The debugger steps into the source code on errors (like with F7), but I want to restore the normal working mode where the Delphi basic DCUs (the library) are only compiled into my code, and the sources are not used in debugging.
For example, on an error in my program, the debugger is stepping into Controls.pas, into TControl.Click. The normal case (right after installation) is for Delphi to step over these methods.
Should I recompile Controls.pas without debug information? If so, how?
I extending this theme with additional information to better understanding:
We use Delphi6 Prof. what have problem with Mouse (System Error Code 5).
So we want to recompile to Controls.pas to replace the Mouse Position getter code.
Then:
I created a folder for it: "c:\D\Common\Delphi_Patches\Delphi_6\"
I put the original Controls.pas into it.
I modified the Controls.pas, replaced the position getter code.
I set the Delphi's Library path, set the first folder to "c:\D\Common\Delphi_Patches\Delphi_6\"
With these steps I can compiled the source with mouse-safe code.
Ok, but then the Delphi everytime steps into Controls.pas on F7, and on any exceptions - this is very "angermaker" thing.
No matter that I removed the "Controls.pas" from the Library path - then the debugger is finding the original "Controls.pas" for it, and opens it... :-(
We don't use "Use Debug DCU-s" in any codes.
I tried to remove "Debug Information" from compiler options, but it is no matter, the Delphi is opens the original Controls.pas...
So I search the way to Delphi don't step into "Controls.pas", but use my dcu...
I hope this provide better context to understand the problem.
I think that you need to Shift+Ctrl+F11 (tools/options) then in Compiler, uncheck "Use debug DCU"...Then if an exception occurs it wont break into the RTL or VCL sources.
Since you are compiling your own version of a Delphi unit, you can disable debug info in that unit. Add {$D-} to the source code of the unit(s) in question.
As I see the solution is:
create a project the uses only the new Controls.pas.
unset the "Debug information" option in compiler options.
build dcu
put the dcu into a library folder
hide the new Controls.pas from this library folders.
Wite this trick the I cannot "step into" controls.pas.
Regards: dd
I had this same problem with Delphi XE8.
You can untick the "Project >> Option >> Compiling >> Use debug .dcus" and it will continue tracing into System unit and so on.
I found that the best way to stop this is to open your Application.dproj file - which is in XML. In it, you can change the settings as follows:
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Cfg_1_Win32)'!=''">
<DCC_AssertionsAtRuntime>false</DCC_AssertionsAtRuntime> <--- note false
<DCC_DebugDCUs>false</DCC_DebugDCUs>
<VerInfo_Locale>1033</VerInfo_Locale>
<VerInfo_IncludeVerInfo>true</VerInfo_IncludeVerInfo>
<DCC_RemoteDebug>false</DCC_RemoteDebug>
</PropertyGroup>
Related
Is it possible - only compile/make source in C++ Builder (XE7) without the long delay of linking?
If yes, is there a shortcut key for it?
It would be very useful when I just want to check if my code compiles at a point, but don't want to execute it.
mauroaraujo is right - since BCB4 or thereabouts the Project menu has an item that is misleadingly labelled 'Build ' + current source file. This compiles the current .cpp file (compiler switch -c). The item description in the documentation is a bit misleading as well.
The standard keyboard shortcut is Alt+F9 - the same as it always has been ever since the times of Turbo C/C++ (with the possible exception of some early C++Builder incarnations). The shortcut might change or disappear when certain editor key mappings are selected, though.
There seems to be no direct equivalent to 'Syntax check' item that becomes available in the Project menu when the current source is a .pas file, but for most practical purposes it should be close enough.
What the IDE doesn't seem to have is a command for compiling all sources without linking (sort of like a 'syntax check all sources'). However, you may be able to build a custom target where the link phase is configured to do nothing.
Delphi 7 i am not able to debug my application as half the code in my delphi 7 form unit,as it is not showing blue dots on the left hand side gutter,not able to reach any of the break points when i run my application..
The way you explain it - if one unit has some breakpoints available, but others not, then it sounds like that code is unreachable / unused. The Delphi compiler is smart enough to the point where it does not compile any code which it detects is never used. And if it doesn't compile, then there is no way to use breakpoints there.
