Sara Ford's Weblog
My adventures embracing open source on CodePlex and at Microsoft
Did you know... You can add $exception to the Watch window to see the caught exception - #318
If you just quickly want to know what exception has been caught, without having to figure out the...
Author: saraford Date: 09/22/2008
Did you know... If you do a Ctrl+F5 on a console application, the console stays open - #317
If you start the debugger (F5) for a console application, and you don’t have a Stop /...
Author: saraford Date: 09/19/2008
MSDN Southern Fried Roadshow coming to the Mississippi this week
It’s times like these i wish i lived closer to home to help promote local events and activities. But...
Author: saraford Date: 09/18/2008
Did you know... What's the difference between the Autos window and the Locals window? - #316
I’ve always wondered this, but finally took the time to ask Dustin Campbell when I met with him last...
Author: saraford Date: 09/18/2008
Did you know... How to get the Find Source dialog back instead of the "There is no source code available" message? - #315
Today marks my 7th (!) year at Microsoft. Wow. To have only known about this back in the day…...
Author: saraford Date: 09/17/2008
Speaking at ReMix on Thursday – first international flight in nearly 15 years…
I’m speaking at ReMix on Thursday in England, where I will demo the new Subversion client support...
Author: saraford Date: 09/16/2008
Did you know... How to create an Object ID to keep track of your objects? - #314
Whenever you open a DataTip for an instance of an object, you’ll see the Make Object ID item in the...
Author: saraford Date: 09/16/2008
Did you know… You can break the debugger without using Breakpoints? - #313
If you are using VB, you can add the keyword Stop in your code to suspend execution. The Stop...
Author: saraford Date: 09/15/2008
Did you know… There’s no command for Continuing the debugger - #312
I just noticed how the tooltip for the Start icon changes from Debug.Start (F5) to Continue (F5)...
Author: saraford Date: 09/12/2008
Did you know… You can press Shift+F11 to step out of a function - #311
“All mixed up you don’t know what to do… Next thing you turn around and find the person is you…”...
Author: saraford Date: 09/11/2008
Did you know… You can press F11 to Step Into a function - #310
Back in my Visual J++ days, I didn’t know about F11. To compensate, I would set a breakpoint within...
Author: saraford Date: 09/10/2008
Did you know… You can press F10 to Step Over a function - #309
For those who haven’t memorized these keyboard shortcuts yet, here you go. This tips is in case you...
Author: saraford Date: 09/09/2008
Did you know… You can press Alt+Num * to Show Next Statement - #308
I never paid any attention to this command until I start writing this tip. I’m sure i’ve used it...
Author: saraford Date: 09/08/2008
Did you know… You can quickly view other variables in the QuickWatch window? - #307
Whenever you execute the QuickWatch command with a variable selected in the editor or you type in...
Author: saraford Date: 09/05/2008
Did you know… You can add variables to the Watch window from the QuickWatch window? - #306
On the Quick Watch window, there’s a button to add a variable to the Watch window. Pressing this...
Author: saraford Date: 09/04/2008
Did you know… you can reevaluate expressions in the QuickWatch window - #305
In the QuickWatch window, you can use the Expression combo box to type in an expression. Then press...
Author: saraford Date: 09/03/2008
The accidental New Orleans evacuatee is back in Seattle
Despite the thunderstorms and tornados associated with Tropical Storm Fay and the mandatory...
Author: saraford Date: 09/02/2008
Did you know… You can press Shift+F9 to bring up the QuickWatch window - #304
The command for the QuickWatch window is Debug.QuickWatch. In the general development settings, the...
Author: saraford Date: 09/02/2008
Did you know… There is a QuickWatch window? - #303
as I type this, I’m on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, about 45 miles from New Orleans, watching...
Author: saraford Date: 09/01/2008
Did you know… How to load only specified symbols when you want to? - #302
Continuing with yesterday’s tip, there’s another option to configure when and how symbols are...
Author: saraford Date: 08/29/2008
Did you know… You can cache symbols locally to disk? - #301
And here we go… beyond the #300 mark… Under Tools – Options – Debugging – Symbols, there’s this...
Author: saraford Date: 08/28/2008
Did you know… How to load symbols from the Modules window? - #299
When you use Tools – Attach to Process, you’ll see the Modules window pop up. From here you can...
Author: saraford Date: 08/26/2008
Did you know… How to hide or show the Script Debugging Disabled warning message? - #298
Internet Explorer has an option to disable script debugging. If you try to debug your javascript,...
Author: saraford Date: 08/25/2008
Did you know… How to show or hide the “No Debugging Information” warning? - #297
If you try to debug an application that you do not have symbols for, or if you’ve disabled the...
