when debugging through VCL (use debug dcus must be on !) you have very often (in some situations most of the time) to step through assembly code, especially such routines like "_IntfClear".
(removing System.pas could not help, because then a popup appears frequently asking where system.pas resides)
Is there any chance to exclude the unit "system" from debugging ?
Delphi's included DCU files are in the Lib folder. The debug versions are in the Lib/Debug folder. All the "Use debug DCUs" option does is control which of those two folders appears in your project's library path, so when your program is linked, one or the other set of DCU files is included.
Now that we've uncovered the magic of the "Use debug DCUs" option, we can take advantage of it. To exclude a certain DCU from debugging, enable "Use debug DCUs," and then simply find the debug version of the unit in question and replace it with the non-debug version. For example, delete Lib/Debug/System.dcu and replace it with Lib/System.dcu.
Alternatively, if there's one VCL unit that you want to trace through, but are otherwise uninterested in debugging code you didn't write, then disable "Use debug DCUs," and then find the debug version of that DCU and put it in among the non-debug files.
If you accidentally find yourself tracing through a function you're not interested in, you can press Shift+F8 to "step out" of the current function. Eventually, you will learn to recognize the places that typically lead to calls you don't want to trace, and then you'll press F8 to "step over" that code instead of F7 to "step into" it.
Related
When I open my project and I double click on a specific pas file in the Project Manager, bds.exe freezes and continues using 25% of the cpu. I have to kill the process through the Windows Task Manager. (1)
When I open my project and I press F12 on that exact same file, I see what I would have expected to see earlier, the contents of the pas file.
When I open my project and I compile it first, then double click on the file, everything is fine.
I'm trying to figure out how, what I assume to be a mismatched DCU file, snuck into my project and what the best way is to prevent a similar issue in the future. Can I force all DCU files to be rebuilt? Can I simply delete all dcu files and recompile or is that a dangerous thing to do? My DCU files are currently also stored in the same directory where I keep the pas and dfm files, that is a bit messy.
(1) our application also shows behaviour in production where it sometimes crashes while it continues to use a steady cpu usage or simply continues to work as expected but shows a steady cpu usage in the background. We have been unable to trigger it in a compiled version but see it popping up from time to time. We assume the dcu mismatch is at the source of this problem.
There are numerous issues in your question, some entirely unrelated, but the assumption that the problem is a "mismatched" DCU is unlikely to be correct (by which I presume you mean an "old" or otherwise incorrect DCU compiled in the past or with different source).
First your problems.
IDE Behaviour
The problem with the IDE locking up when double-clicking a unit in the Project Manager is unlikely to be anything to do with a "mismatched" DCU.
Do you have source files located on a network drive ? Is this unit such a file ? Is that network location available/valid ? i.e. is the path to the file using a network drive letter that is no longer mapped or otherwise not available ?
If there is no explicit path in the unit reference in the DPR, do you have network locations listed in your system, IDE or project PATH ?
Difficulty accessing file locations is the most likely explanation for the IDE appearing to lock up when trying to simply open a file.
As to why it should behave differently when using F12 rather than the Project Manager, unfortunately the Delphi IDE is notorious for using different mechanisms to achieve the same thing in different places so it isn't surprising that sometimes when one of these mechanisms breaks the others still work (and can give different results even when both work).
Runtime Behaviour of your App
If we work on the basis that you do indeed have a "mismatched" DCU then performing a full build of your project will resolve that mismatch, as long as you have the source for all the required DCU's and that the correct and appropriate source for each DCU is available.
However, even though the mismatch may be resolved, rebuilding may or may not fix the issue, depending on whether that issue remains in the source code for that unit itself when recompiled.
The simple fact of the DCU being "mismatched" cannot cause aberrant application behaviour. With the exception of OS or RTL bugs etc, if there are errors in the behaviour of an application then those errors will be the result of errors in the source code as compiled.
Simply recompiling source code containing an error will not remove that error.
As such, if there is such an error then far more information will be needed if anyone is to be able to give any assistance on that score (and this should be a separate question, once you have done some initial debugging and diagnostics yourself).
Runtime Packages
If you are using runtime packages then things get more complicated because with a runtime package, the DCU employed for any particular unit could be part of a package file. In that case, the DCU file on disk is produced when you compile the package itself but any project that uses that package will not use the DCU on disk but will instead use the version that has been compiled into the package.