This is sort of a workaround but it works.
Build your app;
Delete the exe file generated just to be sure it will be created again;
Select all your code and paste it into notepad;
Save your "Blank" file into Delphi;
Select all the text from notepad;
Paste it again into Delphi file and save it;
Build your app again;
I had this same problem with a special character pasted into my source code.
If after doing this you still can´t compile just paste your code for us to review it.
Not sure if this is the problem, but Optimisation is turned on by default. The compiler could be removing code. When you debug, can see the code in the editor, but the breakpoint won't hit the lines that have been optimised out.
You can turn off optimisation in Project Options > Compiler > Optimization, but a better technique is:
* Project Options > Directories/Conditionals
* In the Conditional defines box, add "DEBUG" and click Ok
* Return and add "NDEBUG" and click Ok
* Now at the top of the file which you want to debug add this code:
{$IF Defined(DEBUG)}
{$O-} // Debug build
{$ELSEIF Defined(NDEBUG)}
{$O+} // Non-debug (ie. release) build
{$IFEND}
Then you can simply define the type of build as "DEBUG" when you want to debug. Set as "NDEBUG" just before release. Not sure if its your problem, but hope that helps.
Go to menu Project | Options...
Go to Tab Compiler
check all flags in Debugging frame
I am trying to resolve this compile error, occuring only in Debug config, and only in the case described below:
[dcc32 Fatal Error] MyIndyTCPChannel.pas(22): F2051 Unit IdIOHandlerSocket was compiled with a different version of IdGlobal.IdDisposeAndNil
I am working on a very large Delphi codebase, with 2.5 million lines of in-house code, and 3 million lines of component code, which includes several large commercial Delphi component suites (Developer Express, TeeChart, and others), and a large number of open source delphi components as well, plus a fairly large in-house developed set of components, numbering 252 packages, of which about 140 are designtime+runtime or designtime, and the others are runtime packages (which are also loaded, into the IDE at runtime, by DLL-dependencies in their associated designtime package).
Our main library path has been optimized down to be small as can be, and it contains the paths that Delphi ships with as standard, plus three more we added, the primary one is a single "OurCompanyLibraryDCU" folder, which contains underneath it folders for the two platforms and two configurations that we use:
c:\dev\OurCompanyLibraryDCU\Win32\Release
c:\dev\OurCompanyLibraryDCU\Win32\Debug
c:\dev\OurCompanyLibraryDCU\Win64\Release
c:\dev\OurCompanyLibraryDCU\Win32\Debug
Each of the above folders contains the set of BPL, DCP, and DCU files in a single folder, for that platform/config combination.
A macro like the following, in the project options is used, so we can change platform, and config, and have the directories resolve correctly:
$(OURCOMPANYLIBRARYDCU)\$(Platform)\$(Config)
OURCOMPANYLIBRARYDCU is an environment variable and $(X) is the syntax to expand an environment variable, in the context of the Delphi IDE.
I am trying to get the most important and largest VCL Application project (call it BigApp.dproj) to build so that the project search directory only contains our APPLICATION source folders and does not need the project search path to contain all our third party component LIBRARY source code. To do that, we need to link against the debug DCUs, or release DCUs.
So far we have everything working except for the case where you have both Debug and Release DCUs available. The release DCUs are in the library path, and the debug DCUs are in the Debug DCU path, in the IDE settings. Confronted with the choice between these two libraries, Delphi's linker appears to fail, whenever both sets of DCUs exist, with errors in this form, when I click Build, and the Build Configuration is set to Release, I get F2051 errors. The ordinary cause of an F2051 error is that multiple incompatible binary DCUs exist and are both accessible, and the linker is failing to make it all work. However, when you want both Debug and Release DCUs both in the library path, I thought that this sort of thing would not occur, due to the Linker selecting the debug or release DCUs for you.
If I have not build the Debug DCUs, the above problem does not occur. I suspect that my Debug DCUs are subtly "invalid" or that the Debug-DCU-selection algorithm inside Delphi is not working, but have no idea why, or how to fix this.
Multi-part-Question:
A. Is having a single folder for each platform/config combination, containing the DCU, BPL, and DCP in a single folder, and then added to the IDE Library Path known to cause problems? Do I need three sub-folders, making a total of 12 folders for every platform+config+filetype, or can I keep them together by platform+config?
