I have the following setup:
Development machine with VS2015 (can be 2017 if it makes a difference).
Embedded device that runs Windows service in .NET. Device has remote debugging service configured and enabled.
Right now to debug the solution I need to:
Build solution on dev machine.
Log in remotely to device and execute deploy script.
Attach debugger to remote process.
However this is quite a lot of manual steps for every code change. Ideally I would just press F5 and debugger would hit my breakpoints.
I can automate executing deploy script (eg. specify program to start as psexec with arguments), but how do I tell VS which debugger it should use, which host to use, which process?
As the configuration steps is needed while remote debugging, to use script to execute it, you can try the shortcut keys of the corresponding tabs of VS. For example, to open Attach to process window you could use Ctrl + Alt + P, for the process, you could find the Process ID in attach to process window which is same as the PID in Task Manger -> Details.
Related
Context :
I execute automated GUI tests on virtual machines (there are few of them) on running on windows and using UFT/Ranorex, executions are piloted by Jenkins.
Problem:
VM must have an active graphic session, otherwise, UFT won't run GUI tests (unable to launch browser) and Ranorex will run but poorly and without screenshots. i mean that in my tests, the VM is configured not to "sleep" or to have any screen saver, vm is connected with jenkins properly.
The behavior is : i launch via Jenkins the test, one the build done inthe vm, automation tools start running but then finds difficulties to open browser.
I would like to know if there is any workaround to run those tests without being needed to physically open VMware or Remote desktop Connection.
Notice that the VM is running all the time and the session is always open (we are using a server to host the VM).
So the problem is: how to simulate in windows active graphical session. I guess it's like simulating that there is actually a screen connected even though there isn't...
Any suggestions will be welcomed.
Had to go through this many times and you can find a lot of resources related to your issue in the Ranorex Forum. (My username there is Martin for reference).
But to go through the points you need to do quickly:
1) Have an RDP machine to connect to that is used to run your tests
2) You need to disable screen saver for that machine (I had to do it from registry)
3) Then disable the "On Resume, display logon screen" option under Personalize settings for the screen saver
4) And finally create a .bat script with the following content "%windir%\System32\tscon.exe RDP-Tcp#0 /dest:console"
So basically when you have everything set up (required only once) you will run the .bat script. This will close the RDP window BUT the session will be left open with the screen enabled.
Just connect the RDP with Jenkins and you have full functionality that you need to run your tests.
Regards
Martin
In the Tools ⇨ Options menu, select General ⇨ Run Sessions there you will find an option to Enable continued testing on locked/disconnected remote computers.
If this fails, see my other answer.
I had the same problem when I try to run an automate tests on virtual machine and I find this solution to generated a graphical session although you are not connected to the virtual machine. You need to created a task to opend a session on the virtual machine when you disconected or terminated the session , this created a graphical session but will not function when you are connected and you have the screen minimize. Here is the link for the solution and the explanation
http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/arnona/2016/01/03/keeping-an-active-desktop-session/
Every time I want to profile an application with Visual Studio I have to run vsperfclrenv /globalsampleon as recommended here and here (I have it normally switched off because I love the "edit and continue"-feature). The command prompt then states:
Enabling VSPerf Global Profiling. Allows to 'attaching' to managed services.
You need to restart the service to detect the new settings. This may require a reboot of your machine.
So far I haven't found a way to restart the service (as mentioned in the prompt) without rebooting my computer. Is there another way?
EDIT to add some information from the comments:
I am profiling an application that I start from Visual Studio
I use another instance of Visual Studio to profile the application via "attach profiler"
You do not need to run "vsperfclrenv /globalsampleon" and reboot if an application you profile can be launched from command line. In this case you can invoke "vsperfclrenv /sampleon" from command prompt and then launch you application from the same prompt. This will set proper environment for a process being profiled.
However, if your application cannot be launched from command line (e.g. you profile a managed service) then you need to invoke "vsperfclrenv /globalsampleon" and reboot to apply proper environment changes system-wide. A reboot is recommended because without it in some cases the environment changes are not successfully broadcasted system-wide.
You can find more information here and here.
UPD: Specifically, for your scenario please invoke "vsperfclrenv /sampleon" from VS developer prompt, start VS via invoking "devenv" from that prompt and use that VS instance to start an application. So, your application should have necessary environment set. Another VS instance which you use to attach can be run as usual.
I've tried to find an answer to this before posting this question. I've got a windows service running on another machine. I've written the service in C# and the directory from which the service executable runs holds both executable and debug files (.pdb). I'm attempting to remote debug the service for the first time using VS 2012 Remote debugging. I'm able to attach to the service process successfully. However, as this is my first time I'm not sure what I can do next. I've clicked the pause button and that pauses the service on the line ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun) which isnt much use to me. The service has a timer which sets off every 30 seconds and will run the code in the timer event.
