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Two files have been prepared for more convenient display of simstr objects in msvc and gdb debuggers: simstr.natvis - for use in the MSVC debugger, and simstr_pretty_print.py for working with gdb.

If you are working in MS Visual Studio, simstr.natvis is automatically added to the pdb file, and provides convenient viewing of simstr string objects wherever this library is used.

In the debugger configuration, you need to add the following lines:

    "setupCommands": [
        {
            "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
            "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
            "ignoreFailures": true
        },
        {
            "description": "Enable pretty-printing for simstr",
            "text": "source ${workspaceFolder}/for_debug/simstr_pretty_print.py",
            "ignoreFailures": true
        }
    ]

After that, simstr objects will be conveniently displayed in the debugger. The script inspects variables of these types and provides a textual description for them, displaying their content in a convenient form. The first line displays the basic information visible in the variable inspection window. When you hover the mouse over a variable in the source code window or over a value in the variable inspection window, the remaining information will be shown in the pop-up tooltip.

Debugger configurations are located in the .vscode/launch.json file. You may also have the CMake Tools extension installed, which allows you to select the target project to run. In this case, the settings for connecting the script are written in .vscode/settings.json:

    "cmake.debugConfig": {
        "MIMode": "gdb",
        "environment": [],
        "setupCommands": [
            {
                "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
                "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
                "ignoreFailures": true
            },
            {
                "text": "source ${workspaceFolder}/for_debug/simstr_pretty_print.py",
                "description": "pretty print simstr",
                "ignoreFailures": true
            }
        ]
    }

If you are working with the MSVC debugger in Visual Studio Code, that is, in launch.json "type": "cppvsdbg", then the setting is different:

    "configurations": [
        {
            .....
            "type": "cppvsdbg",
            ....
            "visualizerFile": "${workspaceFolder}/for_debug/simstr.natvis"
        },
        ...