Visual C++ Build / Debugging Issue - c++

I'm having a weird problem with Visual Studio. Whenever I change my code and build, even though I get the notification that the built was successful (and if any, it also shows errors in code and doesn't build) the executable is actually the previous build. This is getting really annoying and frustrating.
If I put a breakpoint on the new lines, the breakpoint gets disabled and it says
The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No executable code is
associated with this line. Possible causes include: preprocessor
directive or compiler/linker optimization
If I put a breakpoint on old lines of code, it stops processing but shows me this message
The source is different from when the module was built. Would you like
the debugger to use it anyway?
I never had this problem before and the source code in on my laptop's hard drive. It saves right away. The only way to get around this to Clean the entire solution manually every time, instead of basically pressing F5.

Thanks everyone for their suggestions. My mistake was that I defined the classes inside .cpp files, this somehow caused the linker to do weird (caching probably) stuff and link the old objects. I renamed the file to .h and everything's working as expected.

Perhaps your code is not built, or is built in a way you don't expect.
You might check by inserting a #error foobar preprocessor directive somewhere. If no error shows when building, you know you are in trouble!
But I never used Visual Studio (I'm only using Linux) so I cannot help more.

It might be that you have set main project some other project and building that.
make your project that you want to work on as "Main Project " by set main project available in menu bar.

I think you are using source files from another project (ex: if you are using a dll say, my.dll (which was built using some source files say, mycpp.cpp ); in your current project).
When you debugged into the file (mycpp.cpp), maybe you modified it.
Hence you need to rebuild the dll (my.dll) first in the project in which you created my.dll .
Or
Maybe you have opened a instance of mycpp.cpp in a window & debugging in another window.
you should rebuild the dll.
If you are not using files from another project, then I cant guess the cause...but still I would recommend using rebuild rather than clean & build.
please clarify your Question a bit.
#David expecting a reply from you...

I was looking for an answer to this issue since I was also stuck with it. A colleague of mine just gave me a solution that works. Yes, it seems really stupid, but it did the trick for me.
Our solution has many projects. He told me to select the project that I wish to break into and set it as the startup project (right-click on the project name and pick "Set as startup project"). I was desperate, so I tried. To my amazement, it works.
Since I have this window opened, I thought I'd share it in case someone else is stuck with the problem.

I faced the same problem. But reason was not as yours.
Then I just restarted the visual studio and it ran as expected.

