Raw Buffer Visualizer

Inspect C# machine-vision images and raw 2D buffers directly at a Visual Studio breakpoint. Raw Buffer Visualizer brings System.Drawing.Bitmap, OpenCvSharp/Emgu Mat, supported image collections, and managed or pointer-backed application buffers into one docked viewer—without adding debug-only image export or conversion code to your application.

Open an OpenCvSharp Mat from its code DataTip

Hover an initialized Mat or Bitmap in the code editor, then select the visualizer magnifying-glass icon in its DataTip. The installed extension opens the live object in the docked viewer; the example above opens a real 1280 x 720 BGR24 industrial-machine photograph from an OpenCvSharp Mat.

The same registered visualizer is available from Locals, Autos, and Watch:

Open a real industrial Bitmap from Locals

This second Break Mode example selects the Raw Buffer Visualizer entry for an initialized industrialBitmap in Locals and opens a recognizable 1280 x 960 color PCB photograph. Both demonstrations are real debugger-visualizer handoffs, not procedural test patterns or preloaded viewer images.

One Docked Image-Debugging Workflow

Install the extension and fully restart Visual Studio.
Open View > Other Windows > Raw Buffer Visualizer once.
Start debugging and stop after the image variables have been assigned.
Use the DataTip, Locals, Autos, or Watch visualizer icon for registered images and collections; let Auto Inspect on Break open initialized OpenCvSharp/Emgu Mats and compatible application wrappers; or use Scan Now on demand.
Select a thumbnail to inspect pixels, source bytes, dimensions, stride, format, diagnostics, and comparison views.

Raw Buffer Visualizer debugger workflow in Visual Studio

The six-second overview uses the installed extension and a real CC0 industrial photograph throughout. It moves from registered visualizer handoff to live color pixels, automatic inspection, diagnostics, an intentionally wrong color stride, the top Buffer Doctor correction, and the restored color frame. No state is held longer than 1.2 seconds.

Opening or closing Inspector, What's New, Environment, or an interpretation panel never starts a scan. Automatic inspection runs only when the debugger enters Break Mode with Auto Inspect on Break enabled; Scan Now remains the explicit manual refresh.

The same 1280 x 960 BGR24 frame is open through OpenCvSharp, Emgu CV, a pointer-backed owner, and a neutral frame wrapper. The docked viewer keeps the image list, live B/G/R values, raw bytes, 5 x 5 neighborhood statistics, dimensions, stride, format, and source state visible together.

Supported Image Sources

System.Drawing.Bitmap
OpenCvSharp Mat and Emgu CV Mat
RawBufferSnapshot and pointer-backed RawBufferView
Mapped byte[], ushort[], and float[] application buffers
Mapped pointer objects with debugger-visible dimensions, stride or exact length, and pixel-format information
Supported typed or mixed lists, dictionaries, and one-dimensional image arrays
.rbuf.json plus .raw snapshot files

Supported pixel formats include Mono8, Mono16, Mono10PackedLsb, Mono12PackedLsb, Binary, RGB24, BGR24, BGRA32, Float32, and four 8-bit Bayer phases.

Connect Your Buffer

When a compatible application object is not registered directly, Connect Your Buffer lets you assign debugger-visible members to buffer, width, height, stride or length, pixel format, valid bits, and byte order. Preview reads the current paused buffer only when selected. If the interpretation still looks wrong, Diagnose interpretation ranks bounded alternatives in the same dialog. Only Save Mapping persists an editable per-type mapping for later sessions.

Registered and mapped sources use the same checked validation rules. Invalid dimensions, undersized stride, short buffer length, unsupported format/order values, overflowing descriptor arithmetic, or incompatible valid bits fail visibly instead of being guessed.

Inspect, Compare, And Diagnose

Read X/Y, GV or RGB values, channel swatches, raw source bytes, hover statistics, markers, line profile, histogram, and diagnostics.
Use aspect-correct Fit, 1:1, wheel zoom, drag pan, and the high-zoom pixel overlay.
Compare A/B images with linked views, split, absolute difference, and blink modes.
Export the visible image as PNG or preserve the source as a raw snapshot.
Open very large payloads through the file-backed tiled viewer.
Use Diagnose Buffer to rank plausible interpretations for sheared, scrambled, dark, or incorrectly packed images.

The following fixture retains the original BGR24 color bytes but deliberately reports the wrong stride: 2448 x 2048, declared stride 7344, actual stride 7424 with 80 padding bytes per row.

Buffer Doctor ranks color BGR24 interpretations for incorrect stride metadata

Selecting the top BGR24, 2448 x 2048, stride 7424 interpretation restores row alignment and the original color scene immediately without another debugger round trip. Buffer Doctor changes the active interpretation metadata; it does not modify the paused application's source bytes.

Buffer Doctor restores the color BGR24 PCB image after applying the correct stride

What's New In 2.0.2

Restores Visual Studio 2022 17.9+ support for x64 Community, Professional, and Enterprise.
Retains stable Visual Studio 2026 18.x support through the same Marketplace extension identity.
Prevents long writable temporary-storage paths from blocking registered debugger images from reaching the docked viewer.
Adds Visual Studio-native toolbar icons, responsive command labels, clear empty-viewer guidance, and image-aware command states.
Includes supported exact OpenCvSharp/Emgu Mat lists and one-dimensional arrays automatically, without a separate collection option.
Makes Clear reset the complete viewer presentation while preserving whether Inspector is open or closed.

Visual Studio Support

Product	Supported range
Visual Studio 2022	`17.9` or newer, x64
Visual Studio 2026	Stable `18.x`, x64

Community, Professional, and Enterprise are supported installation targets. Visual Studio 2019, Visual Studio 2022 17.8 or earlier, 32-bit Visual Studio, and Preview/Insiders builds are not supported release targets.

The exact 2.0.2 package completed installed verification on Visual Studio 2022 17.14.37516.0 and Visual Studio 2026 18.8.12023.21. Its Visual Studio 2022 package is built and package-checked against the Visual Studio 17.9 SDK floor.

Safe Debugging Behavior

Stop after assignment; a breakpoint on the assignment statement can expose the previous or null value.
A pointer requires valid dimensions, stride or length, pixel format, and a lifetime that remains valid while the debuggee is paused.
After Continue or process exit, a live row keeps its last rendered pixels only as visual context and cannot read the old debuggee memory again.
Automatic discovery is limited to the selected stack frame's Locals and Arguments and keeps collection/member inspection bounded.
Ambiguous or unsupported layouts fail with a visible mapping or error result instead of silently guessing.

License And Support

Raw Buffer Visualizer is licensed under the MIT License. External libraries retain their own licenses; see Third-Party Notices.

Both industrial demonstration photographs are CC0. Their sources, authors, exact-file hashes, and capture validation are recorded in the industrial image test documentation. Incidental product marks in the photographs do not imply affiliation or endorsement.

Source code, documentation, and issue reporting are available in the Raw Buffer Visualizer repository.