CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netvisual-studio-2008debuggingmixed-mode
jyoung
jyoung

Reputation: 5161

How do I set a Data Breakpoint in mixed( C#/C++ ) debugging?

I launch my program in C#, which then calls some unmanaged C++.

When I break on a line in the unmanaged C++, the 'New Data Breakpoint' menu item is grayed out.

Is there anyway around this?

Upvotes: 22

Views: 13669

Answers (5)

Soonts
Soonts

Reputation: 21936

Another way is attaching to the process.

Build and run your software normally without debugger.

Then in Visual Studio, “Debug / Attach to Process” in the top menu, find the process, select it in the list. Then, to the right of “Attach to” panel, click “Select…” button, click the “Debug these code types” radio button, uncheck everything except Native, click OK, click Attach.

enter image description here

Then either break execution with Debug / Break All command, or hit a normal breakpoint somewhere in C++ parts of the app. You’ll then be able to use data breakpoints.

Upvotes: 1

Mojtaba Rezaeian
Mojtaba Rezaeian

Reputation: 8736

A very useful trick which works everywhere is to call breakpoints from code in special conditions:

If (Condition)
    System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Break()

Upvotes: 2

aganea
aganea

Reputation: 76

The suggested solution doesn't work all the time. Even when debugging in Native mode, with the program broken in Native piece of code, when trying to set a 'New Data Breakpoint' I get a popup "The breakpoint cannot be set. Data breakpoints are not supported in the Common Language Runtime"

The alternative is to add data breakpoints from code directly. See the article here.

This works well in mixed-mode, it only requires Native debugging mode to be active (as suggested above)

Upvotes: 4

jyoung
jyoung

Reputation: 5161

So to do this I had to:

  • set the unmanaged dll as the startup project
  • set the managed program as the startup command
  • set debug mode as Native
  • "break execution" or hit a breakpoint so that you are in the "debugging" state

yech

Upvotes: 32

Stu Mackellar
Stu Mackellar

Reputation: 11638

To set a data breakpoint in the native portion of a mixed mode process, see the answer posted by jyoung.

Visual Studio disables data breakpoints when running anything but pure, native code. See this post for a partial explanation why from a VS Program Manager.

Upvotes: 16

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