Debugging LINQ Query in Visual Studio 2010 with LINQPad

I found out that we can use LINQPad (LINQPad Visualizer) to debug LINQ queries in Visual Studio 2010. To be able to do this we need to:
- install LINQPad

- download LINQPad Visualizer

- copy these files from LINQPad folder (eg. Program Files (x86)\LINQPad4): LINQPad.exe and LINQPad.exe.config
and from the downloaded LINQPad Visualizer folder: linqpadvisualizer.dll, Newtonsoft.Json.dll and Newtonsoft.Json.xml
to Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Visualizers (create the folder if not exists)

- copy LINQPad.exe and LINQPad.exe.config to the same folder as devenv.exe (eg. C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE)

- restart Visual Studio

Then we can put a breakpoint on a LINQ query and start debugging. When we want to inspect a variable, put this on the Name column on Watch window

new System.WeakReference([variable_to_inspect])

then click the magnifier glass icon on the Value column, the visualizer should appear.


Further reading:
https://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-framework/linq-secrets-revealed-chaining-and-debugging/