Re: [Boost-users] [multi_index] MSVS 2005 visualizers?

OK, I think I begin to understand the limitations of the visualizer with respect to type calculation.

This is my first visualizer, too ;-)

I think you can circumvent this problem by exercising some hacks similar in spirit to your VISUALIZE_MULTI_INDEX_CONTAINER thing -but less intrusive. Define the following:

template struct header_holder_accessor: private ::boost::base_from_member< typename boost::detail::allocator::rebind_to< Allocator, typename boost::multi_index::detail::multi_index_node_type< Value,IndexSpecifierList,Allocator>::type >::type> { typedef typename boost::multi_index::detail::multi_index_node_type< Value,IndexSpecifierList,Allocator>::type node_type;

node_type* value; };

Now you can do the following cast in your visualizer:

multi_index_container* --> header_holder_accessor*

and you get to the header_holder part by applying ".value". Now you can move the rest of the work to a header_holder visualizer.

Similarly, if you define

template<typename Super> struct sequenced_index_node_value_accessor { typedef typename Super::value_type value_type; value_type value; };

when you're in the sequenced_index_node<T1> visualizer you can do the following cast

sequenced_index_node<T1>* --> sequenced_index_node_value_accessor<T1>*

and get to the value by applying ".value", which automagically has the right type. Does this help work around the limitations of the visualizer?

Yes, I see we have similar ideas! What did you find intrusive about the macro? The explicit template instantiation is as it seems indispensable, because the debugger can only work with types that are touched (and reported to the debuggger via debug info) by the compiler. This also explains why the debugger does not see type aliases (typedefs, global or local). I did some more experiments last night and today, and I have found a solution that works with any container whose index list starts with sequenced<>. There is a nasty hack which extracts the node count from within a header_holder visualizer (formerly this was a sequenced_index_node visualizer). From my point of view, this is more than I expected that would be possible, thanks very much for your assistance! I'll post the resulting code in a new thread so that it's easier for others to test it or comment on it. Cheers, Filip