Can I change the display format for strings in the watch list?

Question

Every now and then I use the watch window to display strings which contain sql statements.

Now I select Copy Value from the context menu and get

'SELECT NAME FROM SAMPLE_TABLE WHERE  FIRST_NAME = ''George'''#$D#$A

Of course, this statement has to be reformatted if I want to execute it in a sql tool displaying the results. This is a little bit annoying.

Is there a trick / workaround for that?

Answer 1

I thought it would be amusing to try and work out a way to do this by adding something inside the IDE, mainly because when you posted your q, I didn't have a clue how to. It turns out that you can do it quite easily using a custom OTA package containing a unit like the one below.

Btw, I'm particularly obliged to Rob Kennedy for pointing out in another SO question that the IDE has a Screen object just like any other. That provides an easy way into the problem, bypassing the maze of OTA interfaces I've usually had to work with to code an IDE add-in.

It works by

• Finding the Watch Window,

• Finding the Copy Watch value item in its context menu & adding a new menu item after it

• Using the OnClick handler of the new item to pick up the value from the Watch Window's focused item, re-formatting it as required, then pasting it to the Clipboard.

So far as using OTA services is concerned, it doesn't do anything fancy, but with the IDE I think the KISS principle applies.

Code:

unit IdeMenuProcessing;

interface

uses
  Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
  Dialogs, StdCtrls, ExtCtrls, ToolsAPI, Menus, ClipBrd, ComCtrls;

type
  TOtaMenuForm = class(TForm)
    Memo1: TMemo;
    procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
  private
    OurMenuItem : TMenuItem;
    WatchWindow : TForm;
    WWListView : TListView;
    procedure GetWatchValue(Sender : TObject);
  end;

var
  OtaMenuForm: TOtaMenuForm;

procedure Register;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure ShowMenus;
begin
  OtaMenuForm := TOtaMenuForm.Create(Nil);
  OtaMenuForm.Show;
end;

procedure Register;
begin
  ShowMenus;
end;

procedure TOtaMenuForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
  i : Integer;
  S : String;
  PM : TPopUpMenu;
  Item : TMenuItem;
begin

  // First create a menu item to insert in the Watch Window's context menu
  OurMenuItem := TMenuItem.Create(Self);
  OurMenuItem.OnClick := GetWatchValue;
  OurMenuItem.Caption := 'Get processed watch value';

  WatchWindow := Nil;
  WWListView := Nil;

  //  Next, iterate the IDE's forms to find the Watch Window
  for i := 0 to Screen.FormCount - 1 do begin
    S := Screen.Forms[i].Name;
    if CompareText(S, 'WatchWindow') = 0 then begin  // < Localize if necessary
      WatchWindow := Screen.Forms[i];
      Break;
    end;
  end;

  Assert(WatchWindow <> Nil);

  if WatchWindow <> Nil then begin
    //  Next, scan the Watch Window's context menu to find the existing "Copy watch value" entry
    //  and insert our menu iem after it
    PM := WatchWindow.PopUpMenu;
    for i:= 0 to PM.Items.Count - 1 do begin
      Item := PM.Items[i];
      if CompareText('Copy Watch &Value', Item.Caption) = 0 then begin // < Localize if necessary
        PM.Items.Insert(i + 1, OurMenuItem);
        Break;
      end;
    end;

    //  Now, find the TListView in the Watch Window
    for i := 0 to WatchWindow.ComponentCount - 1 do begin
      if WatchWindow.Components[i] is TListView then begin
        WWListView := WatchWindow.Components[i] as TListView;
        Break;
      end;
    end;
    Assert(WWListView <> Nil);
  end;
end;

procedure TOtaMenuForm.GetWatchValue(Sender: TObject);
var
  WatchValue : String;
begin
  //  This is called when the Watch Window menu item we added is clicked
  if WWListView.ItemFocused = Nil then begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add('no Watch selected');
    exit;
  end;
  WatchValue := WWListView.ItemFocused.SubItems[0];
  WatchValue := StringReplace(WatchValue, #$D#$A, ' ', [rfreplaceAll]);
  if WatchValue[1] = '''' then
    Delete(WatchValue, 1, 1);

  if WatchValue[Length(WatchValue)] = '''' then
    WatchValue := Copy(WatchValue, 1, Length(WatchValue) - 1);
  // [etc]  
  ClipBoard.AsText := WatchValue;
  Memo1.Lines.Add('>' +  WatchValue + '<');
end;

initialization

finalization
  if Assigned(OTAMenuForm) then begin
    OTAMenuForm.Close;
    FreeAndNil(OTAMenuForm);
  end;
end.

Btw, I wrote this in D7 because I use that as a sort of lowest common denominator for SO answers because its quite obvious that a large number of people here still use it. Later versions have additional string functions, such as the AniDequotedStr mentioned in a comment, which might be helpful in reformatting the watch value.

