Search a variable after its value in debug mode, is it possible? - c#

I am dealing with legacy code and in UI I can find some ID's of my objects which are used at run time.
Those id's could help me to find more quickly the portion of code with which I am dealing for that requirement, but I do not know if it is possible to do in debug mode from Visual Studio 2010 (C++ and C#) a search after a value of an object, which was already calculated at run time.
If you have an idea if this can be done or another way to do it (search an object's value in debug mode) or some work around give me a hand, this could save many many, hours of work for each bug with which I will deal.

I'm not exactly sure what your asking but Scott Guru's tips and tricks might help you out.
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/08/18/debugging-tips-with-visual-studio-2010.aspx

Related

How to stop VisualStudio from expanding everything when deleting { } brackets

I asked this question few days ago and didn't get an answer, so I'll try again precising it a little.
I like to keep my code rolled up by collapsing methods, comments and xml summaries that I don't use at the moment. However, every time I edit some braces in a method, loop, switch statement or any part of the code (anything containing { or } brace), everything below expands after 1 second. Everything unfolds all the way down till the end of current file (or region, if edited code lies within it).
I can't take it anymore I'm tired of using Ctrl+M+O all the time and then re-finding edited field again. Is there any option or extension for VS2010, that would solve my problem?
Update
I'm starting to realize there's no way to solve the problem. However I could also accept an answer to a modified question: Is there a way or tool that would allow me to automatically delete { and } brace pairs containing only 1 instruction? It'd be an acceptable workaround for my problem.
If I understand what you need then you are asking how to stop the code below the line that I am editing from automatically expanding.I would like to tell there is no solution either from official sources or anything.Code collapsing a feature of ideal code editors like Visual Studio.
Let me explain you why this happens and how to prevent it.First let me explain essential conditions for code collapsing to work.Ideal code editors make use of Lexers and Parsers for the language the support,parsers make use of regular expressions to match language specific syntax entered by Coder or someone,in this sequence code editor stores all the locations where specific symbols like ;,{ and },".
In order for code collapsing to work effectively there must be equal number of theses symbols specified in exact order in the code being edited,whenever there is something in the source code which does not match the language specific syntax the parser flags reports the editing and formatting engine of this error.
Coming back to your problem,lets talk about what you face,to better understand it lets consider a simple code block;
and consider there are more functions below AddNumbers that are also collapsed.Now If I understood you,then you said if I editMultiplyNumbersand remove its starting curly brace{`,the all the code below this point automatically expands.
If this is the case then the problem is because parser tries to match the language syntax and searches for any terminating curly braces below this point which is found in AddNumbers's terminating curly brace.
Update :
In one line,there is no solution to this problem,this is because Visual Studio performs Real time parsing,that's how it shows you errors at real time.Actually this is not a problem that's why this has never been reported due to which there is nothing available from official sources.However you can prevent this by changing you coding habits a bit,like when you are creating a function suppose SomeFunction(int a,int b),try to first complete the outer side of function like below;
private void SomeFunction(int a,int b)
{
//Write code later.
}
First create the function outline as above and then write some code in it like below;
private void SomeFunction(int a,int b)
{
int z=a+b;
Console.WriteLine(z);
int x=a*b;
Console.WriteLine(x);
int p=a/b;
Console.WriteLine(p);
int q=a-b;
Console.WriteLine(q);
}
Next consider you are writing an if statement,first complete the outer side like this;
if(//We'll define condition later)
{
//Write function body later.
}
If you've used code snippets in Visual Studio,then you might have noticed Visual Studio generates the snipett's outer side first,then it places the caret to first argument.
So,these are some guidelines,something that can prevent the issue.
Now head towards solution,to prevent this situation when you create a function try to first place its { and } braces before writing any code in it.
Hope this prevents the issue you are facing.If there's anything more you are facing please let me know.
I am using folding myself for a static class containing localization text, and it is pretty nice to be able to hide/show things, similar to how TreeView does with nodes:
And I have never ever faced the described problem or been annoyed with something that VS does.
However, when you are editing code, such behavior is a bit too much for Intellisense I think (as already described in another answer). Perhaps you should change your "way of thinking" ?
Take a look:
You can quickly navigate between members or have a brief overview of them by using this special window, while having all the code unfolded.
I have seen some people like #region much. But you can achieve the same (if not better in all measures) by using partial and splitting single class into pieces.
p.s.: and with last your question, why don't you just select first what you need to delete and then press Delete ? Or what would that tool do for you? Automatically go through sources, detect that and delete? If you are a programmer, then making software that will do that shouldn't take more than writing you question here =D
I'm not sure exactly what the issue is here, as this certainly doesn't seem like normal behaviour (I've never experienced it).
There are a few options though (without knowing more about the problem) that might help you.
Firstly, someone has given a very good answer on another thread about customising the visual studio intellisense: Custom Intellisense Extension
If that isn't an option, perhaps have a look at the extensions that are provided for Visual Studio 2010.
Productivity Power Tools might help you out with some of your refactoring. You can get this through Visual Studio by going to Tools - Extension Mananger. And then select the option and Install it.
Power Tools is quite limited so this might not be enough. I'm sure people can offer other alternatives but I would certainly recommend ReSharper: http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/.
You can get a free trial but after that period you have to pay for it. I use it and the extensions it provides are fantastic. You can completely change the way Visual Studio behaves for your personal preferences.
Sorry I can't offer any other help, but if you can provide some more information then maybe we can find a solution (e.g. What do you mean by other methods are expanding etc).
Well, this problem that you encounter is a universal one and it can be sometimes irritating. In my experience, visual studio goes haywire especially when you are writing a lot of block statements in a large code file, whenever such happens you can save your work and restart VS. But to answer your question, make sure that you first try to open any collapsed code you want to edit and as for copying/cutting try to highlight the collapsed code first before carrying out of the editing options this informs the editor that you want to edit the highlighted segment of code. Hope it helps
Maybe this can be of some help ?

