The Watch Window: Visualizers
Keyboard: CTRL + ALT + W, [1,2,3,4]
Menu: Debug -> Windows -> Watch -> Watch [1,2,3,4]
Command: Debug.Watch1
Versions: 2008,2010
Published: 10/10/2010
Code: vstipTool0106
When using the Watch windows you may come across visualizers. A visualizer is a debugger component that enables the debugger to display (visualize) the contents of a data object in a meaningful, understandable form. They are pretty easy to spot as they will have a magnifying glass icon:
Notice that when I click on the magnifying glass it gives me options (based on the data I am looking at) for a visualizer. If I choose the Text Visualizer this is what I get:
You may find it useful to leverage the power of visualizers when looking at different types of data. If this output were HTML then I would use the HTML Visualizer:
And see this dialog: