I am looking for a method to monitor a running program that I have the source code. Basically, when the user runs it, I need to know what functions and parameter is called sequentially.
I can write a trace output code to all functions to achieve this. However, I am not allowed to modify the source code.
I found out that Tracepoint in Visual Studio 2005 allows me to do this - output log info without modifying the source. But I need to add them to all functions.
As I have thousands of files and functions, I need to find a way to programatically do this. I found out about DTE.Debugger.Breakpoints.Add that able to add a breakpoint. However, I couldnt find any way for tracepoint. Or where is the breakpoint info for a project stored? I couldnt find it in sln or vcproj. Or is there a way to convert breakpoint to tracepoint programatically? I see that I can change it manually by changing the "When Hit" property dialog.
Thanks!
You should cast your breakpoints to EnvDTE80.Breakpoint2. Then you'll be able to use
breakpoint.BreakWhenHit = false;
breakpoint.Macro = "YourMacro";
A .NET profiler will allow you to see which methods are executed and how long each takes without modifying the source code. It basically injects special code into the compiled assembly.
I think this is the solution... this macro adds a breakpoint the Main method of your program, and then turns all breakpoints into tracepoints.
Sub AddBreakpointToMain()
Dim bp As EnvDTE80.Breakpoint2
Dim bps As EnvDTE.Breakpoints
bps = DTE.Debugger.Breakpoints.Add("Main")
For Each bp In bps
bp.Tag = "SetByMacro"
bp.BreakWhenHit = False
bp.Message = "Hi, this is your tracepoint calling."
Next
End Sub
You could also look at Aspect Oriented coding. By my understanding this will change the compiled assembly controlled by attributes and is typically used to add tracing to all methods/properties.
How can I add a Trace() to every method call in C#?
First part of the solution:
DTE.ExecuteCommand("EditorContextMenus.CodeWindow.Breakpoint.InsertTracepoint")
It opens the TP window for the line where the cursor was. You will still have to hit Return to select OK, though. Enough for my needs--at least you don't have to right-click, etc.
Related
I have written a Fortran code for being compiled as a '*.DLL' file.
The program which reads that file is a Finite Elements Method software named Plaxis, I already achieved to generate the '*.DLL' file in Visual Studio and Plaxis recognizes my model but the model does not work fine.
I would like to evaluate all the variables involved in my code and the procedure that Plaxis is using to read them, but when I use commands like "write(*,*) 'variable'" Plaxis does not show me what I asked in the source code.
Probably you want to open a file and write to that for debug logging, because presumably Plaxis doesn't run with standard output connected to anything useful. Or maybe it would if you just ran Plaxis from a command line window?
It's not going to create a dialog box for you.
But anyway, another option would might be attach to Plaxis with a debugger, and set a breakpoint in a function in your DLL. Then you can single-step your code as called by Plaxis.
Or you can write your own test callers and write unit tests for your functions, making them easy to debug. This could work well if your function just gets an array + size as args.
If instead it passes some wrapped object that you need to call special functions to deal with, then maybe make another version of your function that does just take an array so you can call it from a simple test caller.
I'm using XCode to debug some code. Specifically, the code that I'm debugging exposes a float[][] as float**. I am unable to change this syntax, but I'm not certain it would help anyway.
After including a relevant breakpoint, I want to view the contents of the array in the Variables view of the debugger?
When I double-click on the variable in the list of Autos, I see that I can add a Summary Format which seems deceivingly like it might help, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to use it!
In conclusion, how do I use the Variables View to see the contents of my array of arrays of this primitive type without resorting to typing commands directly to GDB (which, I believe, can also perform this function)?
You know how you can click the yellow arrow on a breakpoint and drag it down to skip execution of lines of code? Well, is it possible to create a "When Hit" macro (or something similar) that skips execution of the line containing the breakpoint?
So instead of writing code like
if(!Debugging)
Response.Redirect("LoginFail.aspx");
I could sit a breakpoint on the Response.Redirect() line and "When Hit" will skip it.
