Debug Tool Window. Watches
In the Watches pane you can evaluate any number of variables or expressions in the context of the current stack frame. The values are updated with each step through the application, and become visible every time the application is suspended.
While the command on the
Variables pane enables you to see one expression at a time,
the Watches
pane shows multiple expressions that persist from one debug session to another, until you remove them.
You can create watches in this pane, in the Variables pane and even in the editor.
Watch expressions are always evaluated in the context of a stack frame that is currently inspected in the Frames pane. If an expression cannot be evaluated, it is displayed with a question mark.
In this topic:
Toolbar
| Item | Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Alt+Insert | Click this button to create a new watch. |
| Alt+Delete | Click this button to remove the selected watch from the list. |
Context menu options
| Item | Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| New Watch | Insert | Choose this command to create a new watch. A text field opens, where you can enter new watch expression. |
| Remove Watch | Delete | Choose this command to delete the currently selected watch expression from the list. |
| Edit | F2 | Choose this command to change the selected watch expression. |
| Remove All Watches | Choose this command to delete all watch expressions from the list. | |
| Inspect | Available for fields, local variables and reference expressions. Choose this command to open the Inspect window for the node, which allows you to perform the same operations as those available in the stack frame, with the only difference that the root node is the one you have selected. You can recursively call the new Inspect windows from within each other. Each window is not modal and immediately reflects all changes in its subtree. | |
| Mark Object | F11 | Choose this command to add a label to an object. |
| Set Value | This command is available on the context menu of a field or local variables, added to a watch and being currently in scope. Choose this command to assign the desired value to such variable. | |
| Show Referring Object | Choose this command to display the list of objects referring to the current watch. | |
| Jump to Source | F4 | This command opens the source code of the selected variable or field in the editor and places the caret on a proper line. |
| Jump to Type Source | Shift+F4 | This command opens the source code of the type of selected variable or field in the editor. |
| View as | Use this command to select the layout of the values. For the numeric values, you can toggle between
the decimal and hexadecimal formats. The objects are usually represented by their class name and
instance identifier, but you can optionally show them in string format.
| |
| Copy Value | Ctrl+C | Copies the selected node value to the clipboard. |
| Copy Name | Copies the selected node name to the clipboard. |