Not able to see debug values when i move mouse pointer over the variable in VS2010

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VS2010

Hi,

I am having a project build using vs2010 compiler for c++. The problem is, when i debug the application created, i need to see the values dynamically, so i put few break points and started debugging., but the values are not getting shown up when i move the mouse over the variables. When i print values using cout, the values gets printed without problem., and when i tried to add watch for the variable, the watch windows shows the variable as undefined or some thing..,

Kindly if some one knows what setting needs to be changed or if i am doing some thing wrong. Let me know your thoughts!

Thanks,
Sajith

Posted 9-Sep-13 3:31am

gssajith87

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nv3 9-Sep-13 9:38am

Had your program arrived at one of the break points when you tried this? If not, this is the problem. The debugger won't show any values while the program is running.

gssajith87 9-Sep-13 10:01am

Yes, it comes to every break point.

nv3 9-Sep-13 10:03am

And have you compiled in DEBUG configuration. If you compile in RELEASE configuration there will be only minimal debug support.

gssajith87 9-Sep-13 10:25am

Yes i have configured in DEBUG only. I am able to see all other values in other files., only one file is having this problem, i tried cleaning up the proj and rebuild, i tired deleting the obj file corresponding to the cpp file and compiled again. Still problem exist.

nv3 9-Sep-13 10:42am

I have sometimes seen that kind of behavior when stopping at a breakpoint in a member function and the this-pointer has an illegal address. Could you go to the "Locals" tab in the debugger and see that "this" points to. Also: As long as you have not stepped inside a function, but are just at the opening brace, the this-pointer is not yet set and you can't see any of the member variables.

Philippe Mori 9-Sep-13 15:42pm

Just to be sure, are you debugging native C++ code from a native application? I know that in C++/CLI, the debugger is not always able to figure out some symbols when the assembly is used by a managed C# application. I haven't yet figured out in what case it happens.

Are you able to see some symbols when displaying local variable windows.

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Stefan_Lang · Answer 1 · 2013-09-10T01:35:00

A few things that could go wrong:

1. Are you sure the file that you look at is the one you compiled? Maybe you are looking at a copy that you accidentally opened instead of the current source file. You can view the location of the file by hovering the mouse over the tab title.

2. Have you used conditional compilation by excluding parts of your code through #ifdef commands? Maybe the symbols you try to view are excluded from compilation.

3. are the variables you want to view within the active scope, i. e. within the same scope as the current position of the program counter? Maybe the breakpoint hits only after the variable has run out of scope. In that case the variable is considered an undefined symbol, just like you said the watch window states.

If it's none of these, maybe you should post the section of your code showing the position of the breakpoint and the variable you want to view.

P.S.: I just recalled a tricky variant to option 3: if you define a variable within the header of a for loop, then it will go out of scope at the end of the loop! So, if you try this:

C++

for int i = 0; i < 10; ++i)
   if (myvec[i] < 0)
      break;

* // break somewhere here

You can not view the value of i after this loop, because it no longer exists! It's tricky because earlier versions of VS did retain such variables even affter the loop (against the rules of the C++ standard)

gssajith87 · Answer 2 · 2013-11-20T16:14:00

Thanks for your time guys., Recently i noticed the same issue occurred again for me! that is, when i keep my mouse over the variable, i was not able to see the value of the variable while debugging. i compiled my solution mutiple times to get rid of this problem, but it did not help. I went on to delete the exe file and again compiled my solution., it just did a linkage and created the exe but the problem still existed. So i wanted to make sure that , the file in which the variable exist was properly compiled., so i removed a ";" to check if it throws any compilation error when compiling the solution. But on compiling the solution, i noticed that the compilation was successful and it did not find the error that i put in . So now i decided to compile the file alone in which the variable exist , this time the compiler found the error that is it compiled the file, now again i compiled the solution., this time when i debug i was able to see the variable value while debugging...

Conclusion : In my case, the problem was, the file was not compiling properly when i compile the solution making changes multiple times.

Kochise · Answer 3 · 2015-11-20T00:30:00

Hello,

I've discovered the way to break into native code and have access to STL containers' content when debugging using CLI :

Tools\Options...\Debugging\General : uncheck 'Use Managed Compatibility Mode' (YES! UNCHECK IT!)

In the native code, instead to add breakpoints, just add this :

assert(false);

When breaking against the shores, just click either 'Retry' to debug or 'Ignore' to continue.

Happy debugging with Visual Studio 2015 :)

Kochise

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 4 · 2013-09-09T04:59:00

Solution 1

Nothing is supposed to happen just on a mouse event. Instead use "Watch" windows (under debug menu, available while you are in debugging), or "QuickWatch" context menu item. Also, better make sure the debug information is available, which is the case when you use the default "Debug" configuration.

—SA

Posted 9-Sep-13 4:59am

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Comments

[no name] 9-Sep-13 20:48pm

I don't agree. When debugging a C++ program in VS2010 and a breakpoint is reached then moving the mouse to a variable (in scope) brings up a tooltip showing the state of the variable.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Sep-13 21:11pm

Okay, but if OP does not see it, it's better to use something more certain, which cannot be ruined by a slip of a hand... :-)
—SA

gssajith87 9-Sep-13 22:11pm

I tried out watch window, but it throws that's the variable is undefined

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 10-Sep-13 0:27am

Are you sure you configure to have debug information?
—SA

[no name] 10-Sep-13 0:57am

I agree with SA. In addition the mere fact you can cout the value at some point does not mean it is in scope when the breakpoint is hit. A code snippet showing where your breakpoint is located may be helpful.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 10-Sep-13 1:01am

Right, this is a good point.
—SA

gssajith87 7-Nov-13 6:09am

Thanks for your time guys., Recently i noticed the same issue occured again for me! that is, when i keep my mouse over the variable, i was not able to see the value of the variable while debugging. i compiled my solution mutiple times to get rid of this problem, but it did not help. I went on to delete the exe file and again compiled my solution., it just did a linkage and created the exe but the problem still existed. So i wanted to make sure that , the file in which the variable exist was properly compiled., so i removed a ";" to check if it throws any compilation error when compiling the solution. But on compiling the solution, i noticed that the compilation was successful and it did not find the error that i put in . So now i decided to compile the file alone in which the variable exist , this time the compiler found the error that is it compiled the file, now again i compiled the solution., this time when i debug i was able to see the variable value while debugging...

Conclusion : In my case, the problem was, the file was not compiling properly when i compile the solution making changes multiple times.

Not able to see debug values when i move mouse pointer over the variable in VS2010

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