B. In a package compilation situation, is it okay to have the IDE Library path contain the OurCompanyLibraryDCU folder, and also have that folder configured as the DCP Output Directory, Package Output Directory, and Unit Output Directory? My concern is that by having input folder and output folders the same, there is a case where the compiler could be failing to rebuild a Unit from .pas source, and simply linking the prior compile's DCU.
C. If I'm going about this wrong, how instead, shall I prevent the over 2.5 million lines of component LIBRARY code from being compiled from source each time I build my BigApp, instead only link them via DCU, and still have the debug and release dcus work properly?
D. I can get past the original error if I go to the Win32\Debug folder and delete IdGlobal.dcu. This suggests to me that my package compilation (for debug config) is producing an INVALID IdGlobal.dcu. Is that even possible? Can delphi silently output garbled DCUs?
Notes: I'm not using, and can not use Runtime Packages, to deal with the application size problems.
Update: The first thing I should have done here is verify that ZERO additional DCU files are ANYWHERE on my harddrive, ANYWHERE. That's the standard F2051 error advice. I'll update this question after I've taken care of that. It appears possible that Delphi will itself COPY a DCU from one place to another, or that a bogus DCU that is NOT in the CURRENT search path might have been in some other project's search path. A kind of bucket-brigade of bad-DCU-copies can occur. I'll update the question once I'm sure what kind of bad-DCU-generations-or-copies are occuring.
Update 2: I have now guaranteed that no additional copies of IdGlobal.dcu exist before building, and the problem still reproduces. So the question then turns on the compiler options used when building the IdGlobal.dcu, versions the compiler options used when building BigApp.dproj in Debug build.
Update 3: Although all my package compiles appear to complete without error, it seems they were not using a correct library search path, during the time when the DCC32.exe or MSBUILD.exe is being launched to build the packages. This library path inconsistency issue appears to be the core issue, thanks to Sir Rufo for pointing that out.
Perhaps I can shed some light on the order of search paths presented to the compiler, which should make clear why the problem happens in the first place and can be cured (at least in your situation) by adding the Debug DCU path at that specific location. All these observations were made with XE7.
There are several places in the IDE where you can specify search paths:
Library path (Delphi-Options - Library)
Translated Library path (Delphi-Options - Library-Translated)
Debug DCU path (Delphi-Options - Library)
Translated Debug DCU path (Delphi-Options - Library-Translated)
Search path (via Project Options)
When the Library language is set to English, those pathes are given to the compiler in the order 5,1 or 3,5,1 depending of the setting of Use debug .dcus. This is already a bit weird as the debug dcu path takes precedence over the project search path.
So f.i. to make the compiler find our own dcu files of a newer Indy version, we have to place the corresponding paths in front of the paths under 1 and 3.
Now things get complicated when the Library language is set to something different than English. In this case the translated paths come into play resulting in the order 2,5,1 or 4,3,2,5,1 depending of the setting of Use debug .dcus.
To make the above example with a newer Indy version work, you have to tweak the translated paths, too.
The culprit lies in CodeGear.Delphi.Targets, which places the paths in this order. I was able to modify this file so that the natural order of paths is used: 5,2,1 or 5,4,3,2,1. If anyone can confirm that I am allowed to show these changes here I will do. Perhaps I can provide a patch only.
