OutputDebugString + DebugView = not tabs!

Question

I am dumping \t delimited data using using OutputDebugString and then use ex-Sysinternals DebugView to capture it.

The problem is that all the data in DebugView appear to be space delimited, hence I need to perfrorm CTRL+H "\x20" "t" to replace spaces with the tabs before I can use it (I really need tab delimited data).

Is there anyway to tell DebugView not to replace tabs with spaces? Or maybe there is a better tool available to capture output of the OutputDebugString function?

Any ideas are very welcome!

Answer 1

Why not write them on a local log-file ? (only on debug mode ?)

Answer 2

You can use multiple spaces instead of a tab.

Answer 3

DebugOutput and DebugView are intended for situations as implied by their name: debug. They are not intended to replace file-save functionality.

You are probably in the situation where analyzing the debug output means analyzing the tab-delimited format. Find another character that can be used instead of tab, e.g. | or @ or ^. Then open the debug output in an advanced editor (e.g. UltraEdit) and convert the character back to Tab.

Answer 4

It seems this is a "feature" in DebugView. I have tried with Hoo Wintail and this dude collects tabs without any problem. So I see 3 solutions:

1. You get Hoo Wintail (highly recommended)
2. You write your on tool (look here for some idea how to do it or even get a complete one)
3. You redirect to file.

I strongly vote for option 1.