My question is ... is there a way of stepping through the code using the debugger in such a scenario.
Do I need to have some debug specific code already in my codebase so that when a debugger attaches it will take me to a place in the code from where i can step through the code?
Thanks,
Andrew.
There are several ways to debug your developed remote application or windows service. If you were in your machine(local) that would be simple to debug.
System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch();
But as you are in different machine it depends how your both Machines are connected. Which means you have some limitations on debugging remote application/services.
A Quick search gave me the following result that seemed helpful to me for you,
You can use Remote Debugging Monitor that visual studio use for connecting to remote device and debugging. You can have a clear instruction here on How to: Run the Remote Debugging Monitor.
There's another tool which lets you debug remote application's after a proper setup. But it has some limitations or conditions that you must abide by.
Here is the tool named Remote Tool, you can find a detailed setup process from MSDN here on How to: Set Up Remote Debugging.
It has been clearly quoted there about the prerequisites for using this tool. But still I'm rephrasing those again for quick reviewers.
Prerequisites to use Remote Tool for Visual Studio
To debug on a remote device:
The remote device and the Visual Studio computer must be connected over a network or connected directly through an Ethernet cable. Debugging over the internet is not supported.
The remote device must be running the Remote Tools for Visual Studio 2012.
You must be an administrator to install the remote tools on the remote device. To communicate with the remote tools, you must have user access to the remote device.
Feel free to share if you get to a better and working solution.
Thanks for your response. It reminded me to post my solution here for others like me.
The solution is simple (It always is once you know it).
Ensure that you are running the same code on the target machine as you have open in Visual Studio. It has to be the same assembly and version else the debugger will not hit your breakpoints. Ensure you have your breakpoints setup where you want the debugger to break execution. Then attach to the target machine process and wait for the timer to kick in and run the process where you breakpoint is set.
Hope this helps.
Andrew.
Im working with VS2010 and TFS and the Coded UI tests (CUIT).
I created some CUIT and added them to several Test Cases in Microsoft Test Manager 2010.
These tests are executed in our build-deploy-test steps.
This looks as follows (simplified):
Build application
Deploy
2a. Set snapshot of the Virtual Machine to which the application will be deployed to the snapshot in which the application is not installed
2b. Install application
Run tests
Step 3 contains Coded UI tests, but they cannot be executed (will fail), since there is no active remote desktop connection, which they need to be executed.
Now I would like to add a build step 2c. That automatically connects to the Remote Desktop so that the Coded UI Tests kan be executed.
How should I create this step in the Process Template?
I attempted this myself by running a PowerShell script to connect to a machine via Remote Desktop (see here to see how to use the Remote Desktop command-line utility).
This didn't really work for me personally because I was running this script from the build machine - which I could only connect to via Remote Desktop - and so when I close Remote Desktop it would close the session on the build machine and thus I would not be able to obtain a remote desktop connection with my test environment (plus it wasn't ideal to have to launch Remote Desktop from the build machine).
Therefore, the solution I went with instead was to enable auto-logon on the test environment (there are various ways to do this, I can't remember how I did it, but it's easily Googled).
So in my PowerShell script, which launched from our build machine, I used a command to remotely restart the test environment. With auto-logon enabled, the test environment would start back up with an active session, then I could carry on with Visual Studio Coded UI testing. This worked for me without any issues.
The command I used was something like this:
Shutdown.exe /r \\mytestenvironment
Here is some documentation for it.. If you intend on using this command to remotely restart a computer, don't forget to give your machine permissions on the test environment, otherwise this command won't work.
I then launched a command to sleep for a few minutes, to give time for the remote test environment to start back up again (with an active session), then I launched the tests.
Personally, I used a PowerShell script but you could also use a DOS/Batch script if you are more familiar with that.
Also, are you trying to run the automated tests as part of a build process template?
Let me know if you need any further help.
I have a console app that I am trying to debug using remote debugger.
Clearly it seems you need to first run the application on the remote server, then attach to process.
My question is, whats the preferred method to catch the code at the start of execution, so it won't run away by the time you've managed to hookup the debugger.
Is there an industry standard best practice way to hook in and pause execution at a certain point till the debugger is attached?
There is a way to launch the remote app from Visual Studio.
Go to the Debug tab in project properties window.
Select Start external program and specify the exe path. (e.g. C:\MyTestApp\MyTestApp.exe)
Check Use remote machine and enter the name of the remote machine.
Detailed explanation here.
I couldn't think of a way to attach to a process in remote machine before the process starts. But , have you considered using Intellitrace to see the events and state of your program?
There is a way to attach a debugger to a Application automatically when the application launches. But I am not sure if it would work on remote debugging.
Similarly the System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch() would launch a process and start a Debugger attached to it. Again it doesn't support Remote launching and debugging.