So if you are using runtime packages then as well as rebuilding your project you need to also rebuild any and all runtime packages that may have changed.
Now, for your actual questions.
Q1: Can I Rebuild all The DCU's ?
Yes, of course. But see above w.r.t Runtime Packages, if your project uses them.
I would strongly recommend that you change your project settings to output DCU files to a specific location, separate from the source files.
For example, you could have a project specific DCU folder using a relative path. i.e. set your DCU output folder to something like ".\dcu" and create a dcu folder within the folder where your DPR is located.
For Delphi versions supporting multiple platforms and configurations it is best to include the environment variables for the platform and configuration in that path, so that you don't end up using units compiled for DEBUG in a RELEASE build.
e.g.
.\dcu\$(Platform)\$(Config)
or
.\$(Platform)\$(Config)\dcu
What Is Compiled in a Build ?
When you do a Build on a project (as distinct from a "Compile"), all units referenced by that project will be recompiled, with the exception of any VCL/RTL units (i.e. those provided with Delphi). Those get special treatment.
At a minimum, rebuilding a project will forcibly recompile all units explicitly listed in the DPR, but will also recompile all other units that are used by those units (or units that they use etc etc).
NOTE: DCU's With Missing Source
A unit will only be recompiled if the source can be located.
If you have a DCU and the source file is missing or cannot be located on the project, IDE or system path, then the compiler will simply assume that you want to use the existing DCU.
This is the case even with a full "Build".
3rd Party DCU's
It may seem obvious but you should also be careful that you don't delete DCU's that may be your only copy of any 3rd party libraries you may be using for which you do not have the source.
This is highly inadvisable, but I guess we mustn't rule out the possibility that you may be in this situation.
Q2: Should I Delete all the DCU's ?
In general, yes. As noted above, even a full build will be successful if you are missing the source code for a unit that is referenced, as long as there is a DCU (or required package, if using runtime packages) that can be found.
So the only way to be sure that you have the current source for all DCU's is to first delete the DCU's that any previous builds may have used.
This is of course much easier when you have a specific, explicit location in which all your project DCU's are output.
It's slightly more involved if you are using Runtime Packages, though if you are organising your DCU's sensibly then the only real complication is that you need to repeat the same exercise for all the projects involved, working through starting each of the runtime packages that are used and finishing with the projects that in turn use them.
Yes, you can rebuild all DCU files in your project;
In the project group window, right click on the project and select Build.
It is OK to delete all DCUs in your project, but not necessary (or desirable in case you make a mistake...).
Note that this only builds DCUs explicitly in you project (as shown in your project tree) not any implicit ones imported as a result of your uses clauses.
Three things may be going on that have not been adressed in other answers.
Note that I only have experience with Delphi XE2 and Seattle 10, but they may apply to your version.
Delphi can be slow when switching from form to source view, especially if you have many components on your form. In migrating from XE2 to 10, we noticed an improvement here. We are talking seconds here, this does not seem to be your issue.
Delphi can be notoriously slow when switching between projects. After a switch the IDE can take a very long time (20-30 seconds) to respond. You cannot type anything; code completion takes a long time; initiating a project search with Alt-S-D waits a long time, then fails. In migrating from XE2 to 10, we noticed a large deterioration here.
Conditional compilation. If you have IFDEFs in your code compiling stuff for one project but not for another, your IDE can hang completely, and there's nothing else you can do then killing BDS.EXE. This happens in Delphi Seattle 10 if you switch projects and accidentally Compile instead of Build.
You may experience variations of these.
I had a big problem with breakpoints not being hit in a Delphi 6 DirectShow DLL. I would load the DLL (AX) in the IDE and run it with Graph Edit as the Host program and none of the breakpoints would trigger. I tried moving the FastMM4 DLL to the project directory, removed FastMM4 completely, turned Debug DCUs on and off, cleaned the project directories, unregistering and re-registering the DLL, everything I could think of. Nothing worked. Every time I ran the host program I saw my DLL load with the message "No debug info" in the event viewer. Then in a desperate Google search I found a post for C++ Builder that recommended trying the "remote debug symbols" linker option:
Project -> Options -> Linker (Tab) -> Exe and DLL options (group box)
-> "Include Remote Debug Symbols" (checked it)
Suddenly my breakpoints started being hit. Here are my questions:
1) Why did this work? Is it because of the option or because this option triggered some other Compiler/Linker operation that fixed things? I would like to know so I can reliably fix this problem in the future when it happens again.
