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).

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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 </br>";
            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 </br>" );
            break;
        //TODO: implement case when debugging goes to database 
    } //eof switch 

} //eof method WriteIf