Chapter 3 Debugging Your Code

Exporting Breakpoints

If you would like to save the current state and location of the breakpoints you have set, Visual Studio allows you to export and import breakpoints. This will create an XML file with the exported breakpoints that you can then share with a colleague.

I foresee the use of Visual Studio Live Share replacing the need to share breakpoints with a colleague just for the sake of aiding in debugging an application. There are, however, other situations I can see exporting breakpoints as being beneficial.

To export your breakpoints, you can right-click a breakpoint and click Export from the context menu, or you can click the export button in the Breakpoints window. You can also import breakpoints from the Breakpoints window by clicking the export or import button as highlighted in Figure 3-23.

Figure 3-23.  Import or export breakpoints

I’m not too convinced that the icons used on the import and export buttons are indicative of importing and exporting something, but that is just my personal opinion.

Using DataTips

DataTips in Visual Studio allows developers to view information about variables during a debug session. You can only view DataTips in break mode, and DataTips only work with variables that are currently in scope.

This means that before you can see a DataTip, you are going to have to debug your code. Place a breakpoint somewhere in your code and start debugging. When you hit the breakpoint that you have set, you can hover your mouse cursor over a variable. The DataTip now appears showing the name of the variable and the value it currently holds. You can also pin this DataTip as seen in Figure 3-24.

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