VS2012/ Blend 5: Debugging an Exception (only) occurring in design view - windows-8

I'm developing a Metro-style app (for Windows 8) using C# and XAML. I have set up my viewmodels to be used as design-time datacontexts, like so:
xmlns:vm="using:hub.ViewModels"
d:DataContext="{d:DesignInstance IsDesignTimeCreatable=True, Type=vm:ViewModels
My app appears to work perfectly when run, but in the design views of both VS 2012 and Blend, I occasionally get this (unhelpful) error message:
An Exception was thrown. TargetException: Error in the application.
Stacktrace
at System.ComponentModel.PropertyChangedEventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
InnerException: None
This only happens in the design view - meaning I can't set breakpoints around all my INotifyPropertyChanged() events.
What is the best approach to debugging design-time errors?

If this happens consistently or semi-consistently, you can attach the debugger to the XAML designer:
Start Visual Studio; open your project and open a XAML file, causing the XAML designer to load
Start a second instance of Visual Studio. Open your project but make sure no XAML documents are open.
Ensure that Just My Code is disabled: From the Tools menu, select Options. Select the Debugging category. In the General page, ensure the check box next to Enable Just My Code is unchecked.
From the Debug menu, select Exceptions... and check the Thrown check box next to Common Language Runtime Exceptions. This will enable first chance handling of all CLR exceptions. If you know the specific type of the exception, you can enable first chance handling for just that type.
From the Debug menu, select Attach to Process. In the Attach to: field, click Select... and check the Managed (v4.5, v4.0) entry in the list and click OK.
This is necessary because the debugger may misdetect the process as a native process if it attaches while the process is executing native code. If your project contains native code, you'll want to check the Native check box in the list as well (you can debug both managed and native code at the same time).
In the Available Processes list box, find the xdesproc.exe that corresponds to your project and click Attach.
If there are multiple processes (usually because you have multiple projects open or because the designer is reloading or has recently reloaded), it can be difficult to determine which designer process belongs to which Visual Studio instance. It's often easiest just to attach to all of them. A tool like Process Explorer can help you figure out which designer process belongs to which instance of Visual Studio.
Note: Do not attach the debugger to a designer process (xdesproc) that belongs to the same instance of Visual Studio that you are using for debugging: doing so is likely to cause Visual Studio to hang. You must always use two different instances of Visual Studio.
Do whatever you need to do to repro the bug. When it occurs, the debugger will break at the point where the exception is thrown. The debugger should load the symbols for your assemblies.

I got here while looking for info on how to debug designer time instance problems, though I did not have the same problem as rikkit. But...I'm sharing the solution to a related issue just in case others having the same problem reach here as well:
Make sure you have the "Enable/Disable Project Code" toggle set to "enabled"...in VS/Blend 2015 it's a small icon below the XAML editor
as shown here.
If it's disabled, this could be the reason your design time instance doesn't seem to be working.
Further, if it's disabled and you attempt to debug using a second VS instance, then when you attach to the XDesProc any breakpoints you set in the code-behind will report that they "will not currently be hit. [because] No symbols have been loaded for this document".
You might think that you need to somehow load the symbols, but if you open up the Modules window attempting to do so, you won't even see your module in the listing.
I lost a couple hours on this issue because of this setting being disabled. Hope this helps others not do the same.

I'm not sure about it but I believe you can check for the IsInDesignModeProperty Field. I remeber having to do so on WinForms sometimes.
Also take a look at this link Troubleshooting WPF Designer Load Failures

Related

Visual Studio error: "Cannot activate background task. Background Task activation failed."

