Every now and then I use the watch window to display strings which contain sql statements.
Now I select Copy Value from the context menu and get
'SELECT NAME FROM SAMPLE_TABLE WHERE FIRST_NAME = ''George'''#$D#$A
Of course, this statement has to be reformatted if I want to execute it in a sql tool displaying the results. This is a little bit annoying.
Is there a trick / workaround for that?
I thought it would be amusing to try and work out a way to do this by adding something inside the IDE, mainly because when you posted your q, I didn't have a clue how to. It turns out that you can do it quite easily using a custom OTA package containing a unit like the one below.
Btw, I'm particularly obliged to Rob Kennedy for pointing out in another SO question that the IDE has a Screen object just like any other. That provides an easy way into the problem, bypassing the maze of OTA interfaces I've usually had to work with to code an IDE add-in.
It works by
Finding the Watch Window
,
Finding the Copy Watch value
item in its context menu & adding a new menu item after it
Using the OnClick handler of the new item to pick up the value from the Watch Window's focused item, re-formatting it as required, then pasting it to the Clipboard
.
So far as using OTA services is concerned, it doesn't do anything fancy, but with the IDE I think the KISS principle applies.
Code:
unit IdeMenuProcessing;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, ExtCtrls, ToolsAPI, Menus, ClipBrd, ComCtrls;
type
TOtaMenuForm = class(TForm)
Memo1: TMemo;
procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
private
OurMenuItem : TMenuItem;
WatchWindow : TForm;
WWListView : TListView;
procedure GetWatchValue(Sender : TObject);
end;
var
OtaMenuForm: TOtaMenuForm;
procedure Register;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
procedure ShowMenus;
begin
OtaMenuForm := TOtaMenuForm.Create(Nil);
OtaMenuForm.Show;
end;
procedure Register;
begin
ShowMenus;
end;
procedure TOtaMenuForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
i : Integer;
S : String;
PM : TPopUpMenu;
Item : TMenuItem;
begin
// First create a menu item to insert in the Watch Window's context menu
OurMenuItem := TMenuItem.Create(Self);
OurMenuItem.OnClick := GetWatchValue;
OurMenuItem.Caption := 'Get processed watch value';
WatchWindow := Nil;
WWListView := Nil;
// Next, iterate the IDE's forms to find the Watch Window
for i := 0 to Screen.FormCount - 1 do begin
S := Screen.Forms[i].Name;
if CompareText(S, 'WatchWindow') = 0 then begin // < Localize if necessary
WatchWindow := Screen.Forms[i];
Break;
end;
end;
Assert(WatchWindow <> Nil);
if WatchWindow <> Nil then begin
// Next, scan the Watch Window's context menu to find the existing "Copy watch value" entry
// and insert our menu iem after it
PM := WatchWindow.PopUpMenu;
for i:= 0 to PM.Items.Count - 1 do begin
Item := PM.Items[i];
if CompareText('Copy Watch &Value', Item.Caption) = 0 then begin // < Localize if necessary
PM.Items.Insert(i + 1, OurMenuItem);
Break;
end;
end;
// Now, find the TListView in the Watch Window
for i := 0 to WatchWindow.ComponentCount - 1 do begin
if WatchWindow.Components[i] is TListView then begin
WWListView := WatchWindow.Components[i] as TListView;
Break;
end;
end;
Assert(WWListView <> Nil);
end;
end;
procedure TOtaMenuForm.GetWatchValue(Sender: TObject);
var
WatchValue : String;
begin
// This is called when the Watch Window menu item we added is clicked
if WWListView.ItemFocused = Nil then begin
Memo1.Lines.Add('no Watch selected');
exit;
end;
WatchValue := WWListView.ItemFocused.SubItems[0];
WatchValue := StringReplace(WatchValue, #$D#$A, ' ', [rfreplaceAll]);
if WatchValue[1] = '''' then
Delete(WatchValue, 1, 1);
if WatchValue[Length(WatchValue)] = '''' then
WatchValue := Copy(WatchValue, 1, Length(WatchValue) - 1);
// [etc]
ClipBoard.AsText := WatchValue;
Memo1.Lines.Add('>' + WatchValue + '<');
end;
initialization
finalization
if Assigned(OTAMenuForm) then begin
OTAMenuForm.Close;
FreeAndNil(OTAMenuForm);
end;
end.
Btw, I wrote this in D7 because I use that as a sort of lowest common denominator for SO answers because its quite obvious that a large number of people here still use it. Later versions have additional string functions, such as the AniDequotedStr mentioned in a comment, which might be helpful in reformatting the watch value.
