How can I easily view the contents of a datatable or dataview in the immediate window

Question

Sometimes I will be at a breakpoint in my code and I want to view the contents of a DataTable variable  or a DataTable in a DataSet   The quick watch doesn t give you a very clear view of the contents  How can I view them easily

User · Accepted Answer

The Visual Studio debugger comes with four standard visualizers. These are the text, HTML, and XML visualizers, all of which work on string objects, and the dataset visualizer, which works for DataSet, DataView, and DataTable objects.

To use it, break into your code, mouse over your DataSet, expand the quick watch, view the Tables, expand that, then view Table[0] (for example). You will see something like {Table1} in the quick watch, but notice that there is also a magnifying glass icon. Click on that icon and your DataTable will open up in a grid view.

User · Answer

I ve not tried it myself  but Visual Studio 2005  and later  support the concept of Debugger Visualizers  This allows you to customize how an object is shown in the IDE  Check out this article for more details   http   davidhayden com blog dave archive 2005 12 26 2645 aspx

User · Answer

Give Xml Visualizer a try  Haven t tried the latest version yet  but I can t work without the previous one in Visual Studio 2003   on top of displaying DataSet hierarchically  there are also a lot of other handy features such as filtering and selecting the RowState which you want to view

User · Answer

and if you want this anywhere    to be a helper on DataTable this assumes you want to capture the output to Log4Net but the excellent starting example I worked against just dumps to the console    This one also has editable column width variable nMaxColWidth - ultimately I will pass that from whatever context     public static class Helpers               private static ILog Log   Global Log    LogManager GetLogger  MyLogger                 lt summary gt              Dump contents of a DataTable to the log              lt  summary gt               lt param name  table  gt  lt  param gt          public static void DebugTable this DataTable table                        Log  Debug  --- DebugTable     table TableName      ---                var nRows   table Rows Count              var nCols   table Columns Count              var nMaxColWidth   32                  Column Headers              var sColFormat      0 -    nMaxColWidth                        var sLogMessage   string Empty              for  var i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                                  sLogMessage   string Concat sLogMessage  string Format sColFormat  table Columns i  ToString                                  Debug Write Environment NewLine               Log  Debug sLogMessage                var sUnderScore   string Empty              var sDashes   string Empty              for  var j   0  j  lt   nMaxColWidth  j                                  sDashes   sDashes    -                               for  var i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                                  sUnderScore   string Concat sUnderScore  sDashes     -                               sUnderScore   sUnderScore TrimEnd  -                   Debug Write Environment NewLine               Log  Debug sUnderScore                   Data             for  var i   0  i  lt  nRows  i                                  DataRow row   table Rows i                     Debug WriteLine   0   1     row 0   row 1                    sLogMessage   string Empty                   for  var j   0  j  lt  nCols  j                                          string s   row j  ToString                        if  s Length  gt  nMaxColWidth  s   s Substring 0  nMaxColWidth - 3                               sLogMessage   string Concat sLogMessage  string Format sColFormat  s                                       Log  Debug sLogMessage                     Debug Write Environment NewLine                                        Log  Debug sUnderScore

User · Answer

What I do is have a static class with the following code in my project        region Dataset - gt  Immediate Window public static void printTbl DataSet myDataset        printTbl myDataset Tables 0      public static void printTbl DataTable mytable        for  int i   0  i  lt  mytable Columns Count  i                  Debug Write mytable Columns i  ToString                       Debug Write Environment NewLine               Environment NewLine       for  int rrr   0  rrr  lt  mytable Rows Count  rrr                  for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                          Debug Write mytable Rows rrr  ccc                              Debug Write Environment NewLine           public static void ResponsePrintTbl DataTable mytable        for  int i   0  i  lt  mytable Columns Count  i                  HttpContext Current Response Write mytable Columns i  ToString                       HttpContext Current Response Write   lt BR gt                   lt BR gt         for  int rrr   0  rrr  lt  mytable Rows Count  rrr                  for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                          HttpContext Current Response Write mytable Rows rrr  ccc                              HttpContext Current Response Write   lt BR gt              public static void printTblRow DataSet myDataset  int RowNum        printTblRow myDataset Tables 0   RowNum     public static void printTblRow DataTable mytable  int RowNum        for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                  Debug Write mytable Columns ccc  ToString                     Debug Write mytable Rows RowNum  ccc            Debug Write Environment NewLine            endregion   I then I will call one of the above functions in the immediate window and the results will appear there as well  For example if I want to see the contents of a variable  myDataset  I will call printTbl myDataset   After hitting enter  the results will be printed to the immediate window

