How to set a VisualizerTargetType of type byte*?

Question

I am trying to write a visualizer for VS2022. I managed to set it up for the byte[], but failing for the type byte*.

the line
new VisualizerTargetType("Byte* Visualizer", typeof(byte*)) gives me an compile time error.

If I use byte[] instead, i can call the Visualizer from the debugee side on an element of byte*, but it gives me an error message of "Invalid ObjRef provided"

How do I tell the visualizer the right object type?

Answer 1

I am using the latest version of VS2022.

I was trying to use the 'new' Extension implementation and followed the following docs:

https://blog.elmah.io/creating-custom-debug-visualizers-for-visual-studio-2022/

https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/visualstudio-docs/blob/main/docs/extensibility/visualstudio.extensibility/inside-the-sdk/remote-ui.md

https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/visualstudio-docs/blob/main/docs/extensibility/visualstudio.extensibility/debugger-visualizer/debugger-visualizers.md

targeting net8.0.

so the interesting parts are quite short:

/// <summary>
/// Debugger visualizer provider class for <see cref="System.String"/>.
/// </summary>
[VisualStudioContribution]
internal class CTypesDebuggerVisualizerProvider : DebuggerVisualizerProvider
{
  /// <summary>
  /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="CTypesDebuggerVisualizerProvider"/> class.
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="extension">Extension instance.</param>
  /// <param name="extensibility">Extensibility object.</param>
  public CTypesDebuggerVisualizerProvider(
    CTypesVisualizer.CTypesDebuggerVisualizerExtension extension, 
    VisualStudioExtensibility extensibility)
      : base(extension, extensibility)
  {
  }
  /// <inheritdoc/>
  public override DebuggerVisualizerProviderConfiguration DebuggerVisualizerProviderConfiguration
      => new
    (
        //new VisualizerTargetType("Byte* Visualizer", typeof(byte*).AssemblyQualifiedName!),
        //new VisualizerTargetType("Byte* Visualizer", typeof(byte*)),
        new VisualizerTargetType("CTypes Visualizer", typeof(Byte[]))
    )
      {
        VisualizerObjectSourceType = new(typeof(CTypesVisualizerSource.CTypesObjectSource)),
      };
  /// <inheritdoc/>
  public override async Task<IRemoteUserControl> CreateVisualizerAsync(
    VisualizerTarget visualizerTarget, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
  {
    
    VisualizerObjectSourceClient client = visualizerTarget.ObjectSource;
    CTypesModel? model = await visualizerTarget
    .ObjectSource
    .RequestDataAsync<CTypesModel>(jsonSerializer: null, CancellationToken.None);
    return await Task.FromResult<IRemoteUserControl>(
        new CTypesVisualizer.CTypesVisualizerUserControl(model));
  }
}

and on the other side

  public class CTypesObjectSource : VisualizerObjectSource
  {
    
    public CTypesObjectSource()
    {
    }
    public override void GetData(object target, Stream outgoingData)
    {
          var result = new CTypesModel
          {
            Name = "Test byte[]",
            Length = 0,
            DataString = "Test Mode Data"
          };
          SerializeAsJson(outgoingData, result);
    }
  }

the Byte[] type seems to also apply for the byte* variable ....

but if i click the view, i get the error message

if i do the same on a 'real' byte[] variable, everything works fine.

The exception occurs before the GetData method on the debugee-side is called.