This is happening to me very often. When I am working in Visual Studio 2010 and say I make a code change, then build... Both my existing breakpoints become disabled / and or cannot be set and I also cannot set new breakpoints. Does anyone have a solution for this? It is very annoying. So far the only way I have been able to get around this is to restart Visual Studio which can take 5 to 8 minutes to reindex everything or to try rebuilding individual projects in my solution. My solution consists of several DLLs which make up the entire program.
Check that you have the dependencies set correctly in your projects. I know my breakpoints will become disabled if the code is "out of date". If you don't have the dependencies set up right, then when the updated code is rebuilt it will not rebuild all of the related code which will then leave those modules "out of date".
Since this is VS 2010, the dependencies are on the project not on the solution (you can add solution dependencies, but project dependencies will carry over into a new solution so it is the better way to go when possible).
This issue is caused when you having your Configuration Manager settings set to Release rather than Debug.
In Visual Studios select Build from the menu, then Configuration Manager.
In the next dialog select your project, then locate the drop down menu near the top left corner titled "Active solution configuration:" Make sure it is set to Debug.
That should fix the problem.
As it turns out the post.build file contained numerous conditions for whether or not it should copy several DLLs to a target directory... Since I didn't have time to pick through the xml for these actions I just used a bash script to copy the files after building. No need to get complicated... Otherwise, the formal solution involves setting conditions for allowing the DLLs to be overwritten/copied after compile or not.
I find the Visual Studio post.build file concept a little excessive since in the end it will make little difference whether a dll is overwritten with a freshly compiled version, yet, if you make code changes, compile, and it doesn't copy to the target directory you end up running your app with an out of date DLL and you are not testing with the recent code change..! Others have even implemented the post.build file complete with xml and goto statements...! Leave it to Microsoft to complicate the build & debug process...
Alternatively, if your code is under version control start afresh by checking out the head revision, do another clean and rebuild and start debugging again.
This for whatever reason enabled me to insert breakpoints in my VS 2010 C# project once again, whereas no amount of fannying around with properties, configurations etc got rid of my phantom breakpoint problem.
The best solution I found for this was to quit my Windows job and get another job as a Mac Developer where we use Xcode.! What a huge difference.! I sure haven't seen that breakpoints problem again.!
Related
Hello there, Stackoverflow.
Recently, when I've been programming in Visual Studio 2010, I've been getting the problem with VS locking the bin/Debug/(ProjectName).exe file when trying to build and gives me the error below after trying to build the project 10 times:
Unable to copy file "obj\x86\Debug\TileEngine.exe" to "bin\x86\Debug\TileEngine.exe". The process cannot access the file 'bin\x86\Debug\TileEngine.exe' becuase it is being used by another process.
The problem appears when I edit the source and then try to Debug.
I've checked using different programs, and the only program using the file is Visual Studio.
If I wait for about 10 minutes before trying to build, it seems to work properly, but when trying different things, it isn't good needing to wait 10 minutes before trying something.
I've tried different solutions both on this site as well as everywhere I can find on Google.
Some solutions I've found, but haven't worked for me
Solution 1 - Using a pre-build script
In some different questions here on Stackoverflow, I've found one solution being that you go into Project Properties > Build Events and then in the Pre-build event command line add:
if exist "$(TargetPath).locked" del "$(TargetPath).locked"
if not exist "$(TargetPath).locked" move "$(TargetPath)" "$(TargetPath).locked"
This made it possible for me to build the project one more time than I usually could, but when editing the code again, and then building, the same error appeared.
Note: Trying to build a release instead of a debug build seems to break the pre-build script and it exits with the code '1', which seems to make VS unable to build properly. Removing the pre-build script makes it work like "normal" again, still with the same error though.
Solution 2 - Running Visual Studio as Administrator
This is another solution I've found, but havent worked either for me, so I assume that Visual Studio already have all the permissions required and running as Administrator doesn't actually make any difference.
Solution 3 - Changing the AssemblyVersion
In this question, Visual Studio build fails: unable to copy exe-file from obj\debug to bin\debug, I found another solution that included changing the AssemblyVersion, in the Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs file, to "2.0.0.0".
This, however, haven't made any difference whatsoever for me.
Solution 4 - Closing UserControl designers before building
According to some different answers here and there on the Internet, Visual Studio apparently uses the built project executable to render the UserControl designer(?). In my case, this is probably not it, though, since I use XNA mostly and it doesn't use the UserControl designer.
Solution 5 - Cleaning up resources when application quits
This might be a solution that I have failed to implement properly. I'm just thinking though, that if this is the solution, how come I haven't been required to do it before. I assume XNA unloads everything that gets loaded through the Content pipeline, therefore this solution wouldn't' make any real sense.
If there is anyone that is able to spread some light on this issue, it would be really awesome, as it is stopping me from programming anything really, because I don't like waiting for 10 minutes because I've made a 2 second change all the time.
I've run into this problem a few times myself.
