Gurus...
When building my app in VB 2010, I have always been accustomed to the debug output window that, if any errors were present, the errors and warnings would be in color (yellow, red, etc) and I could actually click on the error in the output window and it would take me to that part of my code that had the problem.
Then, for some unknown reason, that output window just vanished and doesn't show up anymore.
I have searched the forums, but all I see is people telling other people to just go to Tools/Options/Debugging/General and enable to output window. The problem is that this is NOT the same output Window that vanished on me. This only enables a basic no-frills text window with no intuitive links or color coding like the original. Going into Projects and Solutions/Build and Run and setting output options in there only change the amount and complexity of plain text in the same output window, so again, the problem remains.
Anybody in here know how to restore the original build debug window that VS 2010 (VB) uses as default upon installation? I have a feeling the solution is embarrassingly simple, but I still haven't come across it yet. I still don't even know how it disappeared on me in the first place, and I really miss it.
I am working on a very old project which needs to be updated. Because the program needs to be backwards compatible, the changes need to be made in this older IDE.
There is no built in syntax highlighting that I see. Is there a plugin or menu that I have missed?
Within VB Editor, go to Options then Editor Format and adjust colours.
There are also some 3rd party softwares out there that will enable you to edit your code with syntax highlighting.
UltraEdit Visual Basic Editor
I just upgraded my Visual Studio from 2012 to 2013 and haven't done anything else yet short of installing all the updates recommended.
For whatever reason, when I go into my solution and press F10 or F11, it runs the entire program as if I had pressed F5... F8 works the way F10 used to, but I don't know why the keys I've always used now don't.
I set up visual studio as a VB environment.
How can I fix this?
Thanks!!!
Additional Info:
Just to add on as much information as I can, if I set a breakpoint in my code, then I can use F10 / F11 to continue stepping through my code once the breakpoint is hit and execution is stopped as would be expected.
EDIT 2013-12-31:
Based upon a comment made by Neolisk, it appears this is simply a change in default behavior in Visual Studio 2013... If anyone knows how to change this back to the way it was in 2012, that would be GREATLY appreciated, but at least I now know it's not an error / installation issue.
If 2013 works the same as previous versions, then do the following:
Navigate to Tools > Import and Export Settings
Choose "Import selected environment settings"
On the next screen, choose to save your current setings if you want to.
When you get to the point where you can import, just select "General Development Settings"
That should set everything back to what you're probably used to. Most people are set up using general settings and either don't realize it or just forget.
EDIT: If your issue is that the program executes when you press F10 or F11 when you are not debugging, then I think you might be out of luck. It's done that to me personally since VS 2008 (I'll frequently miss the F12 key when I'm in a hurry), and, after some searching, I think it actually happens to everyone:
Visual Studio - Prevent F11 from starting the debugger?
My guess is that this is a side-effect of not being able to set contextual hot keys based on whether you are or are not debugging. Since F10 and F11 are tied to debug-execution-related operations, my guess is that Visual Studio realizes that it needs to be debugging to process them, and thus starts the program.
ANOTHER EDIT: Of course, it's also possible that you had the scheme set to something else entirely in VS2012. Check out all of Visual Studio's pre-defined hotkeys by environment here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/da5kh0wa(v=vs.120).aspx
If none of those have the mappings that you're used to for F8, F10, or F11, then it's possible that you or an add-on may have had few custom hotkeys defined.
Worst-case scenario, you can simply redefine your shortcuts manually by key in the keyboard settings: Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard
It sounds like you are in VB settings and not C#. You should try changing your settings to one or the other and see if those debug options change. On my machine
Tools - Import Export Settings - Reset All Settings - C# (If you want F10/F11) VB if you want F8/Shift-F8. It doesn't matter what your settings are you can still code in both languages, but if you are used to pressing F10 to debug VB.NET code you've been using C# settings this whole time. Nothing new with Visual Studio in this regard. I am using VS2013 Ultimate, have been using Visual Studio since VS2003.