Update: According to the OP, the above doesn't work with XE3 because the watch window is implemented using a TVirtualStringTree rather than a TListView. The reason I used the ListView was that I found that picking up the Watch value from the Clipboard (after simulating a click on the context menu's Copy Watch Value
) to process it wasn't very reliable. That seems to have improved in XE4 (I don't have XE3 to test), so here's a version that seems to work in XE4:
Update #2: The OP mentioned that the previous version of the code below failed the WatchWindow <> Nil
assertion when Delphi is first started. I imagine the reason is that the code is called before the Watch Window
has been created in the IDE. I've re-arranged the code an added an OTANotifier that's used to get the notification that a project desktop has been loaded, ad uses that to called the new SetUp
routine.
unit IdeMenuProcessing;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, ExtCtrls, ToolsAPI, Menus, ClipBrd, ComCtrls;
type
TIdeNotifier = class(TNotifierObject, IOTANotifier, IOTAIDENotifier)
protected
procedure AfterCompile(Succeeded: Boolean);
procedure BeforeCompile(const Project: IOTAProject; var Cancel: Boolean);
procedure FileNotification(NotifyCode: TOTAFileNotification;
const FileName: string; var Cancel: Boolean);
end;
TOtaMenuForm = class(TForm)
Memo1: TMemo;
procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
private
IsSetUp : Boolean;
ExistingMenuItem,
OurMenuItem : TMenuItem;
WatchWindow : TForm;
Services: IOTAServices;
Notifier : TIdeNotifier;
NotifierIndex: Integer;
procedure GetWatchValue(Sender : TObject);
procedure SetUp;
end;
var
OtaMenuForm: TOtaMenuForm;
procedure Register;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
procedure ShowMenus;
begin
OtaMenuForm := TOtaMenuForm.Create(Nil);
OtaMenuForm.Services := BorlandIDEServices as IOTAServices;
OtaMenuForm.NotifierIndex := OtaMenuForm.Services.AddNotifier(TIdeNotifier.Create);
OtaMenuForm.Show;
end;
procedure Register;
begin
ShowMenus;
end;
procedure TOtaMenuForm.SetUp;
var
i : Integer;
S : String;
PM : TPopUpMenu;
Item : TMenuItem;
begin
if IsSetUp then exit;
// First create a menu item to insert in the Watch Window's context menu
OurMenuItem := TMenuItem.Create(Self);
OurMenuItem.OnClick := GetWatchValue;
OurMenuItem.Caption := 'Get processed watch value';
WatchWindow := Nil;
// Next, iterate the IDE's forms to find the Watch Window
for i := 0 to Screen.FormCount - 1 do begin
S := Screen.Forms[i].Name;
if CompareText(S, 'WatchWindow') = 0 then begin
WatchWindow := Screen.Forms[i];
Break;
end;
end;
Assert(WatchWindow <> Nil);
if WatchWindow <> Nil then begin
// Next, scan the Watch Window's context menu to find the existing "Copy watch value" entry
// and insert our menu item after it
PM := WatchWindow.PopUpMenu;
for i:= 0 to PM.Items.Count - 1 do begin
Item := PM.Items[i];
if CompareText('Copy Watch &Value', Item.Caption) = 0 then begin
ExistingMenuItem := Item;
PM.Items.Insert(i + 1, OurMenuItem);
if ExistingMenuItem.Action <> Nil then
Memo1.Lines.Add('Has action')
else
Memo1.Lines.Add('No action');
Break;
end;
end;
end;
Caption := 'Setup complete';
IsSetUp := True;
end;
procedure TOtaMenuForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
IsSetUp := False;
end;
procedure TOtaMenuForm.GetWatchValue(Sender: TObject);
var
S,
WatchValue : String;
TL : TStringList;
i : Integer;
begin
// This is called when the Watch Window menu item we added is clicked
ExistingMenuItem.Click;
WatchValue := ClipBoard.AsText;
WatchValue := StringReplace(WatchValue, '#$D#$A', #$D#$A, [rfreplaceAll]);
if WatchValue <> '' then begin
TL := TStringList.Create;
try
TL.Text := WatchValue;
WatchValue := '';
for i := 0 to TL.Count - 1 do begin
S := TL[i];
if S[1] = '''' then
Delete(S, 1, 1);
if S[Length(S)] = '''' then
S := Copy(S, 1, Length(S) - 1);
if WatchValue <> '' then
WatchValue := WatchValue + ' ';
WatchValue := WatchValue + S;
end;
finally
TL.Free;
end;
// [etc]
end;
ClipBoard.AsText := WatchValue;
Memo1.Lines.Add('>' + WatchValue + '<');
end;
{ TIdeNotifier }
procedure TIdeNotifier.AfterCompile(Succeeded: Boolean);
begin
end;
procedure TIdeNotifier.BeforeCompile(const Project: IOTAProject;
var Cancel: Boolean);
begin
end;
procedure TIdeNotifier.FileNotification(NotifyCode: TOTAFileNotification;
const FileName: string; var Cancel: Boolean);
begin
if NotifyCode = ofnProjectDesktopLoad then
OTAMenuForm.SetUp
end;
initialization
finalization
if Assigned(OTAMenuForm) then begin
OTAMenuForm.Services.RemoveNotifier(OTAMenuForm.NotifierIndex);
OTAMenuForm.Close;
FreeAndNil(OTAMenuForm);
end;
end.