I don't know of baked in way of doing this. You can however set the "When hit" options of a breakpoint to run a macro. It shouldn't be hard to write a macro that gets the current line, and then sets the next debugger line. You'll probably want to look at the Debugger.SetNextStatement method.
A macro like this should do it:
Public Sub SkipNextLine()
ActiveDocument().Selection.LineDown()
DTE.ExecuteCommand("Debug.SetNextStatement")
End Sub
Yes, you can do this directly using a tracepoint.
Find the address of the return statement or final closing curly brace at the bottom of the function by breaking on it once, and then looking at the EIP register either in the Registers window or add a Watch for "#eip".
Add a tracepoint to the line you want to jump from. Remember that the jump will occur before anything on the line is executed. The content of the tracepoint should be {#eip = address} using the address from step 1.
See also https://stackoverflow.com/a/14695736/301729
There's no way I know of to do this with a breakpoint but you can use compiler directives to skip code
#if (DEBUG)
//this code is skipped in debug mode
#endif
Try:
#if DEBUG
Response.Redirect("LoginFail.aspx");
#endif
Make sure you have the DEBUG constant checked in your build properties.
Agree with the use of compiler directives or any other requiring to add logic in code. However, also understand editing the debugged code is not always an option (e.g. not owning the code might imply not having all resources needed to build it).
If that's your case, I'm afraid that writing your own macro or waiting for VS to have one built-in equivalent are your only options.
I have a vb6 app that uses Word interop to create a few reports. In the introduction of these reports, there are some instructions in 4 textboxes around an image.
Recently and suddenly the top two textboxes started appearing on the next page, and I can't figure out why. When I step through the code and watch the word document getting built, everything positions itself correctly, however, if I compile the application, the error reappears.
Any suggestions?
Use late-bound calls to Word. This does not mean to remove reference to Microsoft Word Xxx Object Library, just alter your Dims like this
Dim oWord As Object '--- was Word.Application'
Dim oDoc As Object '--- was Word.Document'
...
oDoc.Protect wdAllowOnlyReading '--- keep using enums'
Could it be some 'rounding' difference? For instance if you compare two float point values for equality, the result can subtly depend on the specific compiler/interpreter implementation.
I would like to suggest to trim down your code to the minimum showing the different behaviors. That might clear things up already. If not, please post it here to let us help you.
Maybe you are running the compiled version as a different user than the one running VB when you debug? Maybe this could cause what you are describing, if the two users have some different Word settings.
Is it possible that the compiled version finds a different version of the .dot file?
It may be very helpful if you show the code you use to create the Word document, because then someone here might notice something that can be sensible to moving to a compiled version.
Do you have any code in events that rely on timing, such as Form_Activate, Load, or Unload? I've seen those things behave very differently when stepping through code and when compiled, especially on newer, faster machines.
I'm trying to simplify my debugging tasks and I had an idea which could increase my debugging speed.
Suppose I have a value, say 2.8651 that appear in the code at a moment I do not know.
I'm wondering if it was possible to create a super breakpoint which would stop at the first time one of the variable takes this value.
I recall that I do not know which variable takes the value.
I could know it by spending some time on the debugger but I'm lazy.
I'm not really familiar with VBA for VS. I guess, a solution would be to create a macro which would loop along local variable at each line of the code execution. It'd stop when the condition localVariable == 2.8651 is verified.
Thank you for your answers!
There's no such thing as a super breakpoint for a block of code. There are two options to achieve what you want:
Place a conditional breakpoint on each line with a variable assignment. Right-click the breakpoint and click Condition... to specify when it should break.
Place a single conditional breakpoint in the code block and check all the required variables in the condition.
As you suggested, you can place a single breakpoint with a macro, by right-clicking the breakpoint and select When Hit.... However, I highly doubt that it's possible to control the breakpoint from the macro, so this wouldn't work.