The Memory Window

The Memory Window allows users to display and edit the contents of memory. The Memory Window Preferences controls all of the display characteristics of the Memory Window.
 
  • Address Menu
  • Memory Display
  • Memory Window Preferences

    • Address Menu

    This pulldown menu contains the following three items.

    Auto Update
    When selected, causes the Memory Window to update the display every.  If it is not selected, the display will be frozen until it is selected or "Update Now" is selected.
    Update Now
    Forces the Memory Window to update the display immediately.
    Preferences
    Opens the Memory Window Preferences dialog.

    Memory Display

    Like the Register Window, the Memory Window display is organized into a spreadsheet. The address of any cell in the Display can be determined by appending the row and column headers for the cell. Optionally, an ASCII display of the memory appears at the right. Any non-ASCII-representable byte in memory will appear in the ASCII Display as a control character (a dot, ".", by default). The Memory Preferences Dialog may be used to alter the appearance of the Memory Window.

    To navigate the Memory Window, use the mouse and click the cell of interest. As an alternative, pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard will focus successive cells, from left to right, top to bottom. The focus will wrap from left to right, so hitting the right arrow key will keep advancing the address of the cell selected.

    Editing Memory

    To edit memory, simply enter the new value of the memory into the cell and press the enter key on the keyboard. As with the Register Window, be careful of the input format used to enter data -- the debugger is capable of parsing binary, octal, decimal, and hexadecimal values. All entries will be padded with leading zeroes, if necessary.  After you hit enter, the memory window will automatically shift focus to the next cell.

    To edit part of the value of a cell, you can use the mouse to poistion the cursor to the exact part of the value you want to change.  You can also use the backspace key to delete part of the value without deleting the whole value.

    Another way to edit memory is to edit the ASCII window.  To do this, select a cell using the mouse.  Then type in a new string.

    Memory Pop-up Menu

    Clicking the right mouse button while the mouse cursor lies within the bounds of any cell brings up the following menu:

    Auto Update
    When selected, the Memory Window will track changes in memory shown in the Display.  When not selected, the Memory Window is "frozen", representing a "snapshot" of memory.
    Update Now
     Forces the Memory Window to update the display immediately.
    Go To address
    The Memory Window Display is updated to show memory starting at address address.
    Open New Window at address
    A new Memory Window is opened, displaying memory at address address
    Preferences...
    Opens the Memory Window Preferences for editing the appearance of the Memory Window Display.

    Memory Window Preferences

    Memory Window Preference Dialog governs the appearance of the Memory Window: the total number of bytes displayed, the size of each cell, ASCII control character.

    Size of the Display Cells

    This attribute controls how many bytes appear in each cell. Valid cell sizes in the Memory Window may be:
    Byte
    Each cell is exactly one byte
    Half Word
    Cells are displayed with two bytes
    Word
    Each cell contains four bytes
    Double Word
    Cells contain eight bytes
    Float
    Each cell contains four bytes, displayed as a floating point number
    Double Float
    Cells are displayed as floating point, eight bytes each

    Format of the Display Cells

    The Format option of the Memory Preferences Dialog governs how the debugger represents the memory. Possible representations include:
    Binary
    The values are shown as binary numbers
    Signed Decimal
    The values are shown as signed decimal numbers
    Octal
    Each cell is represented as an octal number
    Unsigned Decimal
    Values are displayed as unsigned decimals
    Hex
    Memory is displayed as a hexadecimal number. This is the default.

    Size of the Memory Window

    The size of the memory window determines how much memory is actually presented to the user. The total number of bytes shown can either be determined by the size of the window, in which case resizing the Memory Window will cause more or less memory to be displayed, or fixed at some specified number of bytes. By default, the Memory Window shows 128 bytes of memory.

    Miscellaneous

    Miscellaneous memory preferences include the option to display the ASCII representation of the memory, including what character to use for non-ASCII bytes (the "control" character). Additionally, users may specify the number of bytes per row, either by typing a number into the box or by choosing one from the list. The default is sixteen bytes per row. If the entered value is not a multiple of the cell size then it will be automatically rounded up. The maximum permitted value is 150 (before rounding).