Introduction

For several years now I have been using a Visual Studio extension called ArrayDebugView by Joachim Eibl that allows you to plot the contents of a C++ array when stopped at a breakpoint within Visual Studio. This extension was designed for VS2005 and VS2008, yet I managed to get it running on VS2010.

ArrayDebugView by Joachim Eibl
ArrayDebugView by Joachim Eibl

 For years I found it very useful for development of signal processing algorithms. However, the interface is a bit clunky (has a broken tab order and is a modal dialog), and worst of all, it is NOT compatible with VS2012/2013 which our recent projects at work are now developed in. Furthermore, most of our development is now in C#.

Thus an update to ArrayDebugView was in order. Unfortunately the last release (1.42) was in early 2010. I attempted to rebuild the solution from source with the aim of making it compatible with VS2012/2013 but I did not have much success.

So I decided to develop my own array plotting debug extension, utilising the new Visual Studio Extension (VSIX) framework to ensure ease of installation. The main benefit is that I then have the ability to improve the functionality and include new features etc.

Keep your eyes out for ArrayPlotter in the Visual Studio Gallery soon!

ArrayPlotter by Rodney Thomson
ArrayPlotter by Rodney Thomson


5 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 10, 2015 at 7:31 AM

    Great tool. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AbhiMMay 29, 2017 at 4:39 PM

    Hi Rodney, Thanks for this wonderful tool. Does it also have an array visualiser in addition to plotting/ charting capabilities?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rodney ThomsonMay 29, 2017 at 6:23 PM

      If you mean a window where the array contents are plotted (as per Visual Studio's watch window), then no. Sorry.

      At some point I wish to have an export capability, where the raw data can be copied to CSV/MATLAB format.

      Delete
    2. AbhiMMay 30, 2017 at 4:09 AM

      Many thanks for your prompt reply

      Delete
    3. Rodney ThomsonMay 30, 2017 at 6:49 PM

      No problem. You may be able to use the Visual Studio Watch window to print the contents of your arrays as per https://stackoverflow.com/questions/972511/view-array-in-visual-studio-debugger

      Delete

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