Related

Visual Studio warning about copies of files with different contents

When I go to debug my C++ project in Visual Studio, up pops a little warning dialogue box that tells me:
A copy of datum.h was found in
c:/users/brad/desktop/source/binary/datum.h, but the current
source code is different from the version built into
c:/users/brad/desktop/source/binary/datum.h.
I'm having trouble understanding what this is even trying to tell me, let alone how to fix it. At first I thought it might be complaining that I'd accidentally duplicated a file in the directory, which I checked, and found nothing of the sort, which leaves me pretty stumped. I also tried excluding the file from the solution and adding it again, which didn't fix the problem either.
The warning doesn't appear to actually hinder the development of my project, but I suppose warnings exist for a reason, so if anyone knows what's gone wrong, any advice would be greatly appreciated. To my knowledge, I didn't change anything to cause the message to appear, it just popped up one time I went to debug the solution and has kept on appearing ever since.
Also, more copies of the same warning have started popping up, pertaining to other header files in my solution (I haven't recieved any about .cpp files yet, but it could be a coincidence, because it's only been going on for about 20 minutes).
Try removing breakpoints from the file in question.
This worked for me when it occurred with Visual Studio 2013 for a header file in debug build.
Source: Release mode file sync issue - current source code different from the version built
Additional notes: Clean / Rebuild also works, but that is painful for regularly changing code. Enabling the break point after starting debugger merely delays the message.
I solved it:
Close the window of the .h file in Visual Studio if it's open.
Close Visual Studio.
CUT the .h file from its normal location and paste it into a temporary folder that VS doesn't know about.
Restart VS and compile. It'll complain about the missing .h file. Good -- Make the bastard beg for it!
Paste the .h file back into its original location.
Compile. VS will gratefully accept the missing file. (Damn I hate Microsoft!)
This occurs if you rename an implementation file (*.c, *.cpp, etc.) to a header file.
This is because the Item Type still remains as C/C++ Source File, making it get compiled as a separate translation unit rather than as an actual header, preventing Visual Studio from recognizing its inclusion as a header elsewhere.
It took me quite a while to figure this out.
To fix this:
Right-click your header file in Solution Explorer and select Properties.
Select All Configurations, All Platforms.
Under General, change Item Type to C/C++ Header.
Press OK.
Force-recompile any file that #includes your header (or just Rebuild the solution).
The problem is that the debugger thinks that the checksum of the source file is different from what the compiler calculated and put in there. The debugger will then refuse to apply breakpoints in the files that mis-match, to prevent you from seeing data it can't guarantee is correct.
I have had this keep happening even after a clean rebuild. This is with VS 2015. My guess is perhaps the debugger and the compiler disagree on how to hash newlines or something like that? The fix is to turn off "require source files to exactly match the original version" in Debug -> Options -> Debugging -> General
Could you by any chance be debugging another executable (not the one actually built?). This is a common issue in scenarios where Visual Studio builds the binaries in one directory but then they are copied over to some other directory for debugging. I'd suggest you compare the target path under the debugging settings and the output directory under the general settings in Visual Studio.
This would explain the issue, since you are actually debugging some older version of the binary (not the one built currently) and thus the warning, since Visual Studio can't find the version of the source files for that version of the binary.
The reason may be circular header dependencies. datum.h may includes another_header.h (directly or indirectly), which includes datum.h.
I see the real reason of this question is not answered. So for someone still looking, here it goes...
The most common reason of this problem is that the source files used to build the existing obj files are different than the existing ones. In other words the
particular project did not build after new modifications to source. The solution to this problem is to rebuild the project after modifying.
This happened to me in situation where I had modified my static library projects files and then without building that project I started my application project which was using this static library project.
this worked for me:
close VS
delete *.vcxproj.filters file
restart VS
problem should be gone.
this worked for me:
clean project
debug/delete all breakpoints :)
This worked for me (as of March 2019):
Click the 'Build' drop-down menu in the top left of your Visual Studio window
Select 'Rebuild Solution'
I've changed the file name and it works now.
Just encountered this. In my case, one of my .h files contained implementation (a class with static methods), which was #included by one of my .cpp files, but the Project Settings were also telling Visual Studio to compile the .h file.
I manually edited both the .vcxproj and .vcxproj.filters project files, moving the .h file from the <ClCompile> ItemGroup to the <ClInclude> ItemGroup.
This did the trick for me; I never saw the "A copy of...is different from..." pop-up again.(Note that this was after I had thoroughly failed in attempts to get <DependentUpon> to work.)
My solutiion:
Build -> Configuration manager
Switch to another configuration (any, example Releas or Debug)
Switch to previous configuration
It is possible to have multiple projects, each with their own entry point within a solution. Make sure that the correct project is being run.
The source code is different message can appear in a project A's source when you are running project B. In this case, the message can mean This breakpoint won't be hit because you're running a project that doesn't include it

Enable cross-project debugging in VS2010

I have a C/C++ solution comprised of several projects in VS2010. The start-up project is where main() locates and it will generate .exe file, while the others are core algorithms which will generate .dll files. When I debug the whole solution, sometimes it cannot go into the .dll projects but after rebuilding the whole solution, the problem can be temporarily solved; However after building one or more times, the problem returns.
Currently I have to rebuild the whole solution every time I modify the code, but it's so bothering. Is there any way that I can avoid such a problem?
It is happening only in the case when some project in your solution is changed or the .exe present in release or debug directory is different from the code. So, make sure like you are building each project successfully after modifying it.
And it is always good to debug in DEBUG mode to get exact result.
Everal things you could try: Make sure all projects which need to be rebuilt after a change indeed are. So make sure the project dependencies are set correctly and that the startup project is the exe project.
As second option, you could allow the debugger to show source even if it does not match the code exactly (look for something named "source files must match original exactly" or similar in Options->Debugging->General). Be aware that it might indeed happen that your changes are not reflected in the program if this is needed.

Why doesn't my visual studio build properly?