The first image is VB.net, second is C# settings
You can try some of these reset settings:
And different combinations thereof, i.e. ResetToBasic first. If does not help, try ResetToC#, then back to Basic. Then try General, back to Basic. See if you can hack your way through like this.
EDIT: I tried my VS 2012, and compared to VS 2013. What you described is completely normal. VS 2012 used to step in Form_Load and similar on F10 and F11, VS 2013 no longer does it. So it seems like your VS 2013 is working as expected.
Microsoft probably has a reason to not allow to step into a property by default.
Properties are supposed to be mostly get and set and not contain a whole lot of implementation in it. But that may not be the case all the time.
If somebody is trying to step into a property that means this developer is suspecting something in that property that may be causing problems. So by default this behavior needs to be reversed and allow stepping into properties.
For now this is how you can enable stepping into properties.
Go to Tools > Options menu in Visual Studio.
Goto Debugging > General menu item in left pane.
In right view you will see and option Step over properties and operators (Managed only). Uncheck this option and then you are all set.
Enable step into properties in Visual Studio Debugger
If the above didn't work then follow this
In the Options.Keyboard page, please select "Debug.StepOver" from the command listbox, and then put focus to the "Press shortcut keys" textbox and press F10, click Assign button to re-assign shortcut, does it work?
You can also try to run Visual Studio under safe mode, which will prevents all third-party VSPackages from loading when Visual Studio starts; if the issue disappear under safe mode, you may consider checking your installed add-ons or VSPackages.
Second, to log all activity of Visual Studio to a log file for further troubleshooting, please use the /Log switch, and post the log file content here, so we can do more investigation on it.
If this feature works well before, and suddenly behave abnormally, it usually indicate that some files or configurations of Visual Studio installation is corrupted or missed, you can:
Restores Visual Studio default settings by using "Devenv.exe /ResetSettings" command. Please backup your settings before restore to default settings.
Repair/reinstall Visual Studio;
To repair Visual Studio In the Add or Remove Programs dialog box, select Visual Studio then click Change/Remove.
I found I had to run VS as Administrator to debug properly. I also do a clean solution prior to debugging, especially on x64 machines. If you put a manual debug breakpoint in the code and the IDE indicates it can't stop at that point, then it's possible that the debugger is out of sync with the source code.
An idea to test it in a short way:
Create a Hello World console app.
1 Module Module1
2
3 Sub Main()
4 Console.WriteLine("Hello")
5 End Sub
6
7 End Module
Build first.
Put the cursor in line 4 (before each step), commands should start Debug Mode if you are in Design Mode.
F10 (StepOver): Should break on line 3
F11 (StepInto): Should break on line 3
CTRL+F10 (RunToCursor): Should break on line 4
If it is working properly: Maybe the assembly which containing the entry point of your program had modified and wasn't been rebuilded, or there is somthing other problem with the point where the control expected to break.
If it doesn't work as expected on the sample, I think you should ask on MSDN FORUM or make a bug report.
I don't know why they might have intent to change this behavior.
It is working for me in my 2013 Express Edition with C# recently.
I found what I think is an acceptable workaround for the non-functioning F10/F11 Keys. They are probably the most used keys in stepping through code, and it is a real pain to click on debug and select the key from the dropdown.
I got around this shortcoming by adding icons to the toolbar for these operations.
If you are not sure how to do this, On the Debug toolbar click on the down pointing arrow near the right side of the bar. Click on Add or remove buttons.
Select Customize...
Select Add Command
Select Debug
Scroll down to the desired key (Step over / Step into)
You once clicked, you will see the two icons added at the left side
of the toolbar, Unfortunately they are the same Icon, but with a
little use, you should be able to select the right key to click on.
I actually prefer this method to trying to remember which function key
to press.
On many branded laptops, there is an extra button "Fn", Press "Fn" and "Esc" together. Functional keys will be enabled in visual studio.