Author: saraford Date: 08/22/2008
Did you know… You can debug an executable that isn’t a part of a Visual Studio project without using Tools – Attach to Process? - #296
And yet another, “I would have never thought to do that” feature in Visual Studio. There’s the...
Author: saraford Date: 08/21/2008
Did you know… How to debug your optimized code? - #295
I kinda gave a sneak peek at this option in Tip #290, but here’s the real use, if I understood the...
Author: saraford Date: 08/20/2008
Did you know… How to disable the “the source file is different from when the module was built” warning dialog - #294
Sometimes you have different source code files from the version that built your code. Ideally you...
Author: saraford Date: 08/19/2008
Southern United States Speaking Tour – 7 cities in 6 days
Back in late April, before I started on the book, before I started on the TechEd breakout session,...
Author: saraford Date: 08/18/2008
Did you know… How to highlight the entire source code line when either the a breakpoint is set or the line is the current statement - #293
Hooray!!! A tip that’s more IDE-centric than debugger-centric! Under Tools – Options – Debugging –...
Author: saraford Date: 08/18/2008
Did you know… Why you may want to enable source server support? - #292
Continuing down the list of Tools – Options – Debugging – General settings, there’s the Enable...
Author: saraford Date: 08/15/2008
Did you know… What warning message is suppressed by the Warn If No User Code On Launch option? - #291
Continuing the discussion around Just My Code, you may have noticed on the...
Author: saraford Date: 08/14/2008
Did you know… How to optimize your code for a build? - #290
in yesterday’s tip, i explained what is and isn’t your code. One of the ways to make your code not...
Author: saraford Date: 08/13/2008
Did you know… what is just your code? - #289
Under Tools – Options – Debugging – General, you’ll see the option “Enable Just My Code” Of course,...
Author: saraford Date: 08/12/2008
Microsoft Visual Studio Tips Book Helps Hurricane Katrina Survivors Rebuild Lives
I am very proud to announce the Amazon pre-sale of my first book Microsoft Visual Studio Tips. ...
Author: saraford Date: 08/11/2008
Did you know… How to show External code? - #288
You may have noticed from time to time the [External Code] appear in the call stack. Until...
Author: saraford Date: 08/11/2008
Did you know… What unwinding the call stack on unhandled exceptions does? - #277
Under Tools – Options – Debugging – General, after you’ve chosen to enabled the exception assistant,...
Author: saraford Date: 08/08/2008
Top 5 Myths and Facts about CodePlex
Yesterday was an incredibly fun day for me. Wanted to break up the endless series of IDE tips...
Author: saraford Date: 08/07/2008
Did you know… you can copy the exception details with one click from the exception assistant? - #276
Under the View Details is a link to copy the detail directly to the clipboard, as shown below: For...
Author: saraford Date: 08/07/2008
Did you know… You can examine the exception object from the exception assistant? - #275
There are a few options on the exception assistant that allow you to example what happened. ...
Author: saraford Date: 08/06/2008
Did you know… You can disable the Exception Assistant? - #274
The exception assistant is the piece of UI that pops up whenever you hit an exception. For...
Author: saraford Date: 08/05/2008
Did you know… You can use Breakpoint Filters to break the right process - #273
Conditional breakpoints are for breaking at the expression level, when a particular condition is...
Author: saraford Date: 08/04/2008
Did you know… How to show the disassembly automatically or not at all? - #272
Under Tools – Options – Debugging – General, there’s an option to "Show Disassembly If Source...
Author: saraford Date: 08/01/2008
Did you know… What the Enable Address-Level Debugging option does? - #271
Under Tools – Options – Debugging – General, there’s the option Enable Address-Level...
Author: saraford Date: 07/31/2008
Did you know… You can have all processes break when one process breaks or vice versa - #270
In Tools – Options – Debugging – General, there’s the option “Break all processes when one process...
Author: saraford Date: 07/30/2008
Did you know… How to select the startup project? - #269
Yesterday’s tip talked about how to start multiple projects for debugging, but taking a step back,...
Author: saraford Date: 07/29/2008
Did you know… You can start debugging multiple projects? - #268
Happy Birthday Visual Studio Tip of the Day! Wow, what a difference a post a day makes. ...
Author: saraford Date: 07/28/2008
Did you know… You can disable the warning message before you delete all breakpoints? - #267
Yesterday’s tip talked about how to delete all breakpoints. If you are following along at...
Author: saraford Date: 07/25/2008
Did you know… You can press Ctrl+Shift+F9 to delete all breakpoints - #266
You can press Ctrl+Shift+F9, bound to Debug.DeleteAllBreakpoints to delete all the breakpoints...
Author: saraford Date: 07/24/2008
Speaking at the O’Reilly Open Source Convention this Friday
If there ever were a “Sara needs a hug” moment… I’m doing a talk on Friday called Towards a Stronger...
Author: saraford Date: 07/23/2008