visualizer section where I can specify how to display my complex classes (similarly to STL containers). What is new in VS2010 with autoexp.dat and/or Visualizer? Is there any improvement?

I like the ",t" format specifier which force the debugger to display the real class name of the pointer. Unfortunately this does not work under Visualizer section. Any improvement in VS2010?

I like the "DebuggerDisplay" attribute in C# where I can directly specify in the code what the debugger should display. Is there something similar in C++?

Thanks, Abyss

Answer 1

Hi Abyss,

Thanks for the question.

We can still use autoexp.dat in VS 2010. In addition, for native type views, we can also customize it by writing an expression evaluator add-in. For more information, see EEAddIn Sample: Debugging Expression Evaluator Add-In (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8fwk67y3.aspx).

For managed type, you can write Visualizer just like in C# and VB.

For expression evaluator, there is a how do I video: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualc/bb684927.aspx

Hope it helps. Thanks.

 

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Hongye Sun [MSFT]
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Answer 2

Thanks Hongye. This looks great. Not as easy as in C# but better than my current approach.

Abyss