I'm posting this as a separate answer because it uses a different implementation
based on the ToolsAPI's debugger visualizers. There are examples in the Visualizers
sub-folder of the Delphi source code. The one which looked most promising as a
starting point is the example in the StringListVisualizer.Pas file. However, I found
that impenetrable on the first few readings and it turned out that it didn't actually
do what I was hoping for.
The code below, which of course needs to be compiled into an IDE package which
requires the rtl and designide units, is based upon the much simpler DateTime
sample visualizer, but adapted to the Text
property of TStrings
objects. This adaptation still required quite a lot of work, and that's the main reason I'm posting this additional answer, to save others some head-scratching.
Normally, the Text
property of a TStrings
variable is displayed in the Watch Window as one or more text lines surrounded by single quotes and separated by the string #$D#$A. The code removes the single quotes and replaces the #$D#$A by a space. This isdone inside the GetReplacementValue
function near the top of the code. The rest of the code is just the baggage that you need to include to implement a visualizer, and there's quite a lot of it, even in this rather minimalist implementation.
Once the package is installed, as well as being displayed in the Watch Window
,
the Text
property can be pasted to the Clipboard using the Copy Watch Value
entry on the Watch Window
's context menu.
Code (written for and tested in XE4):
{*******************************************************}
{ }
{ RadStudio Debugger Visualizer Sample }
{ Copyright(c) 2009-2013 Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. }
{ }
{*******************************************************}
{Adapted by Martyn Ayers, Bristol, UK Oct 2015}
unit SimpleTStringsVisualizeru;
interface
procedure Register;
implementation
uses
Classes, Forms, SysUtils, ToolsAPI;
resourcestring
sVisualizerName = 'TStrings Simple Visualizer for Delphi';
sVisualizerDescription = 'Simplifies TStrings Text property format';
const
CRLFReplacement = ' ';
type
TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer = class(TInterfacedObject,
IOTADebuggerVisualizer, IOTADebuggerVisualizerValueReplacer,
IOTAThreadNotifier, IOTAThreadNotifier160)
private
FNotifierIndex: Integer;
FCompleted: Boolean;
FDeferredResult: string;
public
{ IOTADebuggerVisualizer }
function GetSupportedTypeCount: Integer;
procedure GetSupportedType(Index: Integer; var TypeName: string;
var AllDescendants: Boolean);
function GetVisualizerIdentifier: string;
function GetVisualizerName: string;
function GetVisualizerDescription: string;
{ IOTADebuggerVisualizerValueReplacer }
function GetReplacementValue(const Expression, TypeName, EvalResult: string): string;
{ IOTAThreadNotifier }
procedure EvaluteComplete(const ExprStr: string; const ResultStr: string;
CanModify: Boolean; ResultAddress: Cardinal; ResultSize: Cardinal;
ReturnCode: Integer);
procedure ModifyComplete(const ExprStr: string; const ResultStr: string;
ReturnCode: Integer);
procedure ThreadNotify(Reason: TOTANotifyReason);
procedure AfterSave;
procedure BeforeSave;
procedure Destroyed;
procedure Modified;
{ IOTAThreadNotifier160 }
procedure EvaluateComplete(const ExprStr: string; const ResultStr: string;
CanModify: Boolean; ResultAddress: TOTAAddress; ResultSize: LongWord;
ReturnCode: Integer);
end;
TTypeLang = (tlDelphi, tlCpp);
// The following function is the one which actually changes the TStrings
// representation in the Watch Window
//
// Normally, the Text property of TStrings variable is displayed in the Watch Window
// and Evaluate window as one or more text lines surrounded by single quotes
// and separated by the string #$D#$A
//
// This implementation removes the single quotes and replaces the #$D#$A
// by a space
//
// Note the addition of '.Text' to the expression which gets evaluated; this is to
// produce the desired result when using the 'Copy Watch Value' item in the
// Watch Window context menu.
function TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.GetReplacementValue(
const Expression, TypeName, EvalResult: string): string;
var
Lang: TTypeLang;
i: Integer;
CurProcess: IOTAProcess;
CurThread: IOTAThread;
ResultStr: array[0..4095] of Char; // was 255
CanModify: Boolean;
ResultAddr, ResultSize, ResultVal: LongWord;
EvalRes: TOTAEvaluateResult;
DebugSvcs: IOTADebuggerServices;
function FormatResult(const Input: string; out ResStr: string): Boolean;
var
TL : TStringList;
i : Integer;
S : String;
const
CRLFDisplayed = '#$D#$A';
begin
Result := True;
ResStr := '';
TL := TStringList.Create;
try
S := Input;
S := StringReplace(S, CRLFDisplayed, #13#10, [rfReplaceAll]);
TL.Text := S;
for i := 0 to TL.Count - 1 do begin
S := TL[i];
if S <> '' then begin
if S[1] = '''' then // Remove single quote at start of line
Delete(S, 1, 1);
if S[Length(S)] = '''' then // Remove single quote at end of line
S := Copy(S, 1, Length(S) - 1);
end;
if ResStr <> '' then
ResStr := ResStr + CRLFReplacement;
ResStr := ResStr + S;
end;
finally
TL.Free;
end;
end;
begin
Lang := tlDelphi;
if Lang = tlDelphi then
begin
if Supports(BorlandIDEServices, IOTADebuggerServices, DebugSvcs) then
CurProcess := DebugSvcs.CurrentProcess;
if CurProcess <> nil then
begin
CurThread := CurProcess.CurrentThread;
if CurThread <> nil then
begin
EvalRes := CurThread.Evaluate(Expression + '.Text', @ResultStr, Length(ResultStr),
CanModify, eseAll, '', ResultAddr, ResultSize, ResultVal, '', 0);
if EvalRes = erOK then
begin
Result := ResultStr;
end else if EvalRes = erDeferred then
begin
FCompleted := False;
FDeferredResult := '';
FNotifierIndex := CurThread.AddNotifier(Self);
while not FCompleted do
DebugSvcs.ProcessDebugEvents;
CurThread.RemoveNotifier(FNotifierIndex);
FNotifierIndex := -1;
if (FDeferredResult = '') then
Result := EvalResult
else
FormatResult(FDeferredResult, Result);
end;
end;
end;
end
else
;
end;
procedure TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.AfterSave;
begin
// don't care about this notification
end;
procedure TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.BeforeSave;
begin
// don't care about this notification
end;
procedure TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.Destroyed;
begin
// don't care about this notification
end;
procedure TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.Modified;
begin
// don't care about this notification
end;
procedure TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.ModifyComplete(const ExprStr,
ResultStr: string; ReturnCode: Integer);
begin
// don't care about this notification
end;
procedure TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.EvaluteComplete(const ExprStr,
ResultStr: string; CanModify: Boolean; ResultAddress, ResultSize: Cardinal;
ReturnCode: Integer);
begin
EvaluateComplete(ExprStr, ResultStr, CanModify, TOTAAddress(ResultAddress),
LongWord(ResultSize), ReturnCode);
end;
procedure TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.EvaluateComplete(const ExprStr,
ResultStr: string; CanModify: Boolean; ResultAddress: TOTAAddress; ResultSize: LongWord;
ReturnCode: Integer);
begin
FCompleted := True;
if ReturnCode = 0 then
FDeferredResult := ResultStr;
end;
function TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.GetSupportedTypeCount: Integer;
begin
Result := 1;
end;
procedure TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.GetSupportedType(Index: Integer; var TypeName: string;
var AllDescendants: Boolean);
begin
AllDescendants := True;
TypeName := 'TStrings';
end;
function TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.GetVisualizerDescription: string;
begin
Result := sVisualizerDescription;
end;
function TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.GetVisualizerIdentifier: string;
begin
Result := ClassName;
end;
function TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.GetVisualizerName: string;
begin
Result := sVisualizerName;
end;
procedure TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.ThreadNotify(Reason: TOTANotifyReason);
begin
// don't care about this notification
end;
var
TStringsVis: IOTADebuggerVisualizer;
procedure Register;
begin
TStringsVis := TDebuggerSimpleTStringsVisualizer.Create;
(BorlandIDEServices as IOTADebuggerServices).RegisterDebugVisualizer(TStringsVis);
end;
procedure RemoveVisualizer;
var
DebuggerServices: IOTADebuggerServices;
begin
if Supports(BorlandIDEServices, IOTADebuggerServices, DebuggerServices) then
begin
DebuggerServices.UnregisterDebugVisualizer(TStringsVis);
TStringsVis := nil;
end;
end;
initialization
finalization
RemoveVisualizer;
end.