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[Feature Request] Detail Formatters for custom object display in Variables view #1655
Description
Activity
Hi Sougandh S (@SougandhS), I'm an AI Support assistant here to help with your issue. While the team reviews your request, I wanted to provide some possible tips and documentation that might help you in the meantime.
This is a feature request to add per-type detail formatters (like Eclipse’s “Detail Formatter” or IntelliJ’s “Type Renderers”) in VS Code’s Java debugger. There’s no built-in solution yet, but you can:
- Track and upvote the main request in issue Define custom "toString()" in variables view #236 “Define custom “toString()” in variables view”
Define custom "toString()" in variables view #236 - See related discussion in issue Show toString() values in hover tooltips #364 “Show toString() values in hover tooltips” (especially the comment on custom formatter expressions)
Show toString() values in hover tooltips #364 (comment)
Please add your scenarios or snippets to those threads to help prioritize this enhancement.
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- Track and upvote the main request in issue Define custom "toString()" in variables view #236 “Define custom “toString()” in variables view”
Hi wenyt (@wenytang-ms), WDYT ?
Sougandh S (@SougandhS) this is a duplicate of #236 , there were some discussion. Can you post your implementation suggestion there?
Reacted by Sougandh S
Eclipse JDT Debug lets you define a "Detail Formatter" per type — a small expression (e.g. getName() + ": " + getId()) that's evaluated against instances of that type and shown in the Variables view, Expressions view, and on hover. It's saved per type and applies automatically across debug sessions, without editing code. IntelliJ IDEA has the same capability under "Type Renderers", so this is a common expectation for anyone moving between Java IDEs.
VS Code doesn't have this today. #236 requests it and is still open; the only workaround suggested there is typing the expression manually in the Watch panel each time, which doesn't persist and has to be redone per object/session.
Benefits: saves repeated manual Watch-panel entries for the same type across sessions, makes deeply nested or verbose objects (entities, DTOs, wrapper types) readable at a glance in Variables/hover, and closes a well-known parity gap for developers coming from Eclipse or IntelliJ.
java-debug already uses Eclipse's
ASTEvaluationEngine(along withJDIThread/JDIStackFrame) for expression/watch evaluation, so the engine that evaluates an arbitrary snippet against a suspended object is already in place and can be further reused here. Eclipse's own formatter resolution logic in JavaDetailFormattersManager — can also be reused (some parts maybe), matching a formatter by walking up a type's superclass/interface hierarchy rather than requiring an exact type match, and caching the compiled expression per type per session instead of recompiling on every render.Related to eclipse-jdtls/eclipse.jdt.ls#3834