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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 week for Debugger tips.

The autos window shows the current statement and the previous statement.  it was always the previous statement that threw me off, as i never took the time to look closely enough to realize that's where that variable was coming from.

The locals window shows everything currently in scope. Thus, the autos window is a subset of the locals window.

For example, consider the following code snippet that does nothing but produce warnings for unused variables:

Code snippet showing some variables

In the Auto windows, you'll see the previous statement and the current statement being evaluated:

Auto windows showing previous and next statements

In the Locals window, you'll see the everything in scope, including the args parameter:

Locals window showing everything in scope

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Posted: Thursday, September 18, 2008 3:00 AM by saraford

Comments

Serge Wautier said:

> the autos window is a subset of the locals window.

the autos is not limites to locals, right? Doesn't it display everything in the current (and previous) statement, not only the local variables.

Cheers,

# September 18, 2008 8:57 AM

GregM said:

Did you by chance ask him where the "this" window went?  I've been unable to find it in VS2005.

# September 18, 2008 1:59 PM

BOW said:

The Auto window will show the return value of the function but the Local window will not.

If you are looking the return value of one function like:

xxxx(a(), b());

The return value will appear in the Auto window but not in the Local window.

This is my experience.

# September 18, 2008 10:11 PM

DanielMoth said:

The Autos window does not work like that for VB - maybe you/Dustin should qualify that you are only referring to C# behavior.

# September 19, 2008 5:02 AM

Jher Von Arbanel said:

Hi, good article, but i think u are the best person to who i can ask this.

how to i implemet the auto windows in my editor, msdn say that its not implemente, i have studied and investigated, that AuthoringSink has methos to use with auyos windows, but msnd say that during debug the debugger call a method in languageservice called GetProximityExpressions but for it never reaches it,

all other feautes of th vs editor i have already implement but this i couldn't yet, could u help which are the steps i hace to follow to implemte autoswindows

# September 30, 2008 6:05 PM

Patric said:

In my VS 2008, the Autos window disappeared and I can't find an option to show it up again! How can I get the window back?

Thx for your help!

# October 15, 2008 6:51 AM

GregM said:

Patric, it's at Debug>Windows>Autos

# October 21, 2008 9:46 AM

Patric said:

GregM, unfortunately, I don't have this option. Within Debug>Windows there's only Breakpoints; Watch; Locals; Call Stack; Threads during debugging.

During design, there's only Breakpoints.

Do I have to install something or modify VS' settings?

# November 11, 2008 7:30 AM

xjb said:

本篇包括tip311-tip320http://www.watch-life.net/visual-studio/visual-studio-2008-tip-day-31.html#311、按S...

# March 2, 2009 8:18 PM
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