Mine might not be from the same cause as yours, but I'll tell you what went wrong with me and how I fixed it, hopefully it'll be helpful to you.
Basically, my program never fully exited properly, even when it appeared to. It would continue to run, and thus continue to lock down the file.
A quick dirty fix I used initially (and a way to prove if this is the case) is:
Open Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del)
Click Processes tab
Look for your program's name (TileEngine.exe)
Note: There will probably be name_vshost.exe (TileEngine_vshost.exe) That's a VisualStudio thing, ignore that, it's not relevant.
If you find it, it means your program hasn't actual exited fully.
If it's there, click on it and press "End Process"
So if it's there, then for some reason, your program didn't shut down, like mine did.
Often, this is from a thread being launched and forgotten, or an Async task that never completes, or something like that.
Make sure in your OnExiting(..) void function that you kill all running threads.
If your program is still running despite best attempts to close all threads and other blockers, you can use the very dirty bad method:
In OnExiting(...) run the code "System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().Kill();" - this will taskmanager-style forceshutdown the current process... this is only as an emergency I-can't-make-it-work-any-other-way method.
I think I found the solution myself.
In the Project Properties, "Enable the Visual Studio hosting process" wasn't checked. Checking it seems to have fixed the problems, at least for now.
Got reminded of it from mcmonkey4eva's post. So thanks for that =)
And thanks for the other replied I've got. Stackoverflow is awesome!
Have you checked if any files are being blocked by your firewall? When I switched to the full version of Avast I find I have to disable the File System Shield It loves to remove my executable files when I try to run my visual studio projects.
I had problems when upgrading to VS2012 Professional. (SDK, .Net, Visual C++ Redistributable package)
ENSURE ALL OF THESE ARE COMPATIBLE WITH THE CURRENT VERSION OF VS YOU ARE USING
What I did, was I ended up uninstalling EVERYTHING that was associated with both Visual Studio downloads. If you are able to remove and save your project files elsewhere and then bring them back. Go through all your program files to see if there is anything hidden in the wrong folder and check your C drive.
Which meant downloading and reinstalling (fresh):
I think if you clean out your program files, it should be ok. I wouldn't recommend going into your register unless you are very sure of what you are doing. IF you have already made changes to the register then we'll have a look at that and other options (if this doesn't solve your problem).
Try removing the readonly check from your solution by unchecking at the folder level.
I ran into this problem and in my case was due to having bin included in the solution; as soon as I excluded the bin folder from my solution the problem went away.
Nothing helped, not prebuild commands, neither designers closing, but I figured out a way that helped me, just changing from debug to release and vice-versa releases locked files and you can delete them without closing the IDE.
I regularly get this problem if I switch from Debug to Release and then immediately F5 to compile. Crazy as it sounds, waiting for, say, one minute after switching between modes will prevent this.
If it's locked, the only solution is to close Visual Studio and re-open.
I solved this problem organizing my resources on solution. I noticed this error when I put some images on my application at the same solution folder.
So,
I'd removed all images and resources from app, save without it.
Moved the images to outside Solution folder.
Open the solution and add this images again, using "Import" button at controls.
If you will try this, remember to do with Application Icon, on Project Settings.
Now, everything is working fine for me.
I hope it helps.
You need to disable Windows Indexer as it locks up the file
Follow this Guide how to disable
In my case the problem seem to be caused by the remote debugger. It starts on local machine when you compile with "x64" option. Try to change the project setting (properties/buid) until you reach the final version.
Change Build Platform target from x86 to Any CPU.
I can't seem to be able to debug. When I try to, I don't get any build errors, and the layout changes to debug mode, but the windows never pops up. I have an orange bar at the bottom of VS, which I think is standard, but nothing happens after that. It's not just in the project I'm working on. I have started a new WFA and tried to debug without adding any code and the same thing happens. Anybody have similar issues?
I've encountered this before. Not sure what causes it, but generally it is one of a couple of things to fix it.
make sure you are building in debug and not release
close VS, go to the project's dir and delete the obj and bin directories. Reopen in VS and rebuild.
there is an option under tools - options - build (iirc) that allows for checking if source is same as code file. However, you should see a message in output window if this is the case.
on the project properties in the build (iirc) you can throttle the pdb file from full debug symbols to no pdb at all. If you are not the only person on the project check this setting still has full pdb enabled (low probability this got changed though)
make sure you're on the right platform that you are building to (x64 vs x32)
...lots more, but a starting place...
Addendum as per comment...
So, those messages are good. It is saying there are no problems (but it sounds like you already know that :) ). I would start with the general debug options you mention. Do this on a hello world app. That way you can troubleshoot the lowest common first. Here are my settings. Try to match them and see if that works. For example, I know "ask before deleting breakpoint" is irrelevant, but "break all processes when one process breaks" is important. So, I just added them all to make it easier to troubleshoot.
ALso, make sure you are getting a red dot here like so in your code in visual studio (I've seen instances where VS won't let you put this here):
Right click on the project
Click on the properties.
go to web.