Update: Here are the changes of CodeGear.Delphi.Targets from XE7 as shown by Mercurial
## -122,20 +122,19 ##
<DcpFilename Condition="'$(DcpFilename)'!='' And !HasTrailingSlash('$(DcpFilename)')">$(DcpFilename)\</DcpFilename>
<DcpFilename Condition="'$(DcpFilename)'!=''">$(DcpFilename)$(MSBuildProjectName).dcp</DcpFilename>
- <UnitSearchPath Condition="'$(DCC_UnitSearchPath)' != ''">$(DCC_UnitSearchPath);$(DelphiLibraryPath)</UnitSearchPath>
- <UnitSearchPath Condition="'$(DCC_UnitSearchPath)' == ''">$(DelphiLibraryPath)</UnitSearchPath>
-
+ <UnitSearchPath>$(DelphiLibraryPath)</UnitSearchPath>
<UnitSearchPath Condition="'$(DCC_TranslatedLibraryPath)' != ''">$(DCC_TranslatedLibraryPath);$(UnitSearchPath)</UnitSearchPath>
<UnitSearchPath Condition="'$(DCC_DebugDCUs)'=='true' And '$(DelphiDebugDCUPath)'!=''">$(DelphiDebugDCUPath);$(UnitSearchPath)</UnitSearchPath>
<UnitSearchPath Condition="'$(DCC_DebugDCUs)'=='true' And '$(DCC_TranslatedDebugLibraryPath)' != ''">$(DCC_TranslatedDebugLibraryPath);$(UnitSearchPath)</UnitSearchPath>
-
+ <UnitSearchPath Condition="'$(DCC_UnitSearchPath)' != ''">$(DCC_UnitSearchPath);$(UnitSearchPath)</UnitSearchPath>
+
<___ResourcePath Condition="'$(DCC_ResourcePath)' != ''">$(DCC_ResourcePath);$(DelphiLibraryPath)</___ResourcePath>
<___ResourcePath Condition="'$(DCC_ResourcePath)' == ''">$(DelphiLibraryPath)</___ResourcePath>
+ <___ResourcePath Condition="'$(DCC_TranslatedResourcePath)' != ''">$(DCC_TranslatedResourcePath);$(___ResourcePath)</___ResourcePath>
<__ResourcePath Condition="'$(DCC_UnitSearchPath)' != ''">$(DCC_UnitSearchPath);$(___ResourcePath)</__ResourcePath>
<__ResourcePath Condition="'$(DCC_UnitSearchPath)' == ''">$(___ResourcePath)</__ResourcePath>
<ResourcePath Condition="'$(BRCC_OutputDir)' != ''">$(BRCC_OutputDir);$(__ResourcePath)</ResourcePath>
<ResourcePath Condition="'$(BRCC_OutputDir)' == ''">$(__ResourcePath)</ResourcePath>
- <ResourcePath Condition="'$(DCC_TranslatedResourcePath)' != ''">$(DCC_TranslatedResourcePath);$(ResourcePath)</ResourcePath>
<NameSpace Condition="'DelphiNamespaceSearchPath'!=''">$(NameSpace);$(DelphiNamespaceSearchPath)</NameSpace>
Now I understand a source for this problem. Please upvote Sir Rufo as he put me in mind of the solution.
It is this: I was invoking DCC32.exe to compile packages (using .dpk, but no .dproj file, and not invoking msbuild to compile these packages). When I built these, I was not inserting the Debug DCU path to the head of the library path passed in via -I parameters to DCC32.exe.
Once the DCC32.exe package compilation Library Search path has the Debug DCU folders FIRST, it works.
If anyone is interested in such a package system, I am planning to open source this package build system, as part of a relaunch of the WANT project originally built by Juancarlo Anez, which I will probably call by a new name. I'll update this answer once a working demo of a component build system is available.
A brief outline of a working system to meet the requirements I asked in my question:
You will need a file (could be xml, ini, json file) that defines a list of packages to build.
You will need to invoke MSBUILD or DCC32.exe on each of these. You could write your own code, or you could use mine, which I will open source when I can.
You will need to include the Debug DCU DPROJ into the library path as the first items, ONLY when invoking the Debug item builds.
You will want to use the $(OURCOMPANYLIBRARYDCU)\$(Platform)\$(Config) macro in your project search paths and library paths.
In your Delphi IDE, you will want to hard-code $(OURCOMPANYLIBRARYDCU)\$(Platform)\Release as a path within the Library path.
In your Delphi IDE, you will want to hard-code $(OURCOMPANYLIBRARYDCU)\$(Platform)\Debug as a path within the Debug DCU path.
We have built an application that uses packages and components. When we debug the application, the "Event Log" in the IDE often shows the our BPLs are being loaded without debug information ("No Debug Info"). This doesn't make sense because all our packages and EXEs are built with debug.