Kindly press Fn key and Esc (with Lock with Fn label).
Sometimes it gets locked and Media Player buttons get activated.
Sounds stupid to ask but what type of keyboard do you have? I know some keyboards have different modes that allow you to set different profiles for keys based upon the application. I use the feature with my Microsoft Natural keyboard. However I have had problems with the profile still being active when I switch into Visual Studio and then F10, etc doesn't work correctly.
I faced the problem that F10/F11 doesn't work but the breakpoint works.
Once I uninstall the Security Software and unload the relevant drives it works again.
So my advice is that. And I guess it's due to the drives, so if these don't work just try to unload those questionable drives may connected with this question.
Using Logitech MX 3000 Keyboard, I've upgraded to the last setpoint version and these keys work now perfectly. (Driver version 5.90.41)
When I write VBA code, I tend to cut and paste variable names or other bits of code. This results in frequent syntax check errors that result in the message box popping up. That's annoying, and I'm aware that I can turn it off via Tools > Options > Editor > uncheck Auto Syntax Check.
This doesn't seem to prevent the VBA editor from actually checking my line - it still turns red. I don't mind that behavior, because it doesn't interrupt anything. And it does let me know if I do, in fact, have some sort of problem after I'm done with the line, which is nice. Unfortunately, I'm not always smart enough to diagnose the error on my own, and the text in the message box is actually helpful. But I've turned off the message box!
Is there a way for me to display that error, short of temporarily turning the message box on?
You can compile, with Debug>Compile, which will bring up the same message. IF there's more than one compile error you might have to deal with that one first.
This comment is for users of Visual Basic for Excel on a Mac.
I am using Visual Basic in Excel verion 16.14.1, (the latest version as of July 2018), as part of Office 365 on an iMac Pro, running High Sierra.
Under the Tools tab of the Visual Basic editor, there are only three choices:
References...
Macros....
VBA Project Properties......
None of these sub-menus lead to "Options", nor to anything which allows you to turn on and off "Auto Syntax Check"
Instead that option can be found in Excel ==> Preferences tab. However. checking or unchecking the box does not change the behaviour. In both cases, the text turns red on a syntax error, but in neither case does the annoying pop-up window appear.
When I'm debugging my application something is not right, and I can't continue.
So is it possible to see the output code of my app while I'm testing it to see what is wrong?
I open the output window but nothing happens in there it's just stay blank.
In two words: I want to see what my app is actually doing while I'm testing it.
I'm using Visual Studio 2010.
So is it possible to see the output code of my app while im testing it to see what is wrong?
Yes, but you actually have to output something, otherwise nothing will show up. In VB.NET (which is the language you're using if you have Visual Studio 2010), this is accomplished with the following code:
Debug.Print("Here is some text that will be output.")
The documentation for the Debug.Print method is here. In order to call it like that, you will also have to have imported the System.Diagnostics namespace. You do so by placing the following line at the top of your code file (with all the other statements that look like it):
Imports System.Diagnostics
The output will automatically appear in the Output Window. If you still don't see anything, ensure that output is not being redirected to the Immediate Window instead: Tools -> Options -> Debugging -> General -> uncheck the option "Redirect all Output Window text to the Immediate Window".
Confusingly, you use the word "code" in your question, saying that you wish to "see the output code of [your] app while testing it". I'm not sure if by "code" you actually mean "output", in which case the solution above will work for you.
If you actually mean code, as in your program's source code, then you can use the Break toolbar button (or press Ctrl+Break) in the IDE to pause the execution of your program. This will automatically dump you back into the code editor with the currently-executing line of code highlighted.
Visual Studio has some very powerful debugging tools. If you don't already have a general idea of how to use them, I strongly recommend picking up a book on either it or VB 2010 that will teach these things to you. They can be very confusing to learn by trial and error, but are not all that difficult if you have a good guide. Spend that time debugging your code, not figuring out how to use the IDE.