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Once upon a time, I could hover over any variable while debugging and stopped at a break-point, and would be able to get that variable's properties and values. I recently discovered this functionality is called a DataTip.

About a month ago, I lost this ability. Now, when I hover over a variable, nothing happens. I never knew how much I loved this feature until I lost it.

Can anyone tell me how I can re-enable DataTips?

I've been through the Debug menus but nothing jumps out at me and yells "HERE. This is what you are looking for!" The internets haven't been fruitful either.

As a side note, the only change that I can remember that occurred around the time that I lost DataTips was connecting to our newly set up TFS for the first time. I don't see how this would affect the DataTips, but stranger things have happened.

Yetti
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  • What language? Debug or Release? Does right click + Quick watch work? – Henrik Sep 20 '11 at 14:45
  • @Henrik At the moment ASP.NET, but I observe the same behavior in straight C#. The build is Debug. Yes, right click + Quick watch does work and that is what I am using in place of the DataTip at the moment. – Yetti Sep 20 '11 at 14:48
  • I have the same problem but I never installed Debugger Canvas. I've checked and I couldn't have installed it as I have Visual Studio 2010 Pro only. – Fabian Nicollier Aug 21 '12 at 09:54

2 Answers2

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I figured it out! Turns out there was one other change I had recently made to VS that was responsible.

Not long ago, co-worker had sent me a link about Debugger Canvas. I thought it looked pretty cool so I gave it a shot. After a while I decided it was not for me but left it sitting around in case I found I had a use for it. Naturally, I completely forgot I had it installed to VS.

Long story short, I stumbled onto a forum post titled Debugger Canvas broke my Data Tips. Thinking, "why not?", I uninstalled Debugger Canvas via Tools > Extension Manager and viola! My DataTips are back.

This isn't quite a fix if you are actively using Debugger Canvas (until they, themselves fix the issue), but it is certainly a fix for me.

Yetti
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After much searching I discovered why I was having an issue with data tips not showing. To my knowledge no one has yet mentioned it in all the blogs I scoured. It wasn't the VS SP1, Debugger Canvas or any other software installation. As I was about to start systematically uninstalling a bunch of stuff, I realized that my current mouse problems might be contributing to this. I had a wireless mouse that was acting up. It wouldn't scroll, or activate within a window or allow me to click on the task bar among other things. So, I spent $20 bucks an bought a wired Microsoft mouse, the cheapest they had. Well, wouldn't you know my data tips appeared. Keep in mind I uninstalled/reinstalled my mouse driver already.

Dave
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  • I dont think this is his problem. – Austin Henley Sep 24 '12 at 04:47
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    Solved it for me. Buggy mouse also caused Chrome to think left/right clicks on tabs were middle clicks. Somehow didn't open links on new tabs, though. Solution was just a restart. – Warty Feb 17 '15 at 00:15