Return value of a function in Visual studio

Question

HI,

I am very much new to using Visual studio.

I am trying to debug an application. where i came across a statement like below:

double tmp = 
myPart->bat_qty() * timeFactor / myPart->AUB() * myPart->UCost * myAIM->param->myAnalysisParams->wd_year;

in VS when put the cursor at

timeFactor
myPart->UCost
myAIM->param->myAnalysisParams->wd_year

it shows the corresponding values.But Not of the values returned by

myPart->bat_qty()
myPart->AUB()

what is the easiest way to find the values returned by those functions. Apologies if this appears to be a cliche kind of a query.But i am completely new to VS. I need a better way to find the values returned without editing the files for storing the values in some temporary variables.i mean i sould not edit the files.

Answer 1

In VS 2010 you can put the breakpoint at the function call site and activate the "Autos" Window (if the Autos window is not visible you can make it visible from Debug -> Windows -> Autos Ctrl + Alt + V, A). In the Autos Window after you step over the function call (F10) you will see something in the lines of:

Name Value Type

[Func] Returned [Return Value] [Return Type]

where [Return Value] and [Return Type] are the appropriate return value and type for your function named [Func].

I hope this helps.

This has the advantage that you do not have to edit the code. The disadvantage I see is that if the returned type is complex you cannot expand it and inspect its attributes like you can do if you assign the return value to an automatic variable. However for simple structs the return value is expanded to something like this: {var1=[val1], var2=[val2]...} where var1, var2 are the attributes of the struct.

As far as I know the Autos Window is there (and did the same thing) back in VS 6.0 so this applies to VS 2005 too I guess (someone asked about VS 2005 too).