Eclipse: Improve debugging and display variable values on mouseOver

Question

Is it possible to view variable values in Eclipse when debugging? Right now when I "mouse over" a variable all I get is the definition. e.g. for [int mLastView] I get [com.company.samples.MyClass.mLastView] instead of 1. The value that was assigned to it.

Also, is there anyway to improve debugging in Eclipse?

For starter: making the breakpoints visible as in VS (see below)?

Eclipse Break Point

Visual Studio Break Point

Answer 1

I posted this over at Stack Overflow and one of the suggestions was to go into Window -> Preferences -> Java -> Editor -> Hovers and select the Variable Values option and assign a modifier.

When I was first trying to resolve this issue, this was one of the options I looked at, but oddly enough, there was no Variable Values preference available, it was missing. Once my “fix” above was applied, it magically appeared:

Click to see the picture^{Broken Link}

Answer 2

Actually, since eclipse3.4, not only do you see the value of a variable when you pass the mouse over it, you can actually inspect it:

When debugging, hovers for variables have been enhanced to display an object inspector. The inspector will display logical structures according to the toggle setting in the visible Variables or Expressions view.