2) Are the remote debug symbols something a hostile programmer could use to deep trace my program? In other words, are they a security risk if left lying around?
1) It was because of the option. Without the debug symbol information, your IDE has no idea where to set your breakpoints. Debug DCUs has nothing to do with it -- that option links in a different set of VCL DCUs that contain debug information so you can set breakpoints. Helpful hint: depending on the version of Delphi, those DCUs are not, in fact, always in sync with their debug symbols.
2) Debug symbols/map files should not go out in a release, especially if the information handled by the program is sensitive in any way. This goes for any programming language.
If you need the ability to diagnose your software after it's release, incorporate exception, error, and assertion handling that gives you sufficient information to triage bugs from a log.
Sometimes as I am debugging step-by-step, just before a FormCreate Event or just after the FromDestroy the debugger starts to open DevExpress units (cxContainer.pas, ...) and so before FormCreate my "F8" leads me to cxContainer instead of going into the next line of my code.
(this is just an example, it can happen of course with any 3rd party library)
How do I tell the debugger "debug only my units" (only the pas files listed in dpr file?)
Of course sometimes it is useful to debug libraries, but in most cases it isn't.
You'd better follow VCL convention for your third-party components:
Change DCU output path in all the third-party packages to a folder different than the folder you store the PAS files.
Compile each package once in Debug mode, and save the generated DCU files in a folder (e.g. Debug DCUs).
Compile each package once again, but this time in Release mode, and save the generated DCU files in a folder (e.g. Release DCUs).
Go to Delphi options and add path of release DCUs to "Library path".
In Delphi options, add path of source files to "Browsing path".
In Delphi options, add path of debug DCUs to "Debug DCU path".
This way, Delphi will only see release DCUs of that third-party component when you are compiling your project, so the debugger cannot step into the source code.
On the other hand, since source path is included in "Browsing path", you can still navigate to the source code inside IDE by Ctrl+Click on unit name, or anything defined in those units.
If you want to debug component, you can go to "Project | Options | Delphi Compiler | Compiling", and enable "Use debug .dcus". This will force compiler to use "Debug DCU path" instead of "Library path".
VCL works the same, generally you don't step into VCL source code when you are debugging your project, but if you enable "Use debug .dcus" you can debug VCL source code too.
JVCL also organizes its packages and source code the same way.
EDIT:
If you take this approach, and want to have code browsing (Ctrl+Click) working; please take note that when you compile release version of packages, you must set Symbol Reference Info in "Project | Options | Delphi Compiler | Compiling" to "Reference Info"; otherwise, Ctrl+Click won't work for those units. By default, Release build configuration sets Symbol Reference Info to None.
A quick and simple solution is disabling the DEBUG switch ({$D-}) for any libraries you're using. Many libraries (including DevExpress) use a global include file, usually at the top of each source file, or right above or below the "unit" statement (e.g. unit cxContainer; {$I cxVer.inc} interface ). Open that include file (click on it and press CTRL-Enter) and add {$D-} right at the top, and comment out any existing {$D+}.
There is only one way to tell the compiler not to debug a unit: compile it without debug information.
If you have the source to your libraries, you can rebuild their package after having turned off the "include debug info" compiler option for each package in the library. If you are lucky, your libraries will include an .inc file which specifies the compiler options they need and which they include in each unit. In that case all you have to do is edit this inc file and rebuild all packages.
If you don't have the source to your libraries, the library makers may have provided two sets of dcu's: one compiled with, the other without debug information. In that case, simply point your library path to the one you need.
Turn off debug info in units you don't want the debugger going into.
I'm using Delphi 2010 and I'm wondering if there's a way to trace through code which is in the project without tracing through calls to included VCLs.
For example - you put in a breakpoint and then use Shift+F7 to trace through line-by-line. Now you run into a call to some lengthy procedure in a VCL - in my case it's often a Measurement Studio or other component that draws the doodads for a bunch of I/O, OPC, or other bits. At any rate, what happens is that the debugger hops out of the active source file, opens the component source, and traces through that line by line. Often this is hundreds or thousands of lines of code I don't care about - I just want to have it execute and return to the next source line in MY project.