Update: According to the OP, the above doesn't work with XE3 because the watch window is implemented using a TVirtualStringTree rather than a TListView. The reason I used the ListView was that I found that picking up the Watch value from the Clipboard (after simulating a click on the context menu's Copy Watch Value) to process it wasn't very reliable. That seems to have improved in XE4 (I don't have XE3 to test), so here's a version that seems to work in XE4:

Update #2: The OP mentioned that the previous version of the code below failed the WatchWindow <> Nil assertion when Delphi is first started. I imagine the reason is that the code is called before the Watch Window has been created in the IDE. I've re-arranged the code an added an OTANotifier that's used to get the notification that a project desktop has been loaded, ad uses that to called the new SetUp routine.

unit IdeMenuProcessing;

interface

uses
  Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
  Dialogs, StdCtrls, ExtCtrls, ToolsAPI, Menus, ClipBrd, ComCtrls;

type
  TIdeNotifier = class(TNotifierObject, IOTANotifier, IOTAIDENotifier)
  protected
    procedure AfterCompile(Succeeded: Boolean);
    procedure BeforeCompile(const Project: IOTAProject; var Cancel: Boolean);
    procedure FileNotification(NotifyCode: TOTAFileNotification;
      const FileName: string; var Cancel: Boolean);
  end;

  TOtaMenuForm = class(TForm)
    Memo1: TMemo;
    procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
  private
    IsSetUp : Boolean;
    ExistingMenuItem,
    OurMenuItem : TMenuItem;
    WatchWindow : TForm;
    Services: IOTAServices;
    Notifier : TIdeNotifier;
    NotifierIndex: Integer;
    procedure GetWatchValue(Sender : TObject);
    procedure SetUp;
  end;

var
  OtaMenuForm: TOtaMenuForm;

procedure Register;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure ShowMenus;
begin
  OtaMenuForm := TOtaMenuForm.Create(Nil);
  OtaMenuForm.Services := BorlandIDEServices as IOTAServices;
  OtaMenuForm.NotifierIndex := OtaMenuForm.Services.AddNotifier(TIdeNotifier.Create);
  OtaMenuForm.Show;
end;

procedure Register;
begin
  ShowMenus;
end;

procedure TOtaMenuForm.SetUp;
var
  i : Integer;
  S : String;
  PM : TPopUpMenu;
  Item : TMenuItem;
begin
  if IsSetUp then exit;

  // First create a menu item to insert in the Watch Window's context menu
  OurMenuItem := TMenuItem.Create(Self);
  OurMenuItem.OnClick := GetWatchValue;
  OurMenuItem.Caption := 'Get processed watch value';

  WatchWindow := Nil;

  //  Next, iterate the IDE's forms to find the Watch Window
  for i := 0 to Screen.FormCount - 1 do begin
    S := Screen.Forms[i].Name;
    if CompareText(S, 'WatchWindow') = 0 then begin
      WatchWindow := Screen.Forms[i];
      Break;
    end;
  end;

  Assert(WatchWindow <> Nil);

  if WatchWindow <> Nil then begin
    //  Next, scan the Watch Window's context menu to find the existing "Copy watch value" entry
    //  and insert our menu item after it
    PM := WatchWindow.PopUpMenu;
    for i:= 0 to PM.Items.Count - 1 do begin
      Item := PM.Items[i];
      if CompareText('Copy Watch &Value', Item.Caption) = 0 then begin
        ExistingMenuItem := Item;
        PM.Items.Insert(i + 1, OurMenuItem);
        if ExistingMenuItem.Action <> Nil then
          Memo1.Lines.Add('Has action')
        else
          Memo1.Lines.Add('No action');
        Break;
      end;
    end;
  end;
  Caption := 'Setup complete';
  IsSetUp := True;
end;

procedure TOtaMenuForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
  IsSetUp := False;
end;

procedure TOtaMenuForm.GetWatchValue(Sender: TObject);
var
  S,
  WatchValue : String;
  TL : TStringList;
  i : Integer;
begin
  //  This is called when the Watch Window menu item we added is clicked

  ExistingMenuItem.Click;

  WatchValue := ClipBoard.AsText;
  WatchValue := StringReplace(WatchValue, '#$D#$A', #$D#$A, [rfreplaceAll]);

  if WatchValue <> '' then begin
    TL := TStringList.Create;
    try
      TL.Text := WatchValue;
      WatchValue := '';
      for i := 0 to TL.Count - 1 do begin
        S := TL[i];
        if S[1] = '''' then
          Delete(S, 1, 1);
        if S[Length(S)] = '''' then
          S := Copy(S, 1, Length(S) - 1);
         if WatchValue <> '' then
           WatchValue := WatchValue + ' ';
         WatchValue := WatchValue + S;
      end;
    finally
      TL.Free;
    end;
    // [etc]
  end;

  ClipBoard.AsText := WatchValue;
  Memo1.Lines.Add('>' +  WatchValue + '<');
end;

{ TIdeNotifier }

procedure TIdeNotifier.AfterCompile(Succeeded: Boolean);
begin

end;

procedure TIdeNotifier.BeforeCompile(const Project: IOTAProject;
  var Cancel: Boolean);
begin

end;

procedure TIdeNotifier.FileNotification(NotifyCode: TOTAFileNotification;
  const FileName: string; var Cancel: Boolean);
begin
  if NotifyCode = ofnProjectDesktopLoad then
    OTAMenuForm.SetUp
end;

initialization

finalization
  if Assigned(OTAMenuForm) then begin
    OTAMenuForm.Services.RemoveNotifier(OTAMenuForm.NotifierIndex);
    OTAMenuForm.Close;
    FreeAndNil(OTAMenuForm);
  end;
end.