Character Formatting of Watch Variables

Other versions of this page are also available for the following:

• Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3

8/27/2008

The following table shows how you can change the display format of variables in the QuickWatch dialog box or in the Watch window by using formatting characters.

To use a formatting character, type the variable name, followed by a comma and the appropriate character.

For example, if var has a value of 0x0065, and you want to see the value in character form, type var,c in the Name column on the tab of the Watch window.

When you press ENTER, the character-format value appears. For example:

var,c = 'e'

The following table shows the formatting characters that you can use to format the contents of memory locations.

With the memory location formatting characters, you can type any value or expression that evaluates to a location.

To display the value of a character array as a string, precede the array name with an ampersand (&), as in the following example.

&yourname

A formatting character can also follow an expression, as in the following example.

rep+1,x
alps[0],mb
xloc,g
count,d

To watch the value at an address or the value that is pointed to by a register, use the BY, WO, or DW operator:

• BY returns the contents of the byte that is pointed to.
• WO returns the contents of the word that is pointed to.
• DW returns the contents of the DWORD that is pointed to.

Follow the operator with a variable, register, or constant.

If the BY, WO, or DW operator is followed by a variable, the environment watches the byte, word, or DWORD at the address that is contained in the variable.

You can also use the context operator to display the contents of any location. The context operator qualifies the variable and is a pair of braces ({}) containing two commas, and a combination of function name, source file name, and executable file name.

The basic syntax is:

        [function][source][module] variable name

For example, the following command allows you to examine a variable called MyVariable in MyModule.dll, running in device.exe.

{,,MyModule.dll}MyVariable

As shown in this example, if you omit either the function name or the executable file name, the two commas cannot be omitted. However, if you omit both the source file name and the executable file name, you can omit the commas.

For example, the following syntax is legal

        Function1 variable1

However, the next syntax example is illegal.

        File.c File.exe variable1

To display a Unicode string in the Watch window or the QuickWatch dialog box, use the su format specifier.

To display data bytes with Unicode characters in the Watch window or the QuickWatch dialog box, use the mu format specifier.

You can apply formatting characters to structures, arrays, pointers, and objects as unexpanded variables only.

If you expand the variable, the specified formatting affects all members.

You cannot apply formatting characters to expanded variables.

See Also

Concepts

Viewing Debug Information in the Debug Windows
Watching Variables and Expressions