When I try to launch a particular background task using Visual Studio, I currently receive the following error:
I tried pressing the Help button, which took me to How to trigger suspend, resume, and background events in Windows Store apps. The page said to look at a certain section in Event Viewer that didn't contain any entries.
The corresponding Windows Store application is both requesting background task permission and registering the task. The application is enabled for the lock screen. The application's project is referencing the background task project, and its manifest is specifying the correct fully-qualified class name of the background task. The correct type of background task has been specified in the manifest.
I was able to resolve this by changing the task registration/location code to call RequestAccessAsync before registering the background task. (Previously, it had registered the background task before asking for access.)
For some reason, this caused the application to request access again. After running the application and granting it permission, I reverted the code back to the previous state.
Now it works correctly again even though the code is the same as it was originally.
For me, I had a problem where I had updated TaskEntryPoint in my manifest but forgot to update it in my code... Frustrating to have to maintain it both places!
It got out of sync via the process of refactoring some classes into a new library, so don't forget to update after the fact if you do that!
You may be able to use reflection to help with this e.g. typeof(LocationTask).FullName
Restarting Visual Studio (2015) solved this problem for me.
You probably already did this, but sometimes one forgets about the easy things.

Visual Studio 2008 debugging: when I click on the play button, it flashes real quick

I am having a weird issue with VS 2008 when I go to debug my program. When I click on the play button to run the program it flashes real quick and goes back to the VB IDE. No matter how many times I click on the play button it continually flashes and then goes back without displaying my form window or anything.
What type of setting would I need to change in order to correct this issue? I've been through most settings in the "my project" section and i do not see anything that could be causing it to do something like this.
My older vb apps I've made seem to work just fine when I click the play button on them. Only noticed this problem whenever I go and make a new vb app.
update video of what's going on
http://tinypic.com/r/2eycaas/7
Try this?
"
Did we install some third party Add-ins in your machine? If we disable Add-ins (“Tools” | “Add-in Manager”) and run “devenv.exe /safemode”, do we still have the problem? This can eliminate the possibility that third party Add-ins are causing problems.
We also can try to run devenv /resetsettings (Commonly, it makes sense than re-installation) or devenv /setup in Visual Studio Command Prompt.
"
--http://forums.asp.net/t/1324737.aspx/1
Just check your output window.
Accessible from Menu-> Debug-> Windows -> Output. (Check image:1)
In output window select Show output from: Build combobox. (Check image:2)
This will give you perfect idea what is happening.
Following are the guesses.
The VBC installer is not installed or corrupted.
Some addon is registered to run before compiling and is creating problem.
....Long list until you tell whats shown in output window.
Also check Show output from: Debug in output window and Final check would be Immediate window.
I feel this three would give you hint whats going wrong.
Fixed.
Changing it to x86 instead of Any CPU worked!!!! :) But question is, why me having an Core i7 Quad doesn't support the program when i choose x64.....
David
Is the startup form correct? You can see that in project properties.

Commands not executing after a statements

I have some code in Form Load event. It is doing fine. But when it reaches to pick data from database, no commands are executing after that. There is no error at all but it just goes silent.
I tested it as follows:
MsgBox("1")
vrStudentName = DsGetPprStatusfromEnrSummary.tblPaperEnrSummary.Rows(0).Item("StudentName")
MsgBox("2")
Please advise.
Thanks
Furqan
Message Box one is showing data but not the message box two. In fact, the second message box statement is not showing any response at all.
This is a nasty problem on 64-bit operating systems. Any exception raised in code that's run from a form's Load event is swallowed without a diagnostic. This is an old problem that is not getting solved because the DevDiv and the Windows groups at Microsoft are pointing fingers at each other. My finger is pointing at the Windows group but that doesn't help either.
Two basic ways to solve this problem:
Project + Properties, Compile tab, scroll down, Advanced Compile Options, change the Target CPU option from x86 to AnyCPU. This disables the Wow64 emulation layer that swallows the exception.
Debug + Exceptions, tick the Thrown box for "Common Language Runtime Exceptions". The debugger stops as soon as the exception is thrown.
Also keep in mind that it is very rarely necessary to use the OnLoad method or Load event. Only code that requires the Size or Location or Handle of the form to be accurate needs it. Anything else belongs in the constructor of the form. That Load is used so often is a VB6 anachronism, carried over in the designer design which made the Load event the default event for a Form. Add a constructor by typing "Sub New".
Well, it seems pretty obvious that the call to DsGetPprStatusfromEnrSummary.tblPaperEnrSummary is never returning; which means the problem is IN THERE somewhere.
So what on eath is it? I'm guessing it's a DataSet, yes?
But you've referenced it staticly, which is YuckyPooPoo(TM) IMHO, because it's a complex artifact, and you've rendered EVERYTHING which references it unisolatable, and therefore fundamentally untestable!
Received answer on Codeproject
In the dialog that comes up, put a tick in every checkbox under both "Thrown" and "Unhandled". Press OK.
Now, when you run your app though the debugger, it will break for any exception, even if you have an active handler. This should help you track down the problem.
Issue RESOLVED