Check the Box for Enable Edit and Continue .
Hope that helps :)
This is an issue with visual studio 2012. It doesn't ALWAYS show up. I've found that if you stop your program during debugging, or if you close the console window, this will almost always trigger.
However, letting it run to completion isn't enough either, sometimes this just happens.
Also you can build your application in debug mode, go to the output, run the program, and attach to that process. :P
Amazing answers already given but they dont help in the purpose. So here is my finding, no matter if i am late in answering, but it really works for me.
Even if you are developing a web app, just go to the website properties by right-clicking the project and then you see a "Web" tab on left as i have highlighted. Then just check the box saying "Enable Edit and Continue". Thats all you need to do. it works for me!
I had a similar problem, and solution was absolutely dumb. VS was confused with two instances of Internet Explorer in “Browse with” setting. So, I set Google Chrome (any browser) as default, and then set IE as default again. It deleted the other instance of IE (only one remained) and debugging was enabled.
Hope it help!
I had a similar issue.
I added up:
using namespace std;
and this solved the problem
For me, uninstalling the Redgate's Reflector plugin that had expired fixed it. I spent more than 4 hours uninstalling, rebooting, reverting to older code, etc etc..
When my default browser was changed to CHROME, I could no longer debug my User Interface. Setting IE back to the default browser fixed it. Alternatively you can attach the process plug-in during debug.
I had the same problem with my desktop application and as this forum says you should mark your project as a startup project, since visual studio has unmarked. It worked just fine for me an I believe it will help other people that may have this problem, since I believe you have finished this project.
One of my VB .NET Winforms projects wouldn't allow debugging.
This was due to the configuration manager set to 'Release' even though the toolbar dropdown indicated 'Debug'.
You need to select the mode dropdown and select the last option 'Configuration Manager' and ensure that the main project is set to 'Debug' and not 'Release'
Install Microsoft SSDTSetup.exe 450Kb and Close the SSDT tool during install. After installation open the SSDT tool and execute the script task and Component with breakpoint. Worked for me
try checking your output without debugging
Ctrl + F5
good luck
i recently installed VS 12 Service Pack 1.
Since then, i noticed Visual Studio doesn't compile my project on start if changes were made.
Normally if you start (debugging) a project which has some changes, it recompiles it and starts then. But now, i always get debugging errors like "this breakpoint can´t be reached, because the source code is unequal to the runtime code" or whatever.
It´s annoying to recompile it manually always before starting - I always forget that :-/
Is there any option to fix this?
Can you check if the build on run option is set?
You will find it under Tools->Options->Project and Solutions->Build and Run.
I dont have a good answer as to why this would have been flipped just via installing the update1.
I think that you should enter the Solution's Property Pages (by right clicking the solution in the Solution Explorer pane) and setting the 'build' check-box of the relevant project.
This has been driving me crazy and cutting down on my productivity all day. At one point for debugging I dragged an external file from another project into my current solution (Visual Studio 2010) so I could debug it as the class defined in it was being used by the solution I'm working on.
That was all well and good and after I was done I removed it from the solution and everything was normal. At some point however Visual Studio has decided that every single time I run my solution it will bring the external file back in as well as replacing the breakpoints that I used way back when for debugging. No matter how many times I remove the breakpoints and remove the external file from my solution this continues to happen every time I run.
I'm guessing there is some kind of file or setting saved somewhere that's telling VS to do this? Could anyone help me figure things out so I don't have to deal with breakpoints in a file I don't currently care about every time I need to run my application?
After stopping the debugger. Delete that break point manually either by opening that file or from the list of break points. Yes, visual studio stores this as part of the pdb file. Deleting that file is also an option if you don't mind losing all the debug information.
At seemingly random times, whenever I load up VC# Express for the day and start working, any changes I make to my code don't get reflected in my debug runs. It's as if VC just refuses to compile the code and just runs the old already-compiled version. Deleting the "bin" folder in the project directory doesn't help, as then VC just complains that it can't find the *.exe instead of recompiling. Doing a rebuild helps, but only for that one rebuild, so I'm continuously having to rebuild the solution to see any changes, which is really slow.
The only way I've found to get rid of this problem (for maybe a week or two) is to create a new project and manually copy over my code. Needless to say, this is really frustrating and tedious. Is this a documented issue? What can be done to fix it? Searching online doesn't really turn up any answers, as the search terms most applicable to the problem bring up a lot of noise results.
You might see if the project you are working on is set to Build when the solution builds. To check this, right-click your Solution and go to Properties. Click the Configuration Properties node on the left and make sure all of the projects you want to build are checked on the ride side for your given build type.
UPDATE: Also, what is the timestamp on your build files? Is the timestamp getting updated on your build?
I had this problem when working on a network drive, and the time on the server was out of sync. Linux+Samba accessed by Win7 Pro and VB 2010 Express.
Correcting the time-difference solved the issue.
click on BUILD-->REBUILD SOLUTION and you are now good to go