support multiple natvis files in visualizerFile launch configuration

[peter-frentrup]

Hello,
I have a project with some DLLs and an EXE. The DLLs link their own *.natvis files, say "dllA.natvis" and "dllB.natvis". The *.exe also has an "exe.natvis" file.
Since VSCode does not recognize the embedded *.natvis resources from the DLLs/EXE, I manually specify "visualizerFile" in my launch configuration.
However, I can only specify one *.natvis file for "visualizerFile", so I have to create an ad-hoc "all.natvis" which is basically the union of "dllA.natvis", "dllB.natvis" and "exe.natvis". I also have to remember to change "all.natvis" whenever I update one of the other *.natvis files.

This is cumbersome, I would prefer to just put

"visualizerFile": [
  "${workspaceRoot}/dllA/dllA.natvis", 
  "${workspaceRoot}/dllB/dllB.natvis", 
  "${workspaceRoot}/exe/exe.natvis", 
]

Could you please provide such a feature?

Best regards,
Peter

[xbcnn]

Or support "visualizerFileDirectory" and load each natvis files under it.

[MontyBlenheim]

Any update on this? I'd also appreciate the feature

[stephanreiter]

So would I. Thanks!

Indeed. I have natvis files in folders where their associated code lives, using CMake under Windows I add any found natvis to the projects, so VS proper uses all of them. Would be great to just use any it finds in an opened folder.

[vsamy]

I also would be grateful for this feature :)

[DianaNites]

Any update? Hitting this as well, especially since the extension doesnt seem to look in the user directory(%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio 2017\Visualizers)

[dcourtois]

I would also love this kind of functionality !

[eternalphane]

currently the only workaround is to copy custom natvis files to GlobalVisualizersDirectory, which is ~/.vscode(-insiders)/extensions/ms-vscode.cpptools-x.y.z/debugAdapters/vsdbg/bin/Visualizers.

Ref:
https://github.com/microsoft/MIEngine/blob/7afd062458dc8533fbfb6b6bb9a15cdab5d1029e/src/DebugEngineHost.VSCode/HostConfigurationStore.cs#L45-L50

[Trass3r]

currently the only workaround is to copy custom natvis files to GlobalVisualizersDirectory, which is ~/.vscode(-insiders)/extensions/ms-vscode.cpptools-x.y.z/debugAdapters/vsdbg/bin/Visualizers.

Looking at the code, that won't work for other backends though.

[KindDragon]

Please allow adding a custom folder with visualizers. I want to use the same visualizers with Visual Studio 2019.

[Zylann]

Just started looking into natvis files and this issue is one of the first I have. I'm contributing a module to an existing project and I can't modify that project's natvis file to include my module's natvis stuff, so I have to work with two files, yet can't use both.

Edit: considered using EnTT in a project, found it provides multiple natvis files, which pretty much requires being able to register them.

[iboB]

As a workaround to this issue, I created this tool: https://github.com/iboB/natvis-join

I'll probably add some more features in the coming days (one that comes to mind is automatic generation of a cmake file, which creates a custom target for the combined natvis file, based on existing ones)