Bug 552562

Summary: Unify variables and expressions view
Product: [Eclipse Project] JDT Reporter: Matthias Fuchs <meister.fuchs>
Component: DebugAssignee: JDT-Debug-Inbox <jdt-debug-inbox>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: enhancement    
Priority: P3 CC: eric.milles, loskutov, sarika.sinha, stephan.herrmann
Version: 4.14   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: All   
Whiteboard:
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Description Flags
combined variables and expressions view
none
Detail Pane in Variables View none

Description Matthias Fuchs CLA 2019-10-30 08:49:48 EDT
Created attachment 280468 [details]
combined variables and expressions view

Hi guy,

I've been playing around with IntelliJ lately (mostly because it properly supports groovy debugging) and I really like the variables view.

It combines the variables and the "watched expressions" into one single view (split views are supported too). Also it doesn't display it as a table, but rather as a tree structure.

It would be awesome to see this coming to eclipse too. Are there any chances?
Comment 1 Andrey Loskutov CLA 2019-10-30 09:45:12 EDT
(In reply to Matthias Fuchs from comment #0)
> It combines the variables and the "watched expressions" into one single view
> (split views are supported too).

Request #1.

> Also it doesn't display it as a table, but
> rather as a tree structure.

Request #2.
 
> It would be awesome to see this coming to eclipse too. Are there any chances?

#2 is already there => Variables view menu -> Layout -> [] Show columns
If you think this is not what you want, please open a dedicated bug for it.

Please use *this* bug for request #1.

#1 is a bigger thing, but if someone wants to contribute this, I guess this could be done => https://wiki.eclipse.org/Platform/How_to_Contribute
Comment 2 Stephan Herrmann CLA 2019-10-30 10:22:46 EDT
(In reply to Andrey Loskutov from comment #1)
> > Also it doesn't display it as a table, but
> > rather as a tree structure.
> 
> Request #2.
>  
> > It would be awesome to see this coming to eclipse too. Are there any chances?
> 
> #2 is already there => Variables view menu -> Layout -> [] Show columns
> If you think this is not what you want, please open a dedicated bug for it.

I understand that Matthias would like to get rid of the columns and to squeeze all details into a single (colored) label.
 
While that variant is more compact, IMHO it makes it harder to scan the list of values.

The tree aspect, OTOH, is already given in Eclipse (in column #1).
Comment 3 Matthias Fuchs CLA 2019-10-31 12:38:59 EDT
Hi all,

I really didn't notice the tree feature. I like it, although some coloring/cosmetics would be nice :-D, like bold variables/fields.
Thanks Andrey for the hint!

If I find some time I'll look into the mentioned wiki page, maybe I have some luck building eclipse :-)
Comment 4 Eric Milles CLA 2019-11-02 12:08:55 EDT
I think the request is less about table > tree (with colored labels) then it is about combining the Expressions and Variables and possible Debug Shell into on view.  At a high level, I interpret this as the debugger will supply variable expressions automatically for the current context/scope and the user can supply additional expressions.  All are evaluated and displayed in the same view.
Comment 5 Sarika Sinha CLA 2019-11-04 06:39:34 EST
(In reply to Eric Milles from comment #4)
> I think the request is less about table > tree (with colored labels) then it
> is about combining the Expressions and Variables and possible Debug Shell
> into on view.  At a high level, I interpret this as the debugger will supply
> variable expressions automatically for the current context/scope and the
> user can supply additional expressions.  All are evaluated and displayed in
> the same view.

We already have the Debug Shell integrated in the Variables view. You can use the bottom box for that purpose.
Comment 6 Matthias Fuchs CLA 2019-11-04 07:17:10 EST
Yes Eric is right, that's what would be the perfect implementation (for me).

@Sarika: what "box" do you mean?