PRB: Cannot View Unicode Strings in the Watch Window (123465)
The information in this article applies to:
- The Integrated Debugger, when used with:
- Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Editions 2.0
This article was previously published under Q123465 SYMPTOMS
When trying to watch a Unicode string in the Watch window, you see only the
first byte, or it is displayed incorrectly.
CAUSE
Making the debugger "Unicode aware" at the display level involves the
complicated task of setting and using locales and fonts properly. This is
especially difficult if they are not the ones currently in use. This
functionality has not yet been implemented.
RESOLUTION
You can use the 'm' format symbol to see the first eight characters of a
string, or you could use the 'ma' format symbol to see the first 32
characters. For example, if you have a declaration in your code like this:
wchar_t *pStr = L"Some string";
Adding the expression pStr,m to the Watch
window results in a memory dump of the first 16 bytes, immediately followed
by the ASCII equivalent, similar to this:
S.o.m.e. .s.t.r.
The periods are place holders for null bytes, which show up behind their
corresponding characters because wchar_t's are defined as two-byte unsigned
shorts, whose bytes are thus reversed in memory. (This is why only the
first character 'S' would be displayed by default in the example above. The
debugger sees the null byte following the 'S' and assumes it is the string
terminator.)
This method will obviously work only with short strings. As an alternative,
you can open up the memory window and point it to the starting address of
your string. Note that dragging or dropping the string's address from the
Watch window to the Memory window makes this much easier.
MORE INFORMATION
For future versions, Microsoft is considering ways to allow watching
Unicode strings directly using the current locale.
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 10/17/2003 |
|---|
| Keywords: | kbBug kbDebug kbdisplay kbide kbprb KB123465 |
|---|
|