Dynamic View
This topic applies to:
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Visual Basic |
C# |
F# |
C++ |
Web Developer |
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Express |
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This feature applies only to projects that use .NET Framework version 4.
When the Watch window displays an object that implements the IDynamicMetaObjectProvider. interface, the debugger adds a special Dynamic View node to the watch display. The Dynamic View node shows members of the dynamic object but does not allow editing of the member values.
If you right-click any child of a Dynamic View and choose Add to Watch, the debugger inserts a new watch variable that casts for object to a dynamic object. In other words, object Name becomes:
((dynamic)object.Name
Evaluating the members of a Dynamic View can have side effects. For C#, the debugger does not automatically reevaluate the values shown in the Dynamic View when you step to a new line of code. For Visual Basic, expressions added through the Dynamic View are automatically refreshed.
For instructions about how to refresh the Dynamic View values, see How to: Refresh Watch Values. For an explanation of what side effects are, see Side Effects and Expressions. For Visual Basic, values shown in the Dynamic View are automatically reevaluated.
If you want to display only the Dynamic View for an object, you can use the dynamic format specifier as shown here for C#:
ObjectName, dynamic
For Visual Basic, you can use this syntax:
$dynamic, ObjectName
COM Objects
The Dynamic View also enhances the debugging experience for COM objects. When the debugger encounters a COM object wrapped in the generic RCW, System.__ComObject, it adds a Dynamic View node for the object.