Showing DialogBox and MessageBox from DLL

I'm buisy on a DirectX10 game engine and i'm having a problem which has nothing to do with DirectX :P The problem is that in the DLL which contains the engine sometimes a DialogBox is called, just like you would do in normal win32. With the only difference that instead of the HINSTANCE i use the HMODULE which i get when loading the DLL.
Everything seems to be working fine, if i step through my code with F10 (Visual C++ 2008) i can even see it going through my DlgMessageProc function and do everything it should do. The only weird thing is that no dialog is shown and that all of a sudden it jumps out of the message loop and just continues with the rest of the code???
Weirly engough I have the same problem when calling MessageBox from inside my DLL, I get no errors, everything seems to be working fine but no window is shown, nor is the code halted (as normal with messageboxes)
The funny thing is that I have some code from a book which uses the same basic architecture as me and if i compile that everything shows just fine??
So my question, is there any hidden option, pragama comment or other thing i should look at if i want to be able to show MessageBoxes and Dialogs from my Dll?
No as i thought, chaning the manifest doesn't help at all. I also created a separate project where i just test the dialog and its proc function and there everything works perfect (links to a .exe instead of dll)
In the visual studio resource editor's property page for the dialog resource there should be an option in which you can specify - "No Fail Create: True".
Usually dialogs fail to create because a common control cannot be created - usually because InitCommonControlsEx has not been called. Setting the No Fail Create flag lets you see dialog and determine which controls are missing.
Other things to check:
Is there a message in the debug window about a first chance exception? Perhaps its 'jumping out' because of an exception that is being caught and silently handled by Win32. Turn on debugging of first chance win32 exceptions in the Dev Studio exceptions dialog to track that down.
Even this wouldn't explain how a MessageBox call would fail to create a message box.
The only times Ive seen MessageBox fail to work were when:
Resource leaks had made the process run out of available user32 handles - have you checked your apps handle counts using task manager?
the system was in the process of being shut down. Have you called PostQuitMessage and then tried to create a dialog/MessageBox?

Silverlight 2 User Control - Unknown attribute name on element

Update:
Screenshot http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3277/3048788466_661e8e5e78_b.jpg
To reproduce:
Get this sample project from Silveright.net - http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/9/2/5922d533-7ed5-4065-a138-ce3d9ca266e5/4-UserControls_Source_CS.zip
Open the UserControlDemo Solution. Then on Line 9 of Page.xaml, you'll see the error.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/9/2/5922d533-7ed5-4065-a138-ce3d9ca266e5/4-UserControls_Source_CS.zip
I'm creating a User Control in Silverlight 2 using this as my guide.
The problem is that when I use my User Control in Page.xaml, the XAML canvas shows this error: "Unknown attribute Name on element ... ."
Due to this error, I can no longer preview my XAML canvas. The strange thing is that the project still builds and renders my User Control beautifully.
Upon investigating the problem, I've found out the the cause of the problem was that my User Control was using a Style which is a StaticResource. When I remove this Style Property, the error in my Page.xaml XAML file disappears.
This error has been talk about in other online threads but unfortunately to no resolve.
I'm using the latest release and service packs of Visual Studio 2008 and Silverlight 2.
Is there something wrong with what I'm doing or is this a VS/Silverlight bug?
Thanks in advance!
In my experience the Visual Studio XAML designer, especially with Silverlight, will crap out for pretty much anything. I can't open a XAML file without all sorts of those mysterious errors and when it does render in the designer, it's not usually very useful.