Please do you know about any tool which would allow me to debug Android UI in the way web debug tools work? I mean view which style is applied to each particular View, or also I would like to be able to see some inheritance tree etc..Do you guys know about something like that?
The only way I know of to look which style is applied is to look in xml. Simply search for Style and you'll be able to go through them one at a time, but something like web debug doesn't exist as far as I know.
Inheritance trees for styles are also not present and you'll have to go through them the hard way (writting on paper or something). In general android styles is a pain to learn but when you've learned to navigate it you'll be able to live with it :)
I haven't found a method to do so other than Warpzit's method. In Eclipse, there is a helpful tool to see your UI hierarchy though. When in debug mode, open the "Devices" window (if you can't find it: Alt+Shift+Q, Q). Then click the "Dump View Hierarchy for UI Automator".
You can see some view attributes there as well as the way it's build up.
There's also a hierarchy viewer in the SDK tools/ directory, but I haven't used it yet.
I know this is not the answer you're looking for, but this is what I do because I don't know of a better way.
On Eclipse, I start with the xml layout in question and I drill down by pressing the Ctrl key (or the Command key on a Mac) and clicking on the style in question (the style name becomes an hyperlink when that key is pressed down and I hover the mouse over it). Then, I use the yellow arrow keys on the Eclipse toolbar to come back through each pane of code once I need to go back to the root of where I started from.
On Android Studio Preview, which unfortunately I can't use at work because everyone uses Eclipse, the same shortcuts work as well, but unlike Eclipse, the navigation support and the refactoring support work much better, I'd recommend that you look at Android Studio if you're not satisfied with Eclipse's support (my only warning is that once you have a version of Android Studio that works for you, that you do not update it, because updates of Android Studio tend to break it frequently).
To find it, please go to Layout Inspector,
Tools --> Android --> Layout Inspector
Related
Visual Studio has Snippet Designer extension available for creating and managing custom code snippets. Is there something like this extension for Intellij Idea 13, or a way to simply add custom code snippets?
There's no extension that I'm aware of (and I'm not familiar with Snippet Designer), but that functionality exists in IntelliJ Idea.
Hit Preferences and start typing to find "Live Templates". Expand one of the existing ones to see some of the available functionality. You can set tab stops, cursor position, references to local variables. It's very handy.
I need to know how to open the form of a program I am debugging.
I loaded an existing solution into VS2010, I can see the code, but I want to see the GUI part of the project, click on buttons and see what part of the code they take me to, set breakpoints where I feel like.
I don't know how to see the GUI in VS2010, where can I do that?
Also, where would be a good resource to learn the ins and outs of VS2010?
Depending on how the UI was created, there may or may not be a way to see the UI at design time. Particularly if this is an older Windows UI application, it's likely that the windows are created entirely in code, and there is no design-time UI for you to see.
There is a dialog editor, for dialog windows that are defined in resource (*.rc) files. CTRL-SHIFT-E brings up the Resource Viewer and you can look for things under the Dialog node. It is possible that your main window is a dialog-style window, as that's one of the options you get when you create a new MFC-based application.
Otherwise, your only option to see what your UI looks like is to run the program and see. Tracking down which UI elements do which actions in your program will require finding the appropriate event handlers or message handler methods (again, depending on what UI framework, if any, is in use) and setting breakpoints.
The generic answer is:
Hit F5 to starting Debugging mode. (Or under the Debug menu choose Start Debugging)
But it depends on how your project is setup and what type of project it is if F5 will work that easily for you.
What kind of program/language are you using?
With a form, I believe you have to File-->Open-->Project/Solution
Now if its a website, you would open Website. If you tried to open a windows form under a website then you wont see the design.
Typically you would just double click your form name (form1.cs) because then your design view will pop up or hit Shift+F7 or rightclick --> view designer. Then just double click whatever tools you have on your form (like a button) and it will automatically go to the button code.
If its a website, then it would be under website1.aspx while the code sits in website1.aspx.cs
But if none of that helps, here is a good place to learn this stuff
VisualStudioWalkthroughs
I want to achieve that when the user installs the WP7 control library he will find it in the Visual Studio toolbox automatically without manually adding it. In addition I would like to organize toolbox tabs in a logical manner.
I know it can be done for other platforms. For example I tried writing *.design.dll as described here - it does not work for WP7.
Any pointers how to work with toolbox for VS 2010 / WP7?
Nobody answered, so here is my brief summary:
The control library cannot be added to the Toolbox automatically unless you program VS plugin (package). Too much work for me...
*.design.dll (see the link above) basically works.
2a) You can hide controls from the Toolbox (BrowsableAttribute) and you can define control icons. That's probably everything you can do for Toolbox. The user has to add Toolbox tabs and "choose items" manually.
Well, I am not quite sure here, because when you drop the control dll file onto the Toolbox, then at least ToolboxTabNameAttribute works, i.e. corresponding Toolbox tabs are created automatically. Unfortunately, the tab is empty.
Also, when the control library is properly installed, then some of the controls are added to Choose items Toolbox dialog. Unfortunately, in my case most of the controls are missing and have to be added by manual browsing.