_(each project) | Options | Compiling_
[ x ] Assertions
[ x ] Debug information
[ x ] Local symbols
Symbol reference info = "Reference info"
[ ] Use debug .dcus
[ x ] Use imported data references
_(each project) | Options | Linking_
[ x ] Debug information
Map file = Detailed
We have 4 projects, all built with runtime pacakges:
Core.bpl
Components.bpl
Plugin.bpl (uses both #1 & #2)
MainApp.exe (uses #1)
Problems Observed
1) Many times when we debug, the Components.bpl is loaded with debug info, but all values in the "Local Variables" window are blank. If you hover your mouse over a variable in the code, there is no popup, and Evaluate window also shows nothing (the "Result" pane is always blank).
2) Sometimes the Event Log shows "No Debug Info" for various BPLs. For instance, if we activate the Plugin.bpl project and set it's Run | Parameter's Host Application to be the MainApp.exe, and then press F9, all modules seems to load with "Has Debug Info" except for the Plugin.bpl module. When it loads, the Event Log shows "No Debug Info". However, if we close the app and immediately press F9, it will run it again without recompiling anything and this time Plugin.bpl is loaded with debug ("Has Debug Info").
Questions
1) What would cause the "Local Variables" window to not display the values?
2) Why are BPLs sometimes loaded without debug info when the BPL was complied with debug and all the debug files (dcu, map, etc.) are available?
I would describe my issue with it.
I dynamically load package using LoadPackage function.
I can see in SysInternals.com Process Monitor that packagename.DCP got open and read succesfuly after LoadPackage processed - no file I/O failed, no attempt to find it in wrong places, nothing suspicious. So perhaps there is some construct in DCP that makes IDE debugger go nuts. I long for times when Turbo Debugger was available for Delphi.
BTW, same is for packagename.RSM if developer creates such.
Then (while paused at breakpoint or Step Trace) i open View / Debug Windows / Modules and see last module is mine - and it has empty "symbol information" cell. I right-click it, choose "Re-load symbols" action - and here it is, from now on i can debug.
PS. Dunno if that would help me to debug initialization sections though - hopefully "break on load" menu item would work even with dynamical LoadPackage calls...
PPS. It does work indeed, even across IDE restarts. So now i am alerted at BPL loading with CPU View, i strike CTRL+ALT+M, scroll to bottom to find my BPL, r-click to Reload Symbols, press Enter, then close Modules and CPU Views and strike F9 (Run). After initialization sections completes i am again alerted by CPU View - just few JMPs before exit out of LoadPackage - so i close CPU View and stike F9 yet again. Quite tedious, yet still better than IDE restart.
We have encountered a similar issue in our project. Unfortunately we have dozens of bpl so we cannot merge them in one.
This issue appeared after we migrated to XE2 and changed the folder structure of our compile target.
While it is difficult to say if newer versions of Delphi introduced the issue or not, we could fix the issue by adding the folder where the bpls are compiled in the path environment variable. Using the path override function of the IDE. This type of configuration was not necessary in Delphi 2010...
This non-official tool fixes many issues with Delphi. It fixed the module loading without debug info for me. All the credits to magicandre1981.
You have to build your separate packages with debug info, and you will eventually want to build them without debug also - so you will have both in 2 spots. Then you want to build your app project with debug info. Check your paths to ensure that you are including the debug-enabled package source in your debug project builds. It sounds like you may be including packages that were built without debug because you are including from the wrong source. You have to make sure you don't have both paths included, leaving Delphi to select what to include if it finds the same package in two places.
For our particular situation we were able to fix the issue by combining the Core.pbl and Components.bpl into a single BPL. Now all modules are loaded with debug info and the occasional issue where the Locals Window wouldn't display values for the variables is resolved.
This problem might be releated to QC#109291:
When Delphi IDE start introduce .dproj file and build configuration with option sets, it improve the project release management a lot.
However, it also has a side effect that is hard to replay and catch and I thought it was bugs in IDE. The problem should have always confuse the users where some project is not able to debug in IDE debugger. Even we check all the related settings the compiler and linking options in project, the debugger won't activate on the project. Some project works and some project doesn't. We even regard is to be memory problem or cpu problem.
