dp0h/VsImmediate

Visual Studio's Immediate Window with Python syntax.

VsImmediate

Visual Studio's Immediate Window alternative with Python syntax and flexible evaluation. Basically it's just Python Shell (IDLE) which is connected to Visual Studio using Add-in. The project include a Python module and VS Add-in which allow to use Visual Studio Debugger expression evaluation in Python Shell (or in IronPython console embedded in VS), so Python Shell could be used in a similar way as VS's Immediate Window.

Installation

• Clone this repository
• Compile VSDebugConnector
• Add .\VsImmediate\VSDebugConnector\bin\ path to Add-in File Path in Visual Studio options
• Add .\VsImmediate\vsdbg path to PYTHONPATH in environment variables

Usage

• Load VSDebugConnector Add-in in Visual Studio
• Start Python Shell or IronPython console and type:
• from vsdbg import *
• detect()
• Start Debugger in Visual Studio and put breakpoint
• When breakpoint triggered Python console can be used for expression evaluation

Commands

• detect() - auto discover VsImmediatePy's port and host
• port(port) - set VsImmediatePy's port number
• host(host) - set VsImmediatePy's host name
• p(expression) - print debug information for the expression
• v(expression) - return values of the expression
• t(expression) - return type of the expression
• m(expression) - return list of members of the expression

Example

Let's assume we have the following code in C#:

class Person {
    public string FirstName { get; internal set; }
    public string LastName { get; internal set; }
    public string Name { get { return FirstName + " " + LastName; } }
    public List<Phone> Phones { get; set; }

    public Person(string firstName, string lastName) {
        FirstName = firstName;
        LastName = lastName;
    }
}

...
var persons = new List<Person> {
        new Person("John", "Smith") {
                Phones = new List<Phone> {
                    new Phone {Type = "Mobile", Number = "1234567890"}, 
                    new Phone {Type = "Work", Number = "2345678901"}
                }
            },
        new Person("Jack", "Brown") {
                Phones = new List<Phone> {new Phone {Type = "Home", Number = "3456789012"}}
            }
    };

var tmp = persons.ToArray();
...

If we put breakpoint at var tmp = persons.ToArray(); and start using Python IDLE will have the following output:

• Evaluating persons

>>> print p("persons") 
Count = 2
	[0x00000000]: {ConsoleApplication2.Person}
	[0x00000001]: {ConsoleApplication2.Person}
	Raw View: 

>>> print p("persons, raw")
Count = 2
	_items: {ConsoleApplication2.Person[4]}
	_size: 2
	_syncRoot: {object}
	_version: 2
	Capacity: 4
	Count: 2
	System.Collections.Generic.ICollection<T>.IsReadOnly: false
	System.Collections.ICollection.IsSynchronized: false
	System.Collections.ICollection.SyncRoot: {object}
	System.Collections.IList.IsFixedSize: false
	System.Collections.IList.IsReadOnly: false
	Static members: 

>>> t("persons")
'System.Collections.Generic.List<ConsoleApplication2.Person>'

>>> v("persons")
'Count = 2'

>>> m("persons")
['[0x00000000]', '[0x00000001]', 'Raw View']

>>> m("persons, raw")
['_items', '_size', '_syncRoot', '_version', 'Capacity', 'Count', 'System.Collections.Generic.ICollection<T>.IsReadOnly', 'System.Collections.ICollection.IsSynchronized', 'System.Collections.ICollection.SyncRoot', 'System.Collections.IList.IsFixedSize', 'System.Collections.IList.IsReadOnly', 'Static members']

• Evaluating persons[0]

>>> print p("persons[0]")
{ConsoleApplication2.Person}
	FirstName: "John"
	LastName: "Smith"
	Name: "John Smith"
	Phones: Count = 2

>>> t("persons[0]")
'ConsoleApplication2.Person'

>>> v("persons[0]")
'{ConsoleApplication2.Person}'

>>> m("persons[0]")
['FirstName', 'LastName', 'Name', 'Phones']

• Evaluating persons[0].Name

>>> print p("persons[0].Name")
"John Smith"

>>> t("persons[0].Name")
'string'

>>> v("persons[0].Name")
'"John Smith"'

>>> m("persons[0].Name")
['']

• Evaluating persons[0].Phones[0]

>>> print p("persons[0].Phones[0]")
{ConsoleApplication2.Phone}
	Number: "1234567890"
	Type: "Mobile"

>>> t("persons[0].Phones[0]")
'ConsoleApplication2.Phone'

>>> v("persons[0].Phones[0]")
'{ConsoleApplication2.Phone}'

>>> m("persons[0].Phones[0]")
['Number', 'Type']

• Evaluating persons[0].Phones[0].Number

>>> v("persons[0].Phones[0].Number")
'"1234567890"'