2b) Designer support (Properties window for the control) is better. You can hide properties (BrowsableAttribute), define categories (CategoryAttribute) and define descriptions (DescriptionAttribute).
Descriptions can be extracted from you documentation xml file, so that you don't need to write them again. To get the code google for MetadataBase.cs. Just be carefull, the files you'll find contain fatal bugs (ParseDescription method) and ignore some properties (getters that return a collection).
After all, the result is not that bad.
Oftentimes I want to bring up a system class in a source view, so that I can browse the properties and methods exposed by the class. Below is the screenshot of what I mean:
Srting from metadata http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/940/stringfrommetadata.png
Usually I do this by selecting the class name and pressing F12 (or right click>Go To Definition). However, if I haven't got it anywhere ready, i have type it up and then do Go To Definition. Most of the time I have to delete what I typed later on.
Is there a way to bring up this view without having to type the class name? The VS2010 Navigate To dialog doesn't support this.
EDIT: When I posted the question I didn't use any Visual Studio plugins. Now that I realised that I have full CodeRush license (thanks to StackOverflow promotion for users with 10K rep) I will accept answers that use CodeRush or Refactor!.
EDIT: At this stage I haven't really got anywhere with trying to answer this question. I am going to leave it open and let the bounty auto-award itself to Rory as he explained what's happening the best. In the meantime(schedule allowing) I will investigate doing this with DXCore as I think it should be possible.
The view you're looking at appears to have been built by some sort of analysis of the IL of the framework. Without knowing the type you intend to look at, no deconstruction can be done. Therefore I feel that, you are unlikely to find exactly what you have said you are looking for.
Allow me to suggest a few alternatives though.
Disclaimer: I work for DevExpress as a CodeRush Community Evangelist.
The Object Browser (Ctrl+Alt+J) This screen will load without attempting to show you any particular type, it will therefore be down to you to find the type in question. However all types are available and full search functionality is provided. once the type you're looking or is found, all members are listed and available.
Update: If you use the (Ctrl+K, Ctrl+R) shortcut to launch the object browser, then it will launch focused on the Search box. This is invaluable.
There are a number of CodeRush features which can prove useful when trying to locate code.
TabToNextReference (Tab) Whilst the caret is positioned within a type, strike the tab key and the next reference to that type will be located. More Details
References ToolWindow (Shift+F12) When activated the References ToolWindow will show you any references to the current type or member. This toolwindow can also be used to navigate said references. The References Toolwindow can be used in both on demand and Live mode. this allows you to have the window update as you navigate your code (via mouse or keyboard) and locate all references of any symbol the caret lands upon.
QuickNav (Ctrl+Shift+Q): This feature is closest in style to VS2010's NavigateTo feature. QuickNav will locate symbols matching whatever you type into it's filter box. This facility also supports Camel Case search. More details
QuickNav is also much more configurable than it's VS counterpart
Finally
Please also keep in mind that CodeRush is build upon the DXCore, a framework which allows users to create their own plugins for use alongside each other and CodeRush.
This framework has been repeatedly been leveraged by the community to add additional functionality. So even if you don't see any thing quite to your needs, consider suggesting something to the community by way of the forums or even contact me directly RoryB at DevExpress dot Com
I'm sure there's something we can do to help you out :)
I was not aware of that new "Navigate To" feature, but I used to use Reflector for this sort of things. The pro version offers some integration with Visual Studio (Right clicking the method and selecting "Open In .NET Reflector"). It will open the reflector window and won't show the code in the VS itself. You can watch the demo that shows this feature and some others.
This is not the best answer that I'd expect but is a good option to know.
There is no way that I know of to do this in Visual Studio 2010. However, you can do this in ReSharper via the 'navigate to' menu. I suggest you try the 30 day trial from them, then if you really do need this then purchase it.
A number of add-ins allow you to browse objects (though usually in an object-browser treeview manner rather than in a "header" file form - I believe Resharper, CodeRush and Visual Assist X all have variations on this theme).
However, one add-in to consider (as it's free) is the VS Productivity Power Tools. It adds a Solution Navigator window that gives a view onto your solution just like Solution Explorer, but (among other enhancements):
can search & filter the files listed, e.g. show only those files that are named Test.
can "expand" any file entry to show the types and members within it.
Does anyone know where can I enable the bar that let me switch between different views (Design,split,..) in Visual Studio 2010 ? I can't find it and it is not enables by default
If you go into the Visual Studio Tools -> Options menu, under HTML Designer -> General there is a checkbox to enable or disable the HTML designer. Checking this and restarting VS will do the trick and show the Design/Split/Source options at the bottom again.
I really prefer the Code Optimized setup but do need on occasion to hit the design view, shame it does not seem easier to expose and, when exposed, takes up more UI than it really needs to.
Do you have the Design/source tabs down in the bottom left corner of the window? (just above where your debug & immediate windows appear from in the default view). If you do, look further to the right of them, there is a splitter bar you can drag up to produce the split mode.
It's a corrupt installation, try reintall the VS
I also cannot see the Design/Source tab split. I could have sworn it was in VS2010 RC. Did they take it out of retail?? (I'm working with an Activity xaml file)
go to Tool->Option->General->Enabe Html Designer