CODEWITHSUNDEEP
visual-studio-2012
user1414413
user1414413

Reputation: 403

autoexp.dat not being read by visual studio 2012 debugger

I need to write a visualizer for some custom classes so I had a look at the autoexp.dat file. If I make a change to a definition in this file I do not see this reflected in the debugger. Has anyone else experienced troubles with the autoexp.dat file? How can I overcome this? Should I even be using it or should I be writing a .natvis file?

Thanks in advance

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1845

Answers (2)

Martin Connell
Martin Connell

Reputation: 195

Copying autoexp.dat from Visual Studio 2010 to Visual Studio 2012 (Update 4) works just fine for me. Even with Edit and Continue disabled.

Upvotes: 0

AHelps
AHelps

Reputation: 1782

By default, Visual Studio 2012 ignores the contents of autoexp.dat. However, there is a workaround to force it to be used.

You can only do this while the debugger is not active. Inside Visual Studio, Click on TOOLS > Options > Debugging > Edit and Continue. There is an option to Enable native Edit and Continue--choose this option. This will disable the natvis files, and use autoexp.dat instead, as per the warning which appears.

The natvis file format appears to be more powerful, however, so if you are able to move to it, it may be worth your time to do so.

Upvotes: 4

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