Okey, I am REALLY having problems with the Visual Studio 2012, and looked all over for a solution, with no result.
So the problem is this... Usually the play button, starts building and debugging in the end running the program. And each time a source file is updated, it should do that again. Well, for me it does not. Every time I write something new in a file, I need to REBUILD the program and then hit play, when before, just hitting the F5 button would do the trick.
The thing is, I have checked, all probable causes that were diagnosed over the internet, so no it's not related to the settings in visual studio, and no, it's not a timestamp issue.
The oddest thing though, is that sometimes, some of the files inside the project look excluded( they have a tiny red circle on them and I have to select and reinclude them). I do not understand why that happens, they were not implemented by me, they are just some "dependency" files on which other classes that I am ussing are built.
Furthermore, the problem of not updating the program. At the moment I have 2 classes. If I write code inside one of them, F5 will work properly and run with the expected modified result. On the other class though, nothing will happen. F5 will find no errors, but it will run without any modification, altough there was code added in one of the classes.
This is really driving me crazy, and I really need a conclusive answer. Why are the dependencies file being involuntarely excluded? Why does visual Build correctly changes from one file but not from another?
You made your visual studio to do it (i.e to launch code with errors).
By default when there is an error you get this popup:
Now if you tick the checkbox - VS will not bother asking you again;
even when errors occur - it will just execute last executable that it has.
To revert this change - go to: Tools > Options > Project & Solutions > Build & Run:
Change this setting to *Prompt to Launch and you are done.

Visual Studio No Symbols have been loaded for this document

I am having some trouble debugging a visual studio 2008 C++ project. When I start running it in debug, the breakpoints are disabled with the message
The Breakpoint will not be hit. No Symbols have been loaded for this
document.
I have tried cleaning and rebuilding, but this doesn't make a difference.
I also tried looking in Debug->Windows->Modules. If I right click on the module I am trying to debug and press Symbol load information it brings up a list of places it has tried to load the symbols from. The first in the list is correct and the file exists, but next to it is this error
C:\path\to\my\symbol\Debug\MyProject.pdb: Unknown symbol handler for
error
Does anyone know what causes this or how to fix it?
First of all, it is possible that some of your modules won't show in the module window, because some of them may be loaded dynamically (only as needed).
You might want to check in your project properties under Linker > Debugging > Generate Program Database File and Generate Debug Info. Be sure these two are set properly.
Also, check if C/C++ > General > Debug Information Format is set to Program Database for Edit And Continue (/ZI) or something similar.
I know you mentioned that your symbol file exists, but checking what I just mentioned will ensure you have the right version of your symbol in the right place.
Finally, check if all your project and files in your solution are set to compile as Debug and not Release or something else, because no symbols will be generated (hence none will be loaded) for this project / file.
Hope this helps a bit.
In my case, the problem was solved by checking "Use Managed Compatibility Mode" in Tools / Options / Debugging / General.
In case anyone has this problem when using 'Attach to process', the answer to this question solved it for me:
Visual Studio is not loading modules when attaching to process
Specifically, switching to 'Native code' in the 'Attach to' options instead of 'Auto'.
I have managed to solve this by copying my source sideways and checking out a completely clean copy. I assume it was some setting stored in the projects .suo file.
Go to the "Properties" for the website that would use that dll for debugging and then select "Native Code" in the "Debuggers" section below:
There could be a problem with the mspdbsrv.exe process. Try killing it and start debugger again.
For me the fix was in restarting the Visual Studio :) As simple as that. Nothing else helped - tried to Clean (even deleted all files in the Debug folder), checked settings, even killed the mspdbsrv.exe process, but only VS restart did the trick.
In the Modules window you can right click and add your Debug output folder to folders where your system looks for symbol files. Also, the thing that worked for me was deleting all the output files manually, Clean won't do it every time and that's why even though the .pdb file is generated, it doesn't correspond to your output files, thus not loading symbols from it.
Delete all files in the bin and obj folders. Then build the solution again. If your problem was like mine, it seemed like VS was loading an older version of a specific unknown file that rebuilding the solution/project would not replace. Make sure to make a copy of your solution/project before trying this. Good Luck!
Make a copy of your "Debug" folder within your project's folder, then delete every file in the original "Debug" folder. As additional measure if you had your visual studio already running with your project loaded, close it after deleting Debug's contain and reopen it before re-build the whole project, theoretically this action will create new copy of symbol files and the rest needed to debug your code.
I found out this problem occurred to me when I moved my files to other computer and try to compile and debug my code from there, although all folder and drive names were the same, some how the IDE was unable to use the previously created symbol files.
Hope this work around works for some one else !.
VS2015 C++
I ran into the same problem after cancelling the loading of symbols whilst attempting to debug my application in VS2015. After this, VS2015 refused to load the symbols for the project I was interested in (multiple sub projects in a solution with C# calling C++ DLLs). Solutions above did not work for me, but this did.
For Visual Studio 2015 (C++):
Right click on your project that your break point is in and select
properties Expand C/C++
Select General under C/C++
Change the Debug Information Format to any other option
Click Apply
Change the Debug Information Format back to its default "Program
Database for Edit And Continue (/ZI) (or whatever you prefer)
Click Apply
Now rebuild your project
Hope this helps.
Alan M
1) Right click on the project you want to debug.
2) Select [Properties]
3) Select the [Build] tab
4) Make sure [Define DEBUG constant] and [Define TRACE constant] are checked
5) Click the [Advanced] button at the bottom of the Build tabpage
Make sure that [Debug Info:] is set to [full]
6) Click [OK]
7) Rebuild the project
In my case, "use library dependency inputs" in "linker->general"should be set to yes, then the problem is solved.
None of the above helped me...
At the end I changed from Debug\X64 to Debug\win32, this helped, probably it's some configuration which isn't the same in both. Maybe this will help as a
workaround for someone...
Hope that could help anyone.
I'm debugging a WIA driver, and came across this similar problem.
I noticed this log :
DLL named C:\Windows\System32\WIA\wiadriverex.dll cannot be loaded (LoadLibraryEx returned 0x0000007E). Make sure the driver is installed correctly
Then I realized that it is due to DLL dependency. Then I copied required DLLs to System32, the problem is gone. Pay attention, copy to System32, or it won't work for me.
It helped in my case:
Debug -> Attach to process
Scroll down to w3wp.exe
Check "Show processes from all users
After refresh scroll again to w3wp.exe
Select new one with type x64, Managed (Native compilation)
Try disabling /GL option if it has been enabled in C/C++ / General / Optimization / Whole program optimization.
Initially, I had no issue with debugging my program but after tweaking here and there the issue that OP says began to arise.
The module and its symbols were loaded and nothing in this guide seemed to correspond to my problem. Turning /Zi to /Zl also didn't help.
I'm not sure why, but, it's sort of a compiler behavior I haven't been experienced before. FYI, /GL option is not a default in the C++ projects in VS2017.
In my case, the error was due to the fact that part of the code was connected as an external library. In order for debug process to work also when going into the code of the external library, it was necessary to add not only its headers, but also the implementation files - folder Source Files of Solution Explorer.
In my case it was debugger type.
I used remote windows debugger, changing it to local solved an issue.
Debugger options:

