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12 Replies Last post: Nov 3, 2009 12:59 PM by grossag  

VMDebugger vs VS2008 posted: Sep 9, 2009 7:58 PM

Click to view buddylott's profile Novice
buddylott
10 posts since
Aug 7, 2009
I am hitting a problem with debugging a program running in a VM, I am using Visual Studio 2008, VMWare Workstation 6.5.3 build-185404, Vista Ultimate 64 bit, and VMDebugger 1.5.

I have a VS solution that has multiple target executables (all written in C#). When I select VMware->Options, i get a dialog box that says "Unable to detect the current startup project".

A different VS C# Solution with only 1 target exectuable, seems to work fine.

I have seen this problem posted before, but I haven't see a solution posted. Is there one?

Thanks,

Tags: vmware, workstation_6, vista64, visual_studio_2008, vmdebugger

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

1. Nov 2, 2009 8:46 PM in response to: buddylott
Click to view grossag's profile Hot Shot
grossag
229 posts since
Jul 3, 2006
I don't believe so. In all of these cases it has been very difficult to find a reproducible case. Can you give us very specific information about your solution layout and projects? The more specific info you give us, the better chance we have of fixing it. Thanks for the help.

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

2. Nov 3, 2009 4:41 AM in response to: grossag
Click to view buddylott's profile Novice
buddylott
10 posts since
Aug 7, 2009

What more information do you want?

It has multiple C# projects, most of which are dlls and 1 executable. There is also a setup project. Name wise, the start up project is somewhere in the middle.


Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

3. Nov 3, 2009 7:54 AM in response to: buddylott
Click to view grossag's profile Hot Shot
grossag
229 posts since
Jul 3, 2006

Mostly, I'm looking for folder structure like what you see in the Solution Explorer and whether there are any nested projects or solutions. If not, a quick map would be nice, like:

30 C# dll projects in a row

1 C# exe project

15 C# dll projects in a row

Does that make sense? Thanks for the help.

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

4. Nov 3, 2009 8:17 AM in response to: grossag
Click to view buddylott's profile Novice
buddylott
10 posts since
Aug 7, 2009
That is pretty much the form of one of my projects.

Another project just had 3 C# executables and 2 setup projects.

My startup project was the one in the middle.

*******************************************************************

Buddy Lott
Firmware Design Engineer
19476 Industrial Dr.
New Paris, IN 46553
574.831.5250 x 8197
blott@kmccontrols.com

*******************************************************************

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

5. Nov 3, 2009 9:56 AM in response to: buddylott
Click to view dmitrygr's profile Novice
dmitrygr
15 posts since
Jul 29, 2008
Pretty sure vmdebugger does not support .net, only native debugging

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

6. Nov 3, 2009 10:07 AM in response to: dmitrygr
Click to view buddylott's profile Novice
buddylott
10 posts since
Aug 7, 2009
I suppose that could be true, but I find it hard to believe.

My understanding from the documentation, is that the integration is quicker/easier way to connect to the debug monitor running in the VM.

If that is so, then I would think the integration would be language independent.

In either case, the "cannot find startup project" is not very helpful. It only seems to work if/when there is only one possible startup project.

Another thought that just popped into my head, I wonder if the issue related to compiling in a 64 bit environment and trying to debug in a 32 bit.

*******************************************************************

Buddy Lott
Firmware Design Engineer
19476 Industrial Dr.
New Paris, IN 46553
574.831.5250 x 8197
blott@kmccontrols.com

*******************************************************************

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

7. Nov 3, 2009 10:14 AM in response to: buddylott
Click to view dmitrygr's profile Novice
dmitrygr
15 posts since
Jul 29, 2008
Just checked. You're right. Remote debugging supports everything, Replay supports only native.


Startup project error seems to indicate that our startup project detection code is not meshing well with your solution. Any chance I can get a copy of the solution? (i need the source files, but not their contents, so you can send empty ones with the right names)

My email: dmitryg@vmware.com

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

8. Nov 3, 2009 10:13 AM in response to: buddylott
Click to view grossag's profile Hot Shot
grossag
229 posts since
Jul 3, 2006
No, I'm pretty sure that the Live (aka remote) Debugging section works with C#. It's just replay debugging that doesn't work with C#. I don't 100% remember, but the blog post I wrote a while ago when I did remember ( http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2008/04/using-the-vmwar.html ) seems to indicate C# is supported.

That said, it definitely could be an issue that you have multiple startup projects. Earlier you had said you had multiple target executables, but I didn't know that multiple were set as the startup projects. I'm pretty sure that we only support 1 startup project, but I'm not sure what the behavior is when you have more than 1 (e.g. failure, or just using the first one in the list). Try just going to 1 startup project and see if that means that you can debug. But I agree that the error message should be better.

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

9. Nov 3, 2009 10:27 AM in response to: grossag
Click to view buddylott's profile Novice
buddylott
10 posts since
Aug 7, 2009
I didn't say I have multiple startup projects.

I said in one case I had multiple exe products that COULD be startup project.

For instance, I a solution that has multiple sub projects that each produce a executable. At the time (if I remember correctly), I had the project in the middle selected as the startup project.


*******************************************************************

Buddy Lott
Firmware Design Engineer
19476 Industrial Dr.
New Paris, IN 46553
574.831.5250 x 8197
blott@kmccontrols.com

*******************************************************************

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

10. Nov 3, 2009 12:05 PM in response to: buddylott
Click to view grossag's profile Hot Shot
grossag
229 posts since
Jul 3, 2006
Ok, sorry, just to clarify, you had said "It only seems to work if/when there is only one possible startup project." What did you mean by this? Either a project is or isn't a startup project, so can you clarify what you meant by "possible" startup projects?

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

11. Nov 3, 2009 12:57 PM in response to: grossag
Click to view buddylott's profile Novice
buddylott
10 posts since
Aug 7, 2009
I have this problem reproduced right now.
In this solution I have 4 C# executables, 1 library, and 4 setup and deployment projects.

All four c# executables have just one 1 form running a simple gui.

The solution layout:

C# exe1
C# exe2 <- this is selected as the startup project (select the project, right click and then click "set as startup project").
C# exe3
C# library
C# exe4
Setup1
Setup2
Setup3
Setup4

When I click any of the buttons in the VM Tool bar, I get the "Cannot find startup project" messages.

I also just discovered another clear, C# exe 4 happens to have been the FIRST product exe project I created in this solution. When I select it as the startup project, I don't get the error message. For other 3 exes, I get the "Cannot find startup project" message

*******************************************************************

Buddy Lott
Firmware Design Engineer
19476 Industrial Dr.
New Paris, IN 46553
574.831.5250 x 8197
blott@kmccontrols.com

*******************************************************************

Re: VMDebugger vs VS2008

12. Nov 3, 2009 12:59 PM in response to: buddylott
Click to view grossag's profile Hot Shot
grossag
229 posts since
Jul 3, 2006
Ok, great, thanks. I have sent this thread to the engineer who works on the VMDebugger now and he will take a look.

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