DebugView syntax

The DebugView property (available only when debugging) provides a string rendering of expression trees. Most of the syntax is fairly straightforward to understand; the special cases are described in the following sections.

Each example is followed by a block comment, containing the DebugView.

ParameterExpression

ParameterExpression variable names are displayed with a $ symbol at the beginning.

If a parameter doesn't have a name, it's assigned an automatically generated name, such as $var1 or $var2.

ParameterExpression numParam =  Expression.Parameter(typeof(int), "num");
/*
    $num
*/

ParameterExpression numParam =  Expression.Parameter(typeof(int));
/*
    $var1
*/

ConstantExpression

For ConstantExpression objects that represent integer values, strings, and null, the value of the constant is displayed.

For numeric types that have standard suffixes as C# literals, the suffix is added to the value. The following table shows the suffixes associated with various numeric types.

Type	Keyword	Suffix
System.UInt32	uint	U
System.Int64	long	L
System.UInt64	ulong	UL
System.Double	double	D
System.Single	float	F
System.Decimal	decimal	M

int num = 10;
ConstantExpression expr = Expression.Constant(num);
/*
    10
*/

double num = 10;
ConstantExpression expr = Expression.Constant(num);
/*
    10D
*/

BlockExpression

If the type of a BlockExpression object differs from the type of the last expression in the block, the type is displayed within angle brackets (< and >). Otherwise, the type of the BlockExpression object isn't displayed.

BlockExpression block = Expression.Block(Expression.Constant("test"));
/*
    .Block() {
        "test"
    }
*/

BlockExpression block =  Expression.Block(typeof(Object), Expression.Constant("test"));
/*
    .Block<System.Object>() {
        "test"
    }
*/

LambdaExpression

LambdaExpression objects are displayed together with their delegate types.

If a lambda expression doesn't have a name, it's assigned an automatically generated name, such as #Lambda1 or #Lambda2.

LambdaExpression lambda =  Expression.Lambda<Func<int>>(Expression.Constant(1));
/*
    .Lambda #Lambda1<System.Func'1[System.Int32]>() {
        1
    }
*/

LambdaExpression lambda =  Expression.Lambda<Func<int>>(Expression.Constant(1), "SampleLambda", null);
/*
    .Lambda #SampleLambda<System.Func'1[System.Int32]>() {
        1
    }
*/

LabelExpression

If you specify a default value for the LabelExpression object, this value is displayed before the LabelTarget object.

The .Label token indicates the start of the label. The .LabelTarget token indicates the destination of the target to jump to.

If a label doesn't have a name, it's assigned an automatically generated name, such as #Label1 or #Label2.

LabelTarget target = Expression.Label(typeof(int), "SampleLabel");
BlockExpression block = Expression.Block(
    Expression.Goto(target, Expression.Constant(0)),
    Expression.Label(target, Expression.Constant(-1))
);
/*
    .Block() {
        .Goto SampleLabel { 0 };
        .Label
            -1
        .LabelTarget SampleLabel:
    }
*/

LabelTarget target = Expression.Label();
BlockExpression block = Expression.Block(
    Expression.Goto(target),
    Expression.Label(target)
);
/*
    .Block() {
        .Goto #Label1 { };
        .Label
        .LabelTarget #Label1:
    }
*/

Checked Operators

Checked operators are displayed with the # symbol in front of the operator. For example, the checked addition operator is displayed as #+.

Expression expr = Expression.AddChecked( Expression.Constant(1), Expression.Constant(2));
/*
    1 #+ 2
*/

Expression expr = Expression.ConvertChecked( Expression.Constant(10.0), typeof(int));
/*
    #(System.Int32)10D
*/