eye candies in windbg gui

WINDBG
1

set of dumb questions again

  1. regarding workspaces

how do i create a default workspace that always opens up when i double click
windbg.exe

i have a screen shot of what default theme i want to open up here if you
wish to see

http://blufferisme.googlepages.com/home

i created a workspace and if i use commandline -wf it sure opens up like i
made it

in the helpfile it is said that if i use stop|debugging and then make any
changes

and then go to hkcu\microsoft\windbg\workspaces

i can export the registry key

like wise i exported the key but it ends up being just 2kb file

whereeas the sample reg files in the directory are above ~ 15/18 kb

and when importing the sample registry keys windbg opens the themes without
having
to use the commandline -wf

also what are those placeholders.c in the themes directory if i need to
create those place holders
for my default workspace theme how can i proceed i cant find anything in the
help file regarding those placeholders

  1. does the extension apis expose any of the windbg gui apis ?

i see in edit menu you have already added two options when i have some
selection under my cursor

viz ctrl+shift+x –> search (expands to ?? /s -a0
and ctrl+shift+y -> dt

can i add further commands somehow ?

for example i want to copy whats under selection and paste it in memory
window edit box
so that it behaves like follow in memory dump

see screen shot number 2 in the link
http://blufferisme.googlepages.com/home

i see it is advised not to use win32apis from extensions in helpfile

i can hack together a Standalone FindWindow() FindChildWindow()
GetWindowLong(GWL_ID); Sendmessage() getting selection under cursor via
richedit
and again SendMessage(edicontrol, WM_SETTEXT ,…); and it seems to
work

is there anyway that i could integrate this inside a helper extension ?

  1. what is the user added command window text ? in view ->options ->colors
    menu ?

can i somehow add a color scheme that would parse jmps and calls in the
disassembly window
and display them in colors i specify ?

  1. i also need to open a seperate dock window everytime i open windbg
    and have one more command window shifted to that new seperate dock

so if i have a big output like the one .reload /f outputs i can view it in
full screen mode without
having to remove the dock in main windbg and or scrolling

but it seems only multiple memory windows could be open at a time and
only one command window can be open at anytime

is there a workaround ?

well these are not mainline issues and they dont carry much of an importance
but any
advice answers would be helpful

thanks and regards

raj_r

2
  1. If you start windbg with no arguments you can modify the default
    workspace. You can then set it up however you want and save it.

If you have a separate workspace already you can load that workspace and
save it in the registry, then use regedit to move the registry data to
the default location, overwriting the default. That’s a bit messier but
it will work.

The size of a workspace varies widely depending on the full content,
such as symbol paths, source paths, number of windows open, etc.

Placeholder files are reserved slots in the docking system that serve as
tab-dock targets. They let you set up a spot to put files, such as
source files, before you have any source files open. They’re just
regular source files that you don’t close that have been set as tab-dock
targets. There isn’t any special documentation since they’re just
normal source files.

  1. There is no GUI extension API, nor are we likely to add one. The API
    surface required for a good, cooperative GUI experience is beyond the
    scope of what we can create and support.

  2. User-added command window text is text added to the command window
    via Edit.Add to Command Output.

You can’t create a custom source parser/colorer.

  1. I’m not sure if I fully understand your question, but you can open an
    arbitrary number of Command Browser windows, in which you can execute
    arbitrary debugger commands. For example, you could open one and do a
    .reload in it to keep the output of that .reload separate from the main
    command window. Note that you’ll probably want to turn off auto-refresh
    for such a window since you don’t want it to be reexecuted.

From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of raj_r
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 1:07 PM
To: Kernel Debugging Interest List
Subject: [windbg] eye candies in windbg gui

set of dumb questions again

  1. regarding workspaces

how do i create a default workspace that always opens up when i double
click windbg.exe

i have a screen shot of what default theme i want to open up here if you
wish to see

http://blufferisme.googlepages.com/home

i created a workspace and if i use commandline -wf it sure opens up like
i made it

in the helpfile it is said that if i use stop|debugging and then make
any changes

and then go to hkcu\microsoft\windbg\workspaces

i can export the registry key

like wise i exported the key but it ends up being just 2kb file

whereeas the sample reg files in the directory are above ~ 15/18 kb

and when importing the sample registry keys windbg opens the themes
without having
to use the commandline -wf

also what are those placeholders.c in the themes directory if i need to
create those place holders
for my default workspace theme how can i proceed i cant find anything in
the help file regarding those placeholders

