CODEWITHSUNDEEP
objective-ccocoaxcodedebugging
Dara Kong
Dara Kong

Reputation: 1188

How to view contents of NSDictionary variable in Xcode debugger?

Is there a way to view the key/value pairs of a NSDictionary variable through the Xcode debugger? Here's the extent of information when it is fully expanded in the variable window:

Variable  Value      Summary
jsonDict  0x45c540   4 key/value pairs
 NSObject {...}
  isa     0xa06e0720

I was expecting it to show me each element of the dictionary (similar to an array variable).

Upvotes: 84

Views: 62932

Answers (7)

Pat
Pat

Reputation: 824

If you would like to print these in a breakpoint action in modern XCode (yes, I am 10 years after the original post!) use the following breakpoint expression in a "Log Message" action:

@myDictionary.description@

Below is a screenshot of my breakpoint action where the variable event is an NSString and the variable contextData is the NSDictionary that I am logging the contents of: :

Upvotes: 1

Taiko
Taiko

Reputation: 1329

Click on your dict, then click on the little "i" icon, it should do the job :-) Xcode5, view the value of a dict

Upvotes: 1

jkatzer
jkatzer

Reputation: 724

XCode 4.6 has added the following functionality which may be helpful to you

The elements of NSArray and NSDictionary objects can now be inspected in the Xcode debugger

Now you can inspect these object types without having to print the entire object in the console. Enjoy!

Source: http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/WhatsNewXcode/Articles/xcode_4_6.html

Upvotes: 3

user1873574
user1873574

Reputation: 93

You can also use NSLog.

Also you can go in Debug area or xcode, then find out All Variables, Registers, Globals and Statics then select your variable. Right click on it. Then select Print description of "...."

Hope it helps!

Upvotes: 0

uranpro
uranpro

Reputation: 85

You can use CFShow()

NSMutableDictionary* dict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
[dict setObject:@"foo" forKey:@"bar"];
[dict setObject:@"fiz" forKey:@"buz"];
CFShow(dict);

In output you will see

{
  bar = foo;
  buz = fiz;
}

Upvotes: 6

Jens Ayton
Jens Ayton

Reputation: 14558

You can right-click any object (ObjC or Core Foundation) variable and select “Print Description to Console” (also in Run->Variables View). This prints the result the obejct’s -debugDescription method, which by default calls -description. Unfortunately, NSDictionary overrides this to produce a bunch of internal data the you generally don’t care about, so in this specific case craigb’s solution is better.

The displayed keys and values also use -description, so if you want useful information about your objects in collections and elsewhere, overriding -description is a must. I generally implement it along these lines, to match the format of the default NSObject implementation:

-(NSString *) description
{
    return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"<%@ %p>{foo: %@}", [self class], self, [self foo]];
}

Upvotes: 29

craigb
craigb

Reputation: 16907

In the gdb window you can use po to inspect the object.

given:

NSMutableDictionary* dict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
[dict setObject:@"foo" forKey:@"bar"];
[dict setObject:@"fiz" forKey:@"buz"];

setting a breakpoint after the objects are added you can inspect what is in the dictionary

(gdb) po dict
{
  bar = foo;
  buz = fiz;
}

Of course these are NSString objects that print nicely. YMMV with other complex objects.

Upvotes: 139

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