Obviously you can do this by setting breakpoints around every instance of an external call, but often there are too many to make this practical - I'd be spending an hour setting a hundred breakpoints every time I wanted to step through a section of code.
Is there a setting or a tool somewhere that can do this? Allow one to trace through code within the project while silently executing code which is external to the project?
The debugger won't step through units that don't have debug information, so the goal is to make the compiler omit debug information from the units you're not interested in.
Put your library units in a separate library project. That gives you the ability to have separate compilation settings for those units without affecting your project. Compile the library without debugging information enabled. Then remove those library units from your project. You can continue using them, but they won't belong to your project anymore.
An important aspect here is that the DCUs should reside in a separate directory from the source code. If the compiler finds DCUs and it happens to see the source code in the same folder, then it's liable to recompile that code when you really don't want it to. Set your projects' "DCU output folder" to something other than the default.
To really do it right, you can do what the VCL does and compile two different versions of your libraries. Compile one with debug information, and one without, and put the compiled files in different directories. Add the directory with the debug versions to your Delphi configuration; there should already be a folder listed there that contains the Delphi-provided debug DCUs.
When you set up two different versions, you allow yourself to choose whether you want to step into the library code. Simply toggle the "use debug DCUs" option in your project settings. Delphi will automatically add and remove the debug-version folder from the search path when you toggle that setting.
Note that even though you'll have a separate library project for your library units, you don't need to link to or distribute the DLL or package that that project generates. You can continue using the DCU files directly in your EXE project. You're only setting up the separate project so that you can select different compilation settings for those units. Add the library project's DCU output folder to your EXE project's search path, and you can continue using the units directly without any need to distribute the library project's DLL or package.
The IDE may try to add new directories to the search path automatically. Don't stand for that. If there's a source directory there that the IDE added for you and you don't want it there, feel free to remove it. The IDE is just trying to be helpful, but it doesn't know about your plan to have separate source and compiled folders.
Just to complete your options: If your libraries for some reason must be compiled with debug information (I usually use everything with debug info, including the VCL and RTL.) and you accidentally trace into a method you are not interested in, you can use Shift+F8 to run until the method returns to your code.
Another method is to use the debug information and Local symbol information compiler directives - add {$D-$L-} to the start of each unit.
This will ALWAYS suppress the generation of debug information for that unit. If you do need to trace into the code, comment out the directives.
I've just noticed that whenever I do an incremental compile (ctrl-F9) of any of my Delphi 2010 projects, all JEDI units referenced in my project are recompiling although they have not been changed in any way. In fact, if I create a new project, drop a JEDI control on the form and compile, I see all JEDI dependencies getting recompiled. If I think hit ctrl-F9 a second time without making any changes in my project, the same thing happens.
Anyone know what's causing this?
Update: The problem appears to be related to the subdirectory jvcl\run on my system. All units in this folder are getting recompiled each time I do a Delphi compilation (even without touching my project source). The compiled dcus are getting and left in this subdirectory on every compilation, even though the compiled dcus already exist in jvcl\lib\d14. I do not have jvcl\run on my library path.
Additionally, if I move the jvcl\run directory elsewhere on my hard disk my project compiles and links successfully, presumably finding the dcus in jvcl\lib\d14 (which is on my path).
Sometimes you will see the unit name flash by on the compile progress screen, even when it is not being recompiled.
To know for sure, check the date of the Jedi DCU's before and after compile.
Also, how did you install the Jedi controls? If you use the default installer, then they shouldn't compile ever (they are compiled at install). If you just dropped all the source into your library path, then they will recompile on a build, or if they are changed (and various other conditions).
There are a few placed to check for your "jvcl\run" path in your settings.
The first two:
Tools|Options
Environment Options|Delphi Options|Library-Win32
(1) "Library Path:" Edit Box
(2) "Debug DCU Path:" Edit Box
The Third is:
Open Your Project
Project | Options
Directories/Conditionals
(3) Search Path: Edit Box
And finally if you compile via the command line you need to check what you are passing in the DCC32.CFG and/or PROJECTNAME.CFG and the command line parameters to DCCC32.
The reason your compiled DCU's are getting placed in directory your source is in is because you have not set an "Unit Output Directory"