Debugging in Visual Studio 2012 using ObjectARX 2016 on Windows 10

[christineweiss86]

Hello there,

I am currently working on an AutoCAD PlugIn using the following setup:

Windows 10

Visual Studio 2012 Update 4

AutoCAD 2016

ObjectARX 2016

Recently our operating system was changed from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Unfortunatelly I had to setup my work environment from scratch.

Using my previous project data I tried building it which worked fine.

But when it comes to debugging I get the following message:

and my breakpoints are not working.

I already set the symbol server in the options to "http://symbols.autodesk.com/symbols".

Before the OS change I had no problems debugging and using breakpoints.

What I also have tried is deleting all the .obj files and loading the symbols while debugging.

There it told me that no matching .pdb files could be found even for my .arx and .dbx files.

Does anyone have any tips for me how I could solve this problem?

[Alexander.Rivilis]

Try to check Use Native Compatibility Mode:

[tbrammer]

The message "no debugging information found for acad.exe" is not unusual. It appears, because acad.exe has no debugging information indeed. Just click    [x] Don't show this again    and it will be gone.

The interesting question is: Why are your breakpoints not working?

Does AutoCAD load your ARX? Do you see it in the Debugging->Windows->Modules list? If not you might have built the wrong 32/64 bit version. If Acad loads your ARX: Are you sure that it really loads the ARX that you built and not a identically named ARX from a different directory?

Sometimes it helps to delete the PDB and rebuild.

You don't need to set up the symbol server to debug your own application. This is only required, if you want to debug into AutoCAD code.

[christineweiss86]

Sorry I can't find this option. This is what I've got:

 

[christineweiss86]

Ok, I was not sure if I added the AutoCAD symbols in the past configuration since it was a long time ago. Maybe back then I clicked the Don't show this again.

To the other questions:

AutoCAD is loading the right ARX and DBX files since I am using command arguments with the OutDir variable and I did not change anything around the loading part since it did work under windows 7.

I see the ARX and DBX in the modules window and visual studio could not find any debugging symbols.

When I try and open them manually in the output path it is telling me that there is no matching .pdb file found.

 

I also tried using the .pdb files from the project output directory instead of the part project. These are the places where Visual Studio puts the .pdb files:

C:\Users\(..)\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\PlanPro-Dev\PlanPro\x64\Debug

C:\Users\(..)\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\PlanPro-Dev\PlanProDBX\x64\Debug

C:\Users\(..)\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\PlanPro-Dev\x64\Debug

I already tried deleting the .pdb files. 

Also I am building the x64 - Debug version.

[moogalm]

Hi,

Can you please try verify by loading symbol information from modules window.

See if it is loading the right debug symbol.

[tbrammer]

In your project settings you could try to change [Debugging->Debugger type]  from  "Auto" to "native".

[christineweiss86]

Visual Studio is looking at the right path but the PDB does not match:

C:\Users\(..)\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\PlanPro-Dev\x64\Debug\PlanPro.pdb: PDB does not match image.
C:\Users\(..)\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\PlanPro-Dev\x64\Debug\PlanPro.pdb: PDB does not match image.

How could that happen? I just rebuilt my project and the .pdb files do not match?

[christineweiss86]

I tried unfortunatelly it did not solve the issue.

[tbrammer]

I'm running out of ideas :(.  Have a look at this article:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18109575/symbol-file-not-loading-for-debugging-custom-project-in...

Maybe it helps.

[moogalm]

Hi,

Probably you might have checked this already, just in case.

Linker: Configuration Properties -> Linker -> Debugging -> Generate Program Database File

How could that happen? I just rebuilt my project and the .pdb files do not match?

Your project is still might be reusing the old debug symbol or referred somewhere, even rebuilding the project doesn't guarantee you a new copy of debug symbol (provided the source code is not altered).
One option is recheck your *.vcxproj in any text editor, see if Machine Type is set X64 is under Debug configuration (this one example, but there could be many other such gotchas), compiling old sample in new environment always comes with interesting challenges.

 Here is an excerpt from MS Knowledge Article.

"Surely if I build a component twice, consecutively, with no changes to source in-between, I certainly will end up with two identical copies of that component, right?"

Surprisingly, the answer to this question is: "no, that is not necessarily true".  The most obvious reason for this is the fact that an internal time-stamp will be different.  But even disregarding that, the answer is still the same, the actual layout of the code could be different.

The reason is that compiler writers are far more interested in generating correctly functioning code and generating it quickly than ensuring that whatever is generated is laid out identically on your hard drive.  Due to the numerous and varied methods and implementations for optimizing code, it is always possible that one build ended up with a little more time to do something extra or different than another build did.  Thus, the final result could be a different set of bits for what is the same functionality.

[lena.talkhina]

Hello @christineweiss86  !

Great to see you here on ObjectARX Forum.

Did you find a solution?
If yes, please click on the "Accept as Solution" button as then also other community users can easily find and benefit from the information.
If not please don't hesitate to give an update here in your topic so all members know what ́s the progression on your question is and what might be helpful to achieve what you ́re looking for. 🙂

[christineweiss86]

Sorry but another urgent topic popped up for me that I have to solve first.

I am still working on solving this problem and I am reporting back as soon as I have an update or hopefully the solution.

Thank you all for the support so far!

[lena.talkhina]

don't be sorry @christineweiss86 !

It's completely find to be busy with other tasks.

Let us know whenever you ready.

Thank you for coming back and update the thread.

[christineweiss86 · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

I finally managed to find the solution to my problem. In my case there was a sync tool that was operating on the documents path where my solution files are stored. Even though I told it not to sync this path it must have caused some conflicts for visual studio because as soon as I closed the sync tool the breakpoints work just fine.

Sometimes it is just that simple but you can search weeks ^^

Thanks again for the nice support.