VS2010SP1: Project always out of date when debugging

I experienced this problem in VS2010 before, and solved it looking at this SO question. However, now that I upgraded my VS to SP1, it appeared again. I tried to solve it the same way, enabling C++ projects logging and using DebugView. But I can't get to see any output in DebugView, no matter what I do. I also tried raising the Build output verbosity (Tools->Options->Projects and Solutions->Build And Run), but couldn't find any clue.
As in the original problem, the projects reported as out of date are always unmanaged C++ projects. The solution has C#, VB.NET, C++/CLI and C++ projects. What I'm trying to run is a VB.NET exe which uses some C++ projects through C++/CLI wrappers.
Any hint on how to troubleshoot this?
UPDATE: Solved it with a clean checkout. However, it's a shame that there is no longer a way to troubleshoot this kind of errors...
Is it possible you were testing with the date in the future and saved a source file in the future? While clean/rebuild all should fix this, VS seems to go batty and stay there until I resave the file in the present.
Another last-ditch thing that sometimes solves these problems that works 'like a reboot' if you have just the source-code in version control: Check everything in, close VS and anything using files in your project, move all your project folders to a backup folder, and do a force-get latest version of each. Sometimes 'clean project' doesn't cut it.
If that doesn't work and you can't find a missing .h ... You can always fire up Process Monitor, set a filter, and dig in there.
Admittely all just stabs in the dark. Hope one hits the burgler! ;-)
After a compiler upgrade you should do a rebuild-all, if you haven't done that already.
For native C++ projects you can get "project out of date", but still nothing to build, if you have some include files in your project that doesn't actually exits. Like if you have deleted some unused .h files, but they are still part of the project.