User · Answer

i have programmed a small method for it   its a generalize function       public static void printDataTable DataTable tbl                string line    quot  quot           foreach  DataColumn item in tbl Columns                        line    item ColumnName   quot     quot                     line     quot  n quot           foreach  DataRow row in tbl Rows                        for  int i   0  i  lt  tbl Columns Count  i                                  line    row i  ToString      quot     quot                             line     quot  n quot                     Console WriteLine line

User · Answer

I ve not tried it myself  but Visual Studio 2005  and later  support the concept of Debugger Visualizers  This allows you to customize how an object is shown in the IDE  Check out this article for more details   http   davidhayden com blog dave archive 2005 12 26 2645 aspx

User · Answer

To beautify adinas s debugger output I made some simple formattings        public void DebugTable DataTable table                Debug WriteLine  --- DebugTable     table TableName      ---            int zeilen   table Rows Count          int spalten   table Columns Count              Header         for  int i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                          string s   table Columns i  ToString                Debug Write String Format   0 -20       s                      Debug Write Environment NewLine           for  int i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                          Debug Write  --------------------- -                      Debug Write Environment NewLine               Data         for  int i   0  i  lt  zeilen  i                          DataRow row   table Rows i                 Debug WriteLine   0   1     row 0   row 1                for  int j   0  j  lt  spalten  j                                  string s   row j  ToString                    if  s Length  gt  20  s   s Substring 0  17                           Debug Write String Format   0 -20       s                              Debug Write Environment NewLine                     for  int i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                          Debug Write  --------------------- -                      Debug Write Environment NewLine           Best of this solution  You don t need Visual Studio  Here my example output    SELECT PackKurz  PackName  PackGewicht FROM verpackungen  PackKurz               PackName               PackGewicht             --------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------- - BB205                  BigBag 205 kg          205                     BB300                  BigBag 300 kg          300                     BB365                  BigBag 365 kg          365                     CO                     Container  Alteru                              EP                     Palette                                        IBC                    Chemikaliengef                                   lose                   nicht verpackungs      0                       --------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------- -

User · Answer

Give Xml Visualizer a try  Haven t tried the latest version yet  but I can t work without the previous one in Visual Studio 2003   on top of displaying DataSet hierarchically  there are also a lot of other handy features such as filtering and selecting the RowState which you want to view

User · Answer

I ve not tried it myself  but Visual Studio 2005  and later  support the concept of Debugger Visualizers  This allows you to customize how an object is shown in the IDE  Check out this article for more details   http   davidhayden com blog dave archive 2005 12 26 2645 aspx

User · Answer

To beautify adinas s debugger output I made some simple formattings        public void DebugTable DataTable table                Debug WriteLine  --- DebugTable     table TableName      ---            int zeilen   table Rows Count          int spalten   table Columns Count              Header         for  int i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                          string s   table Columns i  ToString                Debug Write String Format   0 -20       s                      Debug Write Environment NewLine           for  int i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                          Debug Write  --------------------- -                      Debug Write Environment NewLine               Data         for  int i   0  i  lt  zeilen  i                          DataRow row   table Rows i                 Debug WriteLine   0   1     row 0   row 1                for  int j   0  j  lt  spalten  j                                  string s   row j  ToString                    if  s Length  gt  20  s   s Substring 0  17                           Debug Write String Format   0 -20       s                              Debug Write Environment NewLine                     for  int i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                          Debug Write  --------------------- -                      Debug Write Environment NewLine           Best of this solution  You don t need Visual Studio  Here my example output    SELECT PackKurz  PackName  PackGewicht FROM verpackungen  PackKurz               PackName               PackGewicht             --------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------- - BB205                  BigBag 205 kg          205                     BB300                  BigBag 300 kg          300                     BB365                  BigBag 365 kg          365                     CO                     Container  Alteru                              EP                     Palette                                        IBC                    Chemikaliengef                                   lose                   nicht verpackungs      0                       --------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------- -

