cpp-debug
This extension contributes a set of widgets for viewing memory in different ways.
Requirements
This extension must be used in conjunction with a Debug Adapter that implements a ReadMemoryRequest handler or alternative custom request that returns memory data. It has been tested against the CDT-GDB Adapter used as the backend for the
CDT-GDB VSCode plugin. This repository is configured to download that plugin as part of its build routine.
If you intend to use this extension with a different debug adapter, you may need to implement a custom
MemoryProvider to handle any peculiarities of the requests and responses used by your adapter.
The Widgets
Memory Widget
The basic MemoryWidget class is a wrapper around two functional widgets, a MemoryOptionsWidget and
aMemoryTableWidget. The MemoryOptionsWidget is responsible for configuring the display
and fetching memory, and the MemoryTableWidget renders the memory according to the options
specified by the user in the MemoryOptionsWidget. The basic combination of these three classes offers variable highlighting, ascii display, and
dynamic updating in response to events from the debug session, as well as the option to lock the view to ignore changes from the session.
Diff Widget
The MemoryDiffWidget is an elaboration of the MemoryWidget type that allows side-by-side
comparison of the contents of two MemoryWidgets.
Register Widget
Although it is not supported by the cdt-gdb-vscode debug adapter, the Debug Adapter Protocol supports including registers as a scope inside the
response to a variables request. The RegisterWidget offers functionality to view and
manipulate those values when using a debug adapter that reports register contents.
Editable Widget
Another feature not presently available from cdt-gdb-vscode but
proposed for the Debug Adapter Protocol and available for implementation as a custom
request to a GDB backend is direct writing of memory by address. The
MemoryEditableTableWidget adds UI functionality to allow users to modify values in
the table display and send them to a backend that supports that operation.
Using the Widgets
The widgets are created by the MemoryWidgetManager, and modifying the createNewMemoryWidget()
method of that service allows you to change what kind of widget is instantiated and under what circumstances. The widgets get memory through the
MemoryProviderService, which delegates to implementations MemoryProvider interface
that are bound as MemoryProvider contributions.