autoexp.dat Visualizers in VS11 Developer Preview broken?

Question

It seems that if I add visualizer definitions to the autoexp.dat file in the Visual Studio 11 preview, they do not work. Is this a known issue, or is there some other way to define custom visualizers for 11?

It appears that the file is identical to the VS 2010 version, so I would expect the visualizers I wrote for 2010 to work in 2011 as well.  The autoexp.dat file I am editing is found at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\Packages\Debugger"

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi Steven Bone,

We are actually replacing autoexp.dat with a new xml file called default.natvis.  You can find this file in the following path:
\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\Packages\Debugger\Visualizers
I highly suggest you open up this file in Visual Studio and check it out.  There are instructions at the top that describe how it is used and more content is coming later.  And please let us know what feedback you have.

Thanks,
Brad

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Brad Sullivan - Program Manager - Visual Studio Debugger

Answer 2

Oh, and if you want to force VS to use the old system, there is a way to do this.  For now, you can accomplish this by going to Tools->Options and then under the debugger settings, turn on native edit and continue.

 

Thanks,

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Brad Sullivan - Program Manager - Visual Studio Debugger

Answer 3

If you start using the new style XML-based visualizers in default.natvis, this issue may be interesting for you: Incorrect Type Name references in defaultvis.natvis visualizers for standard library

Answer 4

Hi, I've seen the connect issue and you solution,  as you're saying "Relaunch Visual Studio 11" , I am wondering if this is changed compared to autoexp.dat, when I do some modificaions, I don't need to relaunch VS, but re-attach the debugger.

Edit:  I've tried, no need to relaunch, just re-attach

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I am a passionate game programmer.