User · Answer

What I do is have a static class with the following code in my project        region Dataset - gt  Immediate Window public static void printTbl DataSet myDataset        printTbl myDataset Tables 0      public static void printTbl DataTable mytable        for  int i   0  i  lt  mytable Columns Count  i                  Debug Write mytable Columns i  ToString                       Debug Write Environment NewLine               Environment NewLine       for  int rrr   0  rrr  lt  mytable Rows Count  rrr                  for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                          Debug Write mytable Rows rrr  ccc                              Debug Write Environment NewLine           public static void ResponsePrintTbl DataTable mytable        for  int i   0  i  lt  mytable Columns Count  i                  HttpContext Current Response Write mytable Columns i  ToString                       HttpContext Current Response Write   lt BR gt                   lt BR gt         for  int rrr   0  rrr  lt  mytable Rows Count  rrr                  for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                          HttpContext Current Response Write mytable Rows rrr  ccc                              HttpContext Current Response Write   lt BR gt              public static void printTblRow DataSet myDataset  int RowNum        printTblRow myDataset Tables 0   RowNum     public static void printTblRow DataTable mytable  int RowNum        for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                  Debug Write mytable Columns ccc  ToString                     Debug Write mytable Rows RowNum  ccc            Debug Write Environment NewLine            endregion   I then I will call one of the above functions in the immediate window and the results will appear there as well  For example if I want to see the contents of a variable  myDataset  I will call printTbl myDataset   After hitting enter  the results will be printed to the immediate window

User · Answer

public static void DebugDataSet   string msg  ref System Data DataSet ds         WriteIf                                                           msg     START          if  ds    null                WriteIf   msg            foreach  System Data DataTable dt in ds Tables                        WriteIf                      My TableName is                  dt TableName                               START                 int colNumberInRow   0              foreach  System Data DataColumn dc in dt Columns                                System Diagnostics Debug Write                            System Diagnostics Debug Write          colNumberInRow                           System Diagnostics Debug Write   dc ColumnName                            colNumberInRow                    eof foreach  DataColumn dc in dt Columns              int rowNum   0              foreach  System Data DataRow dr in dt Rows                                System Diagnostics Debug Write     n row     rowNum     ---                      int colNumber   0                  foreach  System Data DataColumn dc in dt Columns                                        System Diagnostics Debug Write          colNumber                               System Diagnostics Debug Write   dr dc  ToString                                 colNumber                        eof foreach  DataColumn dc in dt Columns                  rowNum                      eof foreach  DataRow dr in dt Rows              System Diagnostics Debug Write      n                 WriteIf                      Table     dt TableName                               END                 WriteIf                                                           msg     END                    eof foreach  DataTable dt in ds Tables          eof if ds   null      else               WriteIf    NULL DataSet object passed for debugging                   eof method   public static void WriteIf   string msg           TODO  FIND OUT ABOUT e Message   e StackTrace from Bromberg eggcafe int output   System Convert ToInt16 System Configuration ConfigurationSettings AppSettings  DebugOutput            0 - do not debug anything just run the code  switch  output          do not debug anything      case 0          msg   String Empty      break            1 - output to debug window in Visual Studio                case 1              System Diagnostics Debug WriteIf   System Convert ToBoolean  System Configuration ConfigurationSettings AppSettings  Debugging      DateTime Now ToString    yyyy MM dd -- hh mm ss fff ---       msg     n                 break            2 -- output to the error label in the master          case 2              string previousMsg   System Convert ToString  System Web HttpContext Current Session  global DebugMsg                 System Web HttpContext Current Session  global DebugMsg     previousMsg               DateTime Now ToString    yyyy MM dd -- hh mm ss fff ---       msg     n  lt  br gt                break            output both to debug window and error label          case 3              string previousMsg1   System Convert ToString  System Web HttpContext Current Session  global DebugMsg                  System Web HttpContext Current Session  global DebugMsg     previousMsg1   DateTime Now ToString    yyyy MM dd -- hh mm ss fff ---       msg     n               System Diagnostics Debug WriteIf   System Convert ToBoolean  System Configuration ConfigurationSettings AppSettings  Debugging      DateTime Now ToString    yyyy MM dd -- hh mm ss fff ---       msg     n  lt  br gt                  break            TODO  implement case when debugging goes to database          eof switch       eof method WriteIf

User · Answer

i have programmed a small method for it   its a generalize function       public static void printDataTable DataTable tbl                string line    quot  quot           foreach  DataColumn item in tbl Columns                        line    item ColumnName   quot     quot                     line     quot  n quot           foreach  DataRow row in tbl Rows                        for  int i   0  i  lt  tbl Columns Count  i                                  line    row i  ToString      quot     quot                             line     quot  n quot                     Console WriteLine line

