I have a separate Visual Studio solution with the DLL written in C. I use it in another solution; in a console C++ project. While debugging the console project I step into a DLL function.
However, the page is opened reporting that There is no source code available for the current location with call stack location MyConsole.exe!_tailMerge_MyLibrary_dll(). I use delay loading of the DLL file in the console project. As the no source code page is displayed, I inspect the output window and find symbols loaded of the DLL line. Why does Visual Studio 2012 fail to step into this DLL code?
I had the same problem and the following solved mine. I set "Debugger Type" to "Mixed" on the properties page of the main project. My main project is managed code while the .dll is native.
It happens, when dealing with external projects that Visual Studio asks you if you have the code. If you cancel the process, the requested file gets added to a list in the solution and it remembers NOT to ask for the file again.
Check your Solution Property Pages > Debug Source Files. First, make sure your file is NOT in Do not look for these source files: and then make sure you add the location of the sources in the Directories containing source code. This should help fix the problem.
Related
This may have a very simple solution, but being new to Visual Studio and C++ programming, I'm having a hard time with this.
I downloaded an SDK written in C++ which contains an executable file and also the source and header files. The executable file accepts some command line arguments. So far I've been running the executable file from the windows command prompt (like C:\path\filename.exe -argument), but now I want to be able to enter these command line arguments and then place breakpoints in the source code for debugging the source code.
I don't know how I can open the source files in Visual Studio and debug it. If I just open the source file with the main function, the debug button says 'Attach' on it instead of debug.
I see another similar question here, but that question is for a project developed using Visual Studio whereas the source code I have does not have any Visual Studio project/solution files. The only files I have are the executable, the source and header files (.cpp, .h, .hpp), and CMakeLists.txt files.
You can "open" the exe as a project (you can achieve the same if you drag and drop the exe into VS icon). Then you can add command line parameters at Project Properties. You will need to have debug symbol information (usually a .pdb file), if you want source code level debugging (values of variables, etc.). If you don't have that, you can only debug at the disassembly level.
You may want to create a proper project for the source files - it is an easy task, if the project is simple - so you can rebuild the exe.
I provided clients with a C++ class library that they use in one of their C++ project.
They want me to investigate when a specific assert happens in the library, and sent me their client code to debug it.
I reproduced the assert on my computer, and was prompted by Visual Studio to specify a directory containing the source code to the library, for debugging.
I selected my development directory, but noticed that when navigating the call stack in Visual Studio, it directed me to wrong places in the source code. I realized this was because the directory I notified contained newer source code for the library (not the source code that was used to build the library that was sent to the client).
Fortunately, I have the source code that was used to build the library that was sent to the client. Unfortunately, I do not know how to tell Visual Studio to use this source code directory instead of the one I erroneously specified before.
How can I change it?
Try changing the name of the directory...
This should force Visual Studio to ask again for a directory, since it will no longer be able to find the code...
Try editing the Debug Source Files page.
This property page specifies where the debugger will look for source files when debugging the solution.
To access the Debug Source Files property page, right-click on your Solution in Solution Explorer and select Properties from the shortcut menu. Expand the Common Properties folder, and click the Debug Source Files page.
Source
The project runs okay in the debug mode of Visual Studio, but when I tried to double-click the exe generated, it says some dll is missing. When I copied the missing dll beside the exe and double-click again, no error message dialog appeared but also nothing happened(the project has Qt-based GUI and reference some external png files).
How does Visual Studio run the exe ? How can I run the exe on my own ? Should I create a installer for the project to make it run on other computers?
you would need to either build statically or provide the required dll files.
the page at http://www.tapkaa.com/2013/05/what-dll-files-are-required-to-run-an-application-developed-with-visual-c/ tells how you can find the missing dll files.
When a process needs to load a DLL by name (without a full path to it), it will check several different places. One of those places may be the current working directory. (The details of the search path are complicated by history and security issues. You can learn the details by looking up LoadLibrary and SetDllDirectory on MSDN.)
In Visual Studio, if you look at the Properties page for the project, and click the Debugging tab, you'll see what directory is set as the working directory when you launch the program from Visual Studio. When you double click on an icon, I believe the working directory will be the directory of the executable file. If these are different, that could explain why you're able to find the DLL in one case but not in the other.
If you're calling LoadLibrary directly, the best thing to do is to always give the full path to the library. Typically, you GetModuleFileName to find out the full path for the executable, then replace the filename portion with the name of the DLL or a relative path from the executable to the DLL.
If you're failing to load an implicitly-linked DLL, then you probably need to make sure your DLL is in the same directory as the executable file.
I got a minidump from a server on which my native c++ app was running. I also have the exe and pdb files. I am able to open the minidump using Visual Studio 2005 Pro and it correctly loads the symbols from the pdb file.
I run the debugger (F5) and it shows me that it crashed. When I click on the stack trace to see where, it tells me that it can't find the source code "There is no source code available for the current location.".
How do I tell Visual Studio where the source code is?
My exe is an optimized release build that I build with a pdb file.
From this MSDN page:
In the Solution Property Pages, you can change the directories where the debugger looks for sources files and tell the debugger to ignore selected source files. See Debug Source Files, Common Properties, Solution Property Pages Dialog Box.
Make sure you supply VS with the sources that correspond to the binaries and PDB files.
Normally, VS should ask you where the sources are when first double-clicking a stack frame. I ran into a problem where VS would pop up the There is no source code available for the current location. dialog when clicking on some stack frames only, but display the source for others. This turned out to be because the /Zi flag was not set for some projects, causing the link back to the source files to be missing. This flag can be set in Project Propery Pages > C/C++ > General > Debug Information Format.
I have an *.exe project that was written in one solution under vs2005 and i have a DLL file
that the *.exe project is using.
the problem is that the dll was written in adiffrent solution and when i try to make attach
to the *.exe file (after i run it) from the dll solution in order to debug the dll , i get no symbols are loaded error (and i cant debug the dll) altough symbols were loaded (i can see the *.pdb files that created after i compiled the dll solution) .
What can I do?
First check the Output window, it will show whether or not it could find debugging symbols for the DLL when it got loaded. Next, switch to Debug + Windows + Modules, right-click your DLL and choose "Symbol load information". That shows where the debugger looked for .pdb files for the DLL. Ensure the .pdb is located in one of these paths.
If the problem is not getting source code for the DLL instead of missing .pdb files, first delete the hidden .suo file in the solution directory. The next time you debug into the DLL, Visual Studio will again prompt you to provide the path to the source code file. Don't press Escape, enter the path. Another thing you can do is right-click the solution in the Solution Explorer window, Properties, Common Properties, Debug Source Files. Add the path to the DLL source code directory.
If you have the visual studio project that generates the dll, compile it in debug configuration and launch debug. You'll be asked for an executable ; select the one you have (from your other solution) and you'll be able to debug the dll.
Now if you want to debug both at once, i believe your way is correct, as long as the dll that the exe uses is the exact one that you've just compiled in your other solution. That might be the problem you're encountering.