Locating bug in complex application

This is going to be a very general question. I'm hoping to find some tool or trick within Visual Studio 2010 that I don't know about.
Long story short, I'm taking over a very big accounting application for a company; there is no documentation and comments in the code are sparse. Also I have no access to the previous developers. There is a bug they need fixed right away. Basically a negative number is appearing in the database and the number should be positive. Nobody has any idea where in the app the calculation is happening, or where the data is actually being written to the database. Does anything jump out at anyone as far as figuring out what class/function is doing this? I could watch the database while stepping through every line of code but that could take days.
Not the answer you are going to like to hear but if its repeatable, you could approach this like a binary search.
Step over each procedure until the value changes.
Rerun and step in the procedure that changed the value.
Goto 1.
Pro
It won't take you days
you don't have to think about it while doing it
I would be surprised if you haven't found it after repeating this a few ten times.
Cons
not fun to do at all.

Do you use regular builds as a coding tool?

We have a large (about 580,000 loc) application which in Delphi 2006 builds (on my machine) in around 20 seconds. When you have build times in seconds, you tend to use the compiler as a tool. i.e. write a little code, build, write some more code and build some more etc etc As we move some of our stuff over to C#, does anyone have a comparison of how long something that size would take to build? I only have small apps and components at the moment, so can't really compare. If things are going to take a lot longer to build, then I may need to change my style! Or is my style just lazy?
For example, if I'm changing the interface of a method call, rather than do a full search on all the app to find out where I need to make changes to calls, I'll use the compiler to find them for me.
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 now has background compilation for C# (it's always had it for VB.NET). Back in my VB days, I often used this to find where something was referenced by changing the name and then seeing where the background compiler said there was an error.
I never worked on anything quite this large. At my last job we had about 60,000 loc spread over about 15 projects and it took about 10 seconds to compile. Maybe someone else can post a slightly larger case study
I used to use the compiler as you describe, but since I've been using ReSharper I do this a lot less.
Also, for things like rename, the refactoring support (both in Visual Studio 2005 upwards and, even better, from ReSharper) mean I don't have to do search + replace to rename things.
One thing you can take advantage of, especially in desktop apps, as I imagine you are dealing with coming from Delphi, is Edit and Continue. This lets you change actual code while you are running in debug mode. You can change just about anything, except for adding class level variables, methods, or new classes, and still continue running without having to recompile your project.
I use only the "Syntax Check" to see if I forgot some typo on the code... And these are much reduced, since I the "Code Proofreader" of GExperts plugin.
Well, compiler doesn't have to be that fast to take advantage of it. Some IDEs support incremental compilation on every file save, or either on-the-fly. This works great.
You can split application in several projects ( by layer and/or module and/or etc... ) and you will compile only project, where do you actualy work.
The last part of your post scares me. I am not familiar with other IDEs but MSDev allows you to find all references to a method - so you don't have to compile just to find all the method calls you broke.
Use whatever works, but it is good you are open to new ways of doing things.