I notice the problem is due to the .dproj file setting doesn't store correct information. If the related .dproj file has something like this:
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Config)'=='Release' or '$(Cfg_1)'!=''">
<Cfg_1>true</Cfg_1>
<CfgParent>Base</CfgParent>
<Base>true</Base>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Config)'=='Debug' or '$(Cfg_2)'!=''">
<Cfg_2>true</Cfg_2>
<CfgParent>Base</CfgParent>
<Base>true</Base>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="Release.optset" Condition="'$(Cfg_2)'!='' And Exists('Release.optset')"/>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Cfg_1)'!=''">
<CfgDependentOn>Release.optset</CfgDependentOn>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="Debug.optset" Condition="'$(Cfg_1)'!='' And Exists('Debug.optset')"/>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Cfg_2)'!=''">
<CfgDependentOn>Debug.optset</CfgDependentOn>
</PropertyGroup>
The Release.optset bind to Cfg_2 and Debug.optset bind to Cfg_1 but Release configuration is using Cfg_1 and Debug configuration is using Cfg_2.
When build the project, the debug info will not generate for in debug configuration but generate on release configuration.
A workaround solution is open .dproj with any text editor but not Delphi IDE, and update to:
<Import Project="Release.optset" Condition="'$(Cfg_1)'!='' And Exists('Release.optset')"/>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Cfg_1)'!=''">
<CfgDependentOn>Release.optset</CfgDependentOn>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="Debug.optset" Condition="'$(Cfg_2)'!='' And Exists('Debug.optset')"/>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Cfg_2)'!=''">
<CfgDependentOn>Debug.optset</CfgDependentOn>
</PropertyGroup>
I found in the .dprj file one line in the Cfg_2 détails with value Debugger_LoadAllSymbols which was set to false. I did set it to true. Problem solved. Maybe not similar to your case, but may help.
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Cfg_2_Win32)'!=''">
...
<Debugger_LoadAllSymbols>true</Debugger_LoadAllSymbols>
...
</PropertyGroup>
Is there a way to force the Delphi compiler to display all hints and warnings all the time?
Here is the behavior that I am currently seeing in Delphi 6:
Check out fresh copy of my application from source control
Open project in Delphi and Compile
All hints and warnings for the project are displayed
Make a change in one unit
Compile
Only the hints and warnings for the changed unit are displayed
So, I thought maybe I can trick Delphi by deleting all of the dcu files to force it to recompile everything. No luck. The compiler does in fact recompile all of the units, but does not display the hints and warnings for those units.
EDIT: Performing a full build (Project > Build) yields the same unfortunate results.
NEW INFORMATION: If I modify a unit and then Compile, I get the warnings. However, if I modify a unit and then Build, I do not get the warnings. I'm thinking this points to warnings being turned off somewhere. Possibly in a third party library?
It seems there ought to be a way to ask Delphi to re-display all of those hints and warnings that doesn't require me to either check out a fresh copy from source control or modify each unit one-by-one.
Hints and Warnings are generated by the compiler. It will only report on units that it has compiled. The "compile" command will only compile files that have changed. To force a recompilation of all units used by your project, use the Build command instead.
Later versions assign a shortcut key (Shift+F9) to the "Build" command.
To get that keyboard shortcut in Delphi 6, install this utility, which I've used for a while with great success on Delphi 5.
I would check to see if you turn the warnings off in some of your units.
Depending on the last change in the units, the compiling order can change. In some cases the warnings can remain disabled for a unit that is compiled after while, when freshly checked out of version control, it was compiled before, with the warnings.
Pay extra attention to any Include file you may use.
I had the same problem and finally i found solution... Search for strings $WARNINGS OFF and $HINTS OFF, and not just from *.pas files but from all the files. I had this strange idea in third-party .inc file:
{$IFDEF DEBUG}
{$WARNINGS ON}
{$HINTS ON}
{$ELSE}
{$WARNINGS OFF}
{$HINTS OFF}
{$ENDIF}
If you use dcc32.exe, all warnings will be shown, always. (This is another reason why I use build scripts for all my projects.)
I am still using D6 for some projects and if I do a full build then all hints and warnings are displayed/re-displayed. For syntax check or compile only changed unit messages are displayed.
You have something else wrong or damaged somewhere. Try deleting the project .dsm and the .dof files (they will be rebuilt) the .dof file contains the warnings and hints flags.