Re: [Boost-docs] [debugger_visualizers] wiki update

Subject: Re: [Boost-docs] [debugger_visualizers] wiki update
From: Filip Konvička (filip.konvicka_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-08-06 18:27:03

Hi Cédric,
>> I've just updated the Debugger Visualizers section of the wiki:
>>
>>   http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/DebuggerVisualizers
>>
>> Still a work-in-progress, but for those eagerly waiting for it, might
>> be
>> worth looking at. Comments welcome!
>>     
>
> Great, but it seems that the personalized debug visualizer already exist
> since VC++ 6.
>
> Also, I don't know if you had seen this:
> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8fwk67y3(VS.80).aspx
>
> (Microsoft - EEAddIn Sample shows how to use addins to make more complex
> conversions of C++ datatypes. The Microsoft sample doesn't work right out of
> the box:
>
> Modify the !ReadDebuggeeMemoryEx() to ReadDebuggeeMemoryEx()!=S_OK
>
> Change the Release build linker configuration, so it uses the eeaddin.def
> (Like in the Debug build)
>
> Don't use the @28 syntax in the autoexp.dat )
>
> And more or less the same things:
> http://www.codeguru.com/Cpp/V-S/debug/article.php/c4437/
>
> I didn't try and it isn't really documentation, but it should be enough to
> do more advanced visualiser.
>   
AFAICT, these are not usable for many (most?) Boost classes. These 
visualizers are statically-typed; we need template-like visualizers. 
Sure it might be possible (haven't tried) to visualize each 
instantiation, but this is far from practical. Or am I missing 
something? After all, Microsoft themselves are visualizing STL classes 
using autoexp.dat, so I guess we're doing it right :-)

Also, I think that the visualizers we've created so far are quite 
satisfactory, so I don't know why would you want anything more "advanced".

Did you read the discussion "[Boost-users] [multi_index] MSVS 2005 
visualizers?" at the boost-users mailing list, BTW?

Thanks for the links anyway, I haven't tried writing a "DLL" visualizer 
yet. We might use it for some Boost classes, such as ptime. However, we 
must first examine how does it integrate with the IDE (whether it works 
in the watch window, etc.). It might be that this feature no longer 
works in new VS editions, as there is a brand new visualizer API for CLR 
debugging.

Cheers,
Filip