microsoft / microsoft/vscode-java-debug
Add Support For Showing a Custom Type View via TypeCustomDebugDataView or Annotations
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Description
Hi,
It seems currently vscode-java-debug doesn't support a way to have different representations of a type during debug in inline view, "variables" and "watch" windows.
Environment
- Operating System: Windows 10 19043.1645 (x64)
- JDK version: Java 11 (Oracle JDK 16)
- Visual Studio Code version: 1.66.2
- Java extension version: 1.6.0
- Java Debugger extension version: 0.40.1
Steps To Reproduce
- Start a debugging session in vscode for any java file.
- See how class variables are represented in inline-view, "variables" and "watch" windows.
Current Result
For example, here is how it looks like during debug - inline view (extension version v0.40.1):

and here is overridden toString method in the Point class:

notice, I have the following options in .vscode/settings.json:
{
"java.debug.settings.showQualifiedNames": false,
"java.debug.settings.showToString": true,
"java.debug.settings.showLogicalStructure": true
}
also, when I expand an array in the variable view, the nested types are not showing until I click(...):

It seems there are no ways to enable a custom data view for a particular types, right?
Expected Result
It would be cool to have something like that:

It seems like it can be done using either:
- Adding an option to enable displaying a result of overridden
toStringmethod, e.g.java.debug.settings.showToStringInlineView: true - Add "Java Type Renderer" to support custom data views similar to IntellijIdea "debugger -> Customize Data Views -> Java Type Renderer" (see link
#1in Additional Informations) - Add something like
DebuggerDisplayannotation similar to C#DebuggerDisplayAttribute(see link#2in Additional Informatins)
For me the second way seems more appealing because it may allow setting custom debug views even for Java internal classes like java.utils.ArrayList
Additional Informations
For example, here are some StackOverflow questions that illustrate the problem:
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
No source files, tests, or entry points are named. Start by tracing how vscode-java-debug renders values in inline, Variables, and Watch views, then compare the proposed TypeCustomDebugDataView, annotation, and toString approaches. Done means an agreed design and support for custom type representations across the requested views.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- java, typescript
- Domain
- devtools
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100