User · Answer

Give Xml Visualizer a try  Haven t tried the latest version yet  but I can t work without the previous one in Visual Studio 2003   on top of displaying DataSet hierarchically  there are also a lot of other handy features such as filtering and selecting the RowState which you want to view

User · Answer

public static void DebugDataSet   string msg  ref System Data DataSet ds         WriteIf                                                           msg     START          if  ds    null                WriteIf   msg            foreach  System Data DataTable dt in ds Tables                        WriteIf                      My TableName is                  dt TableName                               START                 int colNumberInRow   0              foreach  System Data DataColumn dc in dt Columns                                System Diagnostics Debug Write                            System Diagnostics Debug Write          colNumberInRow                           System Diagnostics Debug Write   dc ColumnName                            colNumberInRow                    eof foreach  DataColumn dc in dt Columns              int rowNum   0              foreach  System Data DataRow dr in dt Rows                                System Diagnostics Debug Write     n row     rowNum     ---                      int colNumber   0                  foreach  System Data DataColumn dc in dt Columns                                        System Diagnostics Debug Write          colNumber                               System Diagnostics Debug Write   dr dc  ToString                                 colNumber                        eof foreach  DataColumn dc in dt Columns                  rowNum                      eof foreach  DataRow dr in dt Rows              System Diagnostics Debug Write      n                 WriteIf                      Table     dt TableName                               END                 WriteIf                                                           msg     END                    eof foreach  DataTable dt in ds Tables          eof if ds   null      else               WriteIf    NULL DataSet object passed for debugging                   eof method   public static void WriteIf   string msg           TODO  FIND OUT ABOUT e Message   e StackTrace from Bromberg eggcafe int output   System Convert ToInt16 System Configuration ConfigurationSettings AppSettings  DebugOutput            0 - do not debug anything just run the code  switch  output          do not debug anything      case 0          msg   String Empty      break            1 - output to debug window in Visual Studio                case 1              System Diagnostics Debug WriteIf   System Convert ToBoolean  System Configuration ConfigurationSettings AppSettings  Debugging      DateTime Now ToString    yyyy MM dd -- hh mm ss fff ---       msg     n                 break            2 -- output to the error label in the master          case 2              string previousMsg   System Convert ToString  System Web HttpContext Current Session  global DebugMsg                 System Web HttpContext Current Session  global DebugMsg     previousMsg               DateTime Now ToString    yyyy MM dd -- hh mm ss fff ---       msg     n  lt  br gt                break            output both to debug window and error label          case 3              string previousMsg1   System Convert ToString  System Web HttpContext Current Session  global DebugMsg                  System Web HttpContext Current Session  global DebugMsg     previousMsg1   DateTime Now ToString    yyyy MM dd -- hh mm ss fff ---       msg     n               System Diagnostics Debug WriteIf   System Convert ToBoolean  System Configuration ConfigurationSettings AppSettings  Debugging      DateTime Now ToString    yyyy MM dd -- hh mm ss fff ---       msg     n  lt  br gt                  break            TODO  implement case when debugging goes to database          eof switch       eof method WriteIf

User · Answer

What I do is have a static class with the following code in my project        region Dataset - gt  Immediate Window public static void printTbl DataSet myDataset        printTbl myDataset Tables 0      public static void printTbl DataTable mytable        for  int i   0  i  lt  mytable Columns Count  i                  Debug Write mytable Columns i  ToString                       Debug Write Environment NewLine               Environment NewLine       for  int rrr   0  rrr  lt  mytable Rows Count  rrr                  for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                          Debug Write mytable Rows rrr  ccc                              Debug Write Environment NewLine           public static void ResponsePrintTbl DataTable mytable        for  int i   0  i  lt  mytable Columns Count  i                  HttpContext Current Response Write mytable Columns i  ToString                       HttpContext Current Response Write   lt BR gt                   lt BR gt         for  int rrr   0  rrr  lt  mytable Rows Count  rrr                  for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                          HttpContext Current Response Write mytable Rows rrr  ccc                              HttpContext Current Response Write   lt BR gt              public static void printTblRow DataSet myDataset  int RowNum        printTblRow myDataset Tables 0   RowNum     public static void printTblRow DataTable mytable  int RowNum        for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                  Debug Write mytable Columns ccc  ToString                     Debug Write mytable Rows RowNum  ccc            Debug Write Environment NewLine            endregion   I then I will call one of the above functions in the immediate window and the results will appear there as well  For example if I want to see the contents of a variable  myDataset  I will call printTbl myDataset   After hitting enter  the results will be printed to the immediate window

