Question

I have following code snipped:

...
var tpc = new ThirtPartyClass();

tpc.ExecuteCommand();
tpc.ExecuteCommand();
...

The ExecuteCommand() method returns a int value with some information.
For debugging, I want to know this return values. But I don’t want to assign the result to a variable (var result = tpc.ExecuteCommand()).

Is there in VisualStudio 2010 a possibility during debugging, to inspect this return value without assign it to a temporary variable?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

edit: Finally, this function has been added to VS2013

Answer 1

You can do that with IntelliTrace in VS2010, by switching to the “Calls View” then checking the Autos window:

But even without that, don’t worry about it; if you don’t use the variable (except by looking in the debugger when paused), then in a release build it will be removed and replaced with just a “pop” (which is what you get if you don’t catch the return value in the first place).

So:

static void Main()
{
    int i = SomeMethod();
}

Compiles as:

.method private hidebysig static void Main() cil managed
{
    .entrypoint
    .maxstack 8
    L_0000: call int32 Program::SomeMethod()
    L_0005: pop 
    L_0006: ret 
}

note no .locals and no stloc.

For Resharper, use:

// ReSharper disable UnusedVariable
    int i = SomeMethod();
// ReSharper restore UnusedVariable