How to make a "Call stack diagram"

Creating a call stack diagram
We have just recently been thrown into a big project that requires us to get into the code (duh).
We are using different methods to get acquainted with it, breakpoints etc. However we found that one method is to make a call tree of the application, what is the easiest /fastest way to do this?
By code? Plugins? Manually?
The project is a C# Windows application.
With the static analyzer NDepend, you can obtain a static method call graph, like the one below. Disclaimer: I am one of the developers of the tool
For that you just need to export to the graph the result of a CQLinq code query:
Such a code query, can be generated actually for any method, thanks to the right-click menu illustrated below.
Whenever I start a new job (which is frequently as I am a contractor) I spend two to three days reading through every single source file in the repository, and keep notes against each class in a simple text file. It is quite laborious but it means that you get a really good idea how the project fits together and you have a trusty map when you need to find the class that does somethnig.
Altought I love UML/diagramming when starting a project I, personally, do not find them at all useful when examining existing code.
Not a direct answer to your question, but NDepend is a good tool to get a 100ft view of a codebase, and it enables you to drill down into the relationships between classes (and many other features)
Edit: I believe the Microsoft's CLR Profiler is capable of displaying a call tree for a running application. If that is not sufficient I have left the link I posted below in case you would like to start on a custom solution.
Here is a CodeProject article that might point you in the right direction:
The download offered here is a Visual
Studio 2008 C# project for a simple
utility to list user function call
trees in C# code.
This call tree lister seems to work OK
for my style of coding, but will
likely be unreliable for some other
styles of coding. It is offered here
with two thoughts: first, some
programmers may find it useful as is;
second, I would be appreciative if
someone who is up-to-speed on C#
parsing would upgrade it by
incorporating an accurate C# parser
and turn out an improved utility that
is reliable regardless of coding style
The source code is available for download - perhaps you can use this as a starting point for a custom solution.
You mean something like this: http://erik.doernenburg.com/2008/09/call-graph-visualisation-with-aspectj-and-dot/
Not to be a stuck record, but if I get it running and pause it a few times, and each time capture the call stack, that gives me a real good picture of the call structure that accounts for the most time. It doesn't give me the call structure for things that happen real fast, however.

ReSharper Code Cleanup/Reformat Code feature vs Versioning Control Systems

ReSharper Code cleanup feature (with "reorder members" and "reformat code" enabled) is really great. You define a layout template using XML, then a simple key combination reorganizes your whole source file (or folder/project/solution) according to the rules you set in the template.
Anyway, do you think that could be a problem regarding VCS like subversion, cvs, git, etc. ? Is there a chance that it causes many undesired conflicts ?
Thank you.
Yes, it will definitely cause problems. In addition to creating conflicts that have to be manually resolved, when you check in a file that has been reformatted, the VCS will note almost every line as having been changed. This will make it hard for you or a teammate to look back at the history and see what changed when.
That said, if everyone autoformats their code the same way (ie, you distribute that XML template to the team), then it might work well. The problems really only come in when not everyone is doing the same thing.
I'm waiting for an IDE or an editor that always saves source code using some baseline formatting rules, but allows each individual developer to display and edit the code in their own preferred format. That way I can put my open curly brace at the beginning of the next line and not at the end of the current line where all you heathens seem to think it goes.
My guess is I'll be waiting for a long time.
Just reformat the whole solution
once
AND make sure that every developer
is using Resharper
AND make sure that formatting
options are shared and versioned
(code style sharing options)
You can use StyleCop to enforce a comprehensive set of standards which pretty much forces everyone to use the same layout styles. Then all you need to do is develop a ReSharper code style specification that matches this, and distribute it to the team.
I'm still waiting for someone else to do this, and for JetBrains to clear up all the niggling details which aren't fully supported, in order to allow ReSharper to basically guarantee full StyleCop compliance.
It can definitely cause conflicts, so I would make sure you don't reformat entire files if there are people working on them in parallel.
It definitely could cause conflicts.
If you want to use this in a multi-user environment then the configuration of Resharper needs to format your code to a set of standards which are enforced in your organization regardless of whether users make use of Resharper or not.
That way you are using the tool to ensure your own code meets the standards, not blanket applying your preferences to the whole codebase.
I Agree with the previous answers that state that conflicts are possible and even likely.
If you are planning to reformat code then at least make sure that you don't mix reformat checkins with those that change the function of the actual code. This way people can skip past check-ins that are simple reformattings. It's also a good idea to make sure that everyone knows a reformat is coming up so that they can object if they have ongoing work in that area.
We're working on something to work with refactors at the source code level. We call it Xmerge, and it's now part of Plastic. It's just a first approach, since we're working on more advanced solutions. Check it here.
It might be a good idea to write a script to check out every version in your source control history, apply the code cleaning, then check it into a new repository. Then use that repository for all your work in future.

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