User · Answer

What I do is have a static class with the following code in my project        region Dataset - gt  Immediate Window public static void printTbl DataSet myDataset        printTbl myDataset Tables 0      public static void printTbl DataTable mytable        for  int i   0  i  lt  mytable Columns Count  i                  Debug Write mytable Columns i  ToString                       Debug Write Environment NewLine               Environment NewLine       for  int rrr   0  rrr  lt  mytable Rows Count  rrr                  for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                          Debug Write mytable Rows rrr  ccc                              Debug Write Environment NewLine           public static void ResponsePrintTbl DataTable mytable        for  int i   0  i  lt  mytable Columns Count  i                  HttpContext Current Response Write mytable Columns i  ToString                       HttpContext Current Response Write   lt BR gt                   lt BR gt         for  int rrr   0  rrr  lt  mytable Rows Count  rrr                  for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                          HttpContext Current Response Write mytable Rows rrr  ccc                              HttpContext Current Response Write   lt BR gt              public static void printTblRow DataSet myDataset  int RowNum        printTblRow myDataset Tables 0   RowNum     public static void printTblRow DataTable mytable  int RowNum        for  int ccc   0  ccc  lt  mytable Columns Count  ccc                  Debug Write mytable Columns ccc  ToString                     Debug Write mytable Rows RowNum  ccc            Debug Write Environment NewLine            endregion   I then I will call one of the above functions in the immediate window and the results will appear there as well  For example if I want to see the contents of a variable  myDataset  I will call printTbl myDataset   After hitting enter  the results will be printed to the immediate window

User · Answer

and if you want this anywhere    to be a helper on DataTable this assumes you want to capture the output to Log4Net but the excellent starting example I worked against just dumps to the console    This one also has editable column width variable nMaxColWidth - ultimately I will pass that from whatever context     public static class Helpers               private static ILog Log   Global Log    LogManager GetLogger  MyLogger                 lt summary gt              Dump contents of a DataTable to the log              lt  summary gt               lt param name  table  gt  lt  param gt          public static void DebugTable this DataTable table                        Log  Debug  --- DebugTable     table TableName      ---                var nRows   table Rows Count              var nCols   table Columns Count              var nMaxColWidth   32                  Column Headers              var sColFormat      0 -    nMaxColWidth                        var sLogMessage   string Empty              for  var i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                                  sLogMessage   string Concat sLogMessage  string Format sColFormat  table Columns i  ToString                                  Debug Write Environment NewLine               Log  Debug sLogMessage                var sUnderScore   string Empty              var sDashes   string Empty              for  var j   0  j  lt   nMaxColWidth  j                                  sDashes   sDashes    -                               for  var i   0  i  lt  table Columns Count  i                                  sUnderScore   string Concat sUnderScore  sDashes     -                               sUnderScore   sUnderScore TrimEnd  -                   Debug Write Environment NewLine               Log  Debug sUnderScore                   Data             for  var i   0  i  lt  nRows  i                                  DataRow row   table Rows i                     Debug WriteLine   0   1     row 0   row 1                    sLogMessage   string Empty                   for  var j   0  j  lt  nCols  j                                          string s   row j  ToString                        if  s Length  gt  nMaxColWidth  s   s Substring 0  nMaxColWidth - 3                               sLogMessage   string Concat sLogMessage  string Format sColFormat  s                                       Log  Debug sLogMessage                     Debug Write Environment NewLine                                        Log  Debug sUnderScore

User · Answer

Give Xml Visualizer a try  Haven t tried the latest version yet  but I can t work without the previous one in Visual Studio 2003   on top of displaying DataSet hierarchically  there are also a lot of other handy features such as filtering and selecting the RowState which you want to view

User · Answer

I ve not tried it myself  but Visual Studio 2005  and later  support the concept of Debugger Visualizers  This allows you to customize how an object is shown in the IDE  Check out this article for more details   http   davidhayden com blog dave archive 2005 12 26 2645 aspx

[c#] How can I easily view the contents of a datatable or dataview in the immediate window

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