  1. does the extension apis expose any of the windbg gui apis ?

i see in edit menu you have already added two options when i have some
selection under my cursor

viz ctrl+shift+x –> search (expands to ?? /s -a0
and ctrl+shift+y -> dt

can i add further commands somehow ?

for example i want to copy whats under selection and paste it in memory
window edit box
so that it behaves like follow in memory dump

see screen shot number 2 in the link
http://blufferisme.googlepages.com/home

i see it is advised not to use win32apis from extensions in helpfile

i can hack together a Standalone FindWindow() FindChildWindow()
GetWindowLong(GWL_ID); Sendmessage() getting selection under cursor via
richedit
and again SendMessage(edicontrol, WM_SETTEXT ,…); and it seems
to work

is there anyway that i could integrate this inside a helper extension ?

  1. what is the user added command window text ? in view ->options
    ->colors menu ?

can i somehow add a color scheme that would parse jmps and calls in the
disassembly window
and display them in colors i specify ?

  1. i also need to open a seperate dock window everytime i open windbg
    and have one more command window shifted to that new seperate dock

so if i have a big output like the one .reload /f outputs i can view it
in full screen mode without
having to remove the dock in main windbg and or scrolling

but it seems only multiple memory windows could be open at a time and
only one command window can be open at anytime

is there a workaround ?

well these are not mainline issues and they dont carry much of an
importance but any
advice answers would be helpful

thanks and regards

raj_r

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3

On 10/17/06, Drew Bliss wrote:

> 1. If you start windbg with no arguments you can modify the default
> workspace. You can then set it up however you want and save it.
>
> If you have a separate workspace already you can load that workspace and
> save it in the registry, then use regedit to move the registry data to the
> default location, overwriting the default. That’s a bit messier but it will
> work.
>

apparently i started with messier route and messed it more in process
it seems thanks saying yes the first time and no the second time for do you
want to save the workspace with no open executable solves the problem

> 2. There is no GUI extension API, nor are we likely to add one. The API
> surface required for a good, cooperative GUI experience is beyond the scope
> of what we can create and support.
>
>

ok thanks for clarification

4. I’m not sure if I fully understand your question, but you can open an
> arbitrary number of Command Browser windows, in which you can execute
> arbitrary debugger commands. For example, you could open one and do a
> .reload in it to keep the output of that .reload separate from the main
> command window. Note that you’ll probably want to turn off auto-refresh for
> such a window since you don’t want it to be reexecuted.
>

command browser (ctrl+n) i was trying to get the plain command ( alt+1) to
a new dock as well as have it in main windbg window

i just wanted to have a duplicate copy of whatever i do in a seperate dock
as well so that i could scroll up and down whenever i please in full screen
mode without having to remove this alt+1 window out of dock and
resize it to get a wide angle panoramic view but not possible i assume

thanks for the autorefresh tip that sure helps

4

OK, I think I understand your request about having the command window in
multiple places. No, there’s no way to have multiple command windows.
Having multiple command browser windows is the closest approximation.

From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of raj_r
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 9:49 AM
To: Kernel Debugging Interest List
Subject: Re: [windbg] eye candies in windbg gui

On 10/17/06, Drew Bliss wrote:

1. If you start windbg with no arguments you can modify the
default workspace. You can then set it up however you want and save it.

If you have a separate workspace already you can load that
workspace and save it in the registry, then use regedit to move the
registry data to the default location, overwriting the default. That’s
a bit messier but it will work.

apparently i started with messier route and messed it more in process
it seems thanks saying yes the first time and no the second time for do
you want to save the workspace with no open executable solves the
problem

2. There is no GUI extension API, nor are we likely to add one.
The API surface required for a good, cooperative GUI experience is
beyond the scope of what we can create and support.

ok thanks for clarification

4. I’m not sure if I fully understand your question, but you can
open an arbitrary number of Command Browser windows, in which you can
execute arbitrary debugger commands. For example, you could open one
and do a .reload in it to keep the output of that .reload separate from
the main command window. Note that you’ll probably want to turn off
auto-refresh for such a window since you don’t want it to be reexecuted.

command browser (ctrl+n) i was trying to get the plain command (
alt+1) to a new dock as well as have it in main windbg window

i just wanted to have a duplicate copy of whatever i do in a seperate
dock as well so that i could scroll up and down whenever i please in
full screen mode without having to remove this alt+1 window out of dock
and
resize it to get a wide angle panoramic view but not possible i assume

thanks for the autorefresh tip that sure helps

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