Visual Studio how to serialize object from debugger

c# debugging serialization visual-studio-2012
xvorsx picture xvorsx · Sep 13, 2013 · Viewed 39.2k times · Source

I'm trying to investigate a bug in a crash dump (so I can not change the code). I have a really complicated object (thousands of lines in the serialized representation) and its state is inconsistent. To investigate its state the Visual Studio debugger view is useless. But the object has a data contract. I'd like to serialize it and then use my favorite text editor to navigate across the object. Is it possible to do the from the debugger?

Answer

mcintyre321 picture mcintyre321 · Apr 29, 2014

With any luck you have Json.Net in you appdomain already. In which case pop this into your Immediate window:

Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(someVariable)

Related questions

How do I remedy "The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document." warning?

A C# desktop application on the express edition worked, but then it didn't work 5 seconds later. I tried the following: Ensure debug configuration, debug flag, and full debug information are set on all assemblies. Delete all bin and obj folders …

Read More
Writing to output window of Visual Studio

I am trying to write a message to the output window for debugging purposes. I searched for a function like Java's system.out.println(""). I tried Debug.Write, Console.Write, and Trace.Write. It does not give an error, but …

Read More
The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document in a Silverlight application

Ok, what I have: Visual Studio 2010 RC, W7 x64, started a new project type of Silverlight application. Hosting the Silverlight application in a ASP.NET Web Application Project. Silverlight Version 3.0. Added a LinqToSQL Class, a WCF Service, a Winform Tester …

Read More