How to retrieve variables from the Watch List in Visual Studio using DTE?

Question

Hi everyone!

I'm working with DTE in Visual Studio and trying to access variables from the Watch List window. I have code to activate the Watch window, but I'm unsure how to extract the variables and their values.

Here's a snippet of my code:

var watchWindow = m_DTE_dte.Windows.Item("{90243340-BD7A-11D0-93EF-00A0C90F2734}");
watchWindow.Visible = true;
// ... (more code)
//

How can I iterate through the variables in the Watch List and retrieve their names and values? I would appreciate any hints or code examples!

Thank you!

Answer

Hi @MypkaXD ,

To iterate through the variables in the Watch List and retrieve their names and values using DTE (Development Tools Environment) in Visual Studio, you can access the Debug object. The Watch window contains expressions, and you can retrieve these through the Expression objects available via Debugger3.

EnvDTE80.DTE2 dte2 = (EnvDTE80.DTE2)m_DTE_dte;
EnvDTE80.Debugger3 debugger = (EnvDTE80.Debugger3)dte2.Debugger;
EnvDTE.Expression watchExpression;

var watchWindow = dte2.Windows.Item("{90243340-BD7A-11D0-93EF-00A0C90F2734}");
watchWindow.Visible = true;

var watchExpressions = debugger.Watchers;

foreach (EnvDTE.Expression exp in watchExpressions)
{
    // Access the name and value of each expression
    string variableName = exp.Name;
    string variableValue = exp.Value;

    Console.WriteLine($"Variable Name: {variableName}, Value: {variableValue}");
}

Best Regards.

Jiachen Li

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How to retrieve variables from the Watch List in Visual Studio using DTE?

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