Is there a Spy++ like utility for WPF?

wpf utilities spy++
Ian Ringrose picture Ian Ringrose · Nov 4, 2009 · Viewed 10.1k times · Source

As a “hardcore” WinForms programmer from a Win32 background I have always used Spy++ to understand what my applications are doing at the UI level including:

  • Seeing what events the controls are sending to each other.
  • Seeing the control tree at run time
  • Finding the control that is drawing part of the display

I then often search for the control name in the source code, very useful when you have to change the UI on a large application you don’t know well.

So how do I do the same with a WPF application?

(You may assume I have access to the source code of the WPF application if needed, however I rather the utility worked without the need for the applications source code.)

Thanks for the answers, I have just searched for “Snoop” in StackOverflow and found a few questions/answers with lists of WPF tools.

Answer

japf picture japf · Nov 4, 2009

Yes, you can use Snoop. It is exactly like Spy++ for WPF.

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