Plots Visual

ArrayPlotter is a debugger visualisation tool that allows you to dynamically plot the contents of your C++/C# arrays and IEnumerables within the Visual Studio debugger.

Supports Visual Studio 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019.

Website: arrayplotter.blogspot.com

Features

• Plot C++ or C# array or IEnumerable contents into a zoomable/pannable chart. Supported datatypes:
  • float
  • double
  • unsigned/signed 8/16/32/64 bit integers
• Handles complex number of above datatypes (can plot real / imaginary / magnitude / phase)
• Handle interleaved datatypes via stride / offset
• Plot independent X/Y data values for non-linear X
• Auto Update feature will automatically plot array upon entering break mode
• A history of array pointer expressions will be kept between invocations
• The current plot can be held for comparison. Up to 3 plots can be held at once
• ArrayPlotter windows are standard dockable/moveable Visual Studio window
• Multiple ArrayPlotter windows can be opened at once
• Chart colours (Axis / Series / Background) are customisable and will persist
• Chart supports auto or manual x and y-scaling
• Both array pointer and length expressions are supported, ie length can be a fixed integer or a variable with a constantly changing value. Pointer and numerical arithmetic can also be applied

How to Use

• Set your breakpoint at desired location
• Run your application and enter the breakpoint
• If required, open an ArrayPlotter window from Debug->Windows->ArrayPlotter
• Dock/move/resize the window to where you want it (Visual Studio will remember the location preferences like any other window)
• In the Y: (Pointer Expression) box enter the array pointer:
  • For C# and C++ this is simply the pointer or array variable name
  • For C# IEnumerable types you must include .ToArray() in the pointer expression, ie floatEnumerable.ToArray()
  • For both you can perform pointer arithmetic, ie &cSharpArray[0]+20 means start at the 20^th element
• In the Length Expression box enter the length of the array as either:
  • An Integer, ie 1024
  • An expression, ie arrayLength, DATA_LENGTH, or even dataStruct.NumSamples
  • Also, numerical arithmetic can be performed, ie dataStruct.NumSamples/2 will plot half of the array
  • For IEnumerable types you can include .Count() method, ie floatEnumerable.Count()
• From the Format drop down select the data type
• From the Structure drop down select the data type.
  • Scalar - for simple contiguous arrays
  • Complex - for arrays of Complex values which are defined to be pairs of the same data type laid out in memory as <real1,imag1,real2,imag2,real3,imag3,...>. In this case you can select if you want to plot the Real, Imaginary or Amplitude components
  • Stride - for arrays of interleaved multi-channel data. For example to look at the right channel of stereo PCM audio enter an offset of 1 and stride of 2
• Click Plot
• To specify an array containing X-axis values, click Show X and repeat the above steps in the X: row
• To zoom in on the chart press and hold left-mouse and select the desired zoom region and release. Double click to reset zoom. Alternatively the mousewheel can be used to zoom in/out on cursor location (Mousewheel VS2012+ only)
• To pan, press and drag the middle-mouse button
• If Auto Update is enabled, then any time debug mode is entered then the currently entered expression will be evaluated and re-plotted
• A history of plotted arrays will be kept. To access previously plotted arrays, use the Y Pointer expression drop-down and select the desired array. To clear the history select Tools->ArrayPlotter
• To change the chart colours, select Tools->ArrayPlotter
• To hold the currently plot for comparison, click the hold toggle button (upper right). The currently plot will remain in the selected colour. To remove the held plot, toggle the button.