diff --git a/src/AddIns/Misc/Debugger/Debugger.AddIn/Project/Src/Service/WindowsDebugger.cs b/src/AddIns/Misc/Debugger/Debugger.AddIn/Project/Src/Service/WindowsDebugger.cs
index 31f29ff98e..5d2a530e29 100644
--- a/src/AddIns/Misc/Debugger/Debugger.AddIn/Project/Src/Service/WindowsDebugger.cs
+++ b/src/AddIns/Misc/Debugger/Debugger.AddIn/Project/Src/Service/WindowsDebugger.cs
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.SharpDevelop.Services
 		/// </summary>
 		public Value GetValueFromName(string variableName)
 		{
-			if (debuggedProcess == null || debuggedProcess.IsRunning || debuggedProcess.SelectedStackFrame == null) {
+			if (!CanEvaluate) {
 				return null;
 			} else {
 				return ExpressionEvaluator.Evaluate(variableName, SupportedLanguage.CSharp, debuggedProcess.SelectedStackFrame);
@@ -374,22 +374,29 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.SharpDevelop.Services
 			}
 		}
 		
+		bool CanEvaluate
+		{
+			get { 
+				return debuggedProcess != null && !debuggedProcess.IsRunning && debuggedProcess.SelectedStackFrame != null;
+			}
+		}
+		
 		/// <summary>
 		/// Gets the tooltip control that shows the value of given variable.
 		/// Return null if no tooltip is available.
 		/// </summary>
 		public object GetTooltipControl(string variableName)
 		{
-			ExpressionNode expressionNode;
+			if (!CanEvaluate) {
+				return null;
+			}
 			try {
-				Value val = GetValueFromName(variableName);
-				if (val == null) return null;
-				expressionNode = new ExpressionNode(ExpressionNode.GetImageForLocalVariable(), variableName, val.ExpressionTree);
+				var tooltipExpression = ExpressionEvaluator.ParseExpression(variableName, SupportedLanguage.CSharp);
+				ExpressionNode expressionNode = new ExpressionNode(ExpressionNode.GetImageForLocalVariable(), variableName, tooltipExpression);
+				return new DebuggerTooltipControl(expressionNode);
 			} catch (GetValueException) {
 				return null;
 			}
-			
-			return new DebuggerTooltipControl(expressionNode);
 		}
 		
 		public bool CanSetInstructionPointer(string filename, int line, int column)
diff --git a/src/AddIns/Misc/Debugger/Debugger.Core/Project/Src/Expressions/ExpressionEvaluator.cs b/src/AddIns/Misc/Debugger/Debugger.Core/Project/Src/Expressions/ExpressionEvaluator.cs
index 12b2eec024..81ded8fc84 100644
--- a/src/AddIns/Misc/Debugger/Debugger.Core/Project/Src/Expressions/ExpressionEvaluator.cs
+++ b/src/AddIns/Misc/Debugger/Debugger.Core/Project/Src/Expressions/ExpressionEvaluator.cs
@@ -54,6 +54,23 @@ namespace Debugger
 			return new ExpressionEvaluator(context).Evaluate(code, false);
 		}
 		
+		/// <summary>
+		/// Parses string representation of an expression (eg. "a.b[10] + 2") into NRefactory Expression tree.
+		/// </summary>
+		public static Expression ParseExpression(string code, SupportedLanguage language)
+		{
+			SnippetParser parser = new SnippetParser(language);
+			INode astRoot = parser.Parse(code);
+			if (parser.Errors.Count > 0) {
+				throw new GetValueException(parser.Errors.ErrorOutput);
+			}
+			Expression astExpression = astRoot as Expression;
+			if (astExpression == null) {
+				throw new GetValueException("Code must be expression");
+			}
+			return astExpression;
+		}
+		
 		public static string FormatValue(Value val)
 		{
 			if (val == null) {