I'm trying to use VX. It's almost useable but not quite.... here are some of
my problems:

1) Moving around different debug windows, docking, undocking, etc, I get
random error messages "Ungultige Variant-Operation".
2) I get fairly frequent crashes where VX just disappears.
3) I get perpetual messages "modified files exist? Do you want to
recompile?" This needs an "Ignore All" button, as it appears over and over.
4) If there are linking errors such as missing symbols, the message area
gives no hint what file is referencing the missing symbols. I have to run
the PBUILD externally to see the file names.
5) I used "Rebuild Dependencies" and it deleted references to the XBTools
and TopDown libraries from my XPJ file. I had to add them back in manually
and stay away from Rebuild Dependencies.
6) I can't seem to switch threads while debugging.
7) My call stack is wierd. After a few listings, there is a single listing
":" and I can't see any more of the call stack. Clicking on the ":" gives
the error message "ist kein gultiger Integerwert". The call stack looks fine
using the old XPPDBG debugger on the same code.
8) VX adds the tokens "VERSION" and "DEBUG_SAVE" into the XPJ file. These
tokens are not documented in the Help file and I do not know what they mean.

That's just a few. I've also run into most of the problems that others have
documented such as EXE's and XPJ's needing to be in the same folder, and ,
but I didn't see many references to the above items.

Charlie

the bugs you have identified have been experienced by all..give it a 
time, Any debug windows that are docked increase the chance of a 
crash... I have learned to unload and load VX at times I have control 
over, rather then finding out later with an error message popping up...
I think if you go easy on moving debug windows around, you will be a lot 
more content with VX,,, keep in mind its a PRE-Release..

Charles Freeman wrote:
> I'm trying to use VX. It's almost useable but not quite.... here are some of
> my problems:
> 
> 1) Moving around different debug windows, docking, undocking, etc, I get
> random error messages "Ungultige Variant-Operation".
> 2) I get fairly frequent crashes where VX just disappears.
> 3) I get perpetual messages "modified files exist? Do you want to
> recompile?" This needs an "Ignore All" button, as it appears over and over.
> 4) If there are linking errors such as missing symbols, the message area
> gives no hint what file is referencing the missing symbols. I have to run
> the PBUILD externally to see the file names.
> 5) I used "Rebuild Dependencies" and it deleted references to the XBTools
> and TopDown libraries from my XPJ file. I had to add them back in manually
> and stay away from Rebuild Dependencies.
> 6) I can't seem to switch threads while debugging.
> 7) My call stack is wierd. After a few listings, there is a single listing
> ":" and I can't see any more of the call stack. Clicking on the ":" gives
> the error message "ist kein gultiger Integerwert". The call stack looks fine
> using the old XPPDBG debugger on the same code.
> 8) VX adds the tokens "VERSION" and "DEBUG_SAVE" into the XPJ file. These
> tokens are not documented in the Help file and I do not know what they mean.
> 
> That's just a few. I've also run into most of the problems that others have
> documented such as EXE's and XPJ's needing to be in the same folder, and ,
> but I didn't see many references to the above items.
> 
> Charlie
> 
> 
> 
> 
>

Charlie,

we know about some of the issues you reported but
not all of them. I'm especially concerned about
the problem of your global settings not being
saved. Is there anything you can tell me about the
machine you're using? Also, has the following
registry key been created on your system?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Alaska Software\Visual Xbase++

You may use REGEDIT.EXE to verify this.

> 1) Moving around different debug windows,
> docking, undocking, etc, I get random error messages
> "Ungultige Variant-Operation".

We know about several debugger windows not
checking the debugger state correctly. This may
cause invalid operations to be performed at times,
such as trying to update the callstack while the
application is running. This seems to be related.

> 2) I get fairly frequent crashes where VX just
> disappears.

Oh? We'd be grateful for anything you could tell
us that helps reproducing this!

> 3) I get perpetual messages "modified files exist?
> Do you want to recompile?" This needs an "Ignore
> All" button, as it appears over and over.

Please check if the syntax highlighting option has
been enabled in Tools -> Editor Options (Intellicode
tab). If your code doesn't use the syntax enforced
by this option (or uses this only infrequently),
enabling syntax highlighting does modify your
code. Therefore, if this tends to be a nuisance,
try switching syntax highlighting off. The problem
in itself is already on our lists.

> 4) If there are linking errors such as missing
> symbols,
(...)
> 5) I used "Rebuild Dependencies" and it deleted
> references to the XBTools and TopDown libraries
> from my XPJ file.
(...)

Both issues have just been passed on to the
respective developers!

> 6) I can't seem to switch threads while debugging.

Actively switching threads is not currently supported.
At present, context switches are detected eg. at a
breakpoint but there's no way to pick the context of
another thread as with a callstack item. We'll try to
incorporate this in one of the next releases.

> 7) My call stack is wierd. After a few listings, there
> is a single listing ":" and I can't see any more of the
> call stack. Clicking on the ":" gives the error message
> "ist kein gultiger Integerwert". The call stack looks
> fine using the old XPPDBG debugger on the same
> code.

Again, this is something I don't think I have seen yet.
Can you give me pointers as to how to reproduce this?

> 8) VX adds the tokens "VERSION" and
> "DEBUG_SAVE" into the XPJ file. These tokens are
> not documented in the Help file and I do not know what
> they mean.

You're right, an omission error. The first entry introduces
XPJ file versioning so that the project manager can tell
VX-style from original/old project files. The latter one
maintains a target's (debug/release) type with respect
to the global project setting. Both entries are private
to VX and don't affect the project builder.

> That's just a few. I've also run into most of the
> problems that others have documented such as EXE's
> and XPJ's needing to be in the same folder, and ,
> but I didn't see many references to the above items.

If there's more, please tell us about it. Your input is
much appreciated!

--
Best regards,
  Till Warweg
  [Alaska Software]

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Till, please see imbedded...

"Till Warweg [Alaska Software]" <till.warweg@alaska-software.com> wrote in
message news:HcGatRZQEHA.6512@S15147418...
> Charlie,
>
> we know about some of the issues you reported but
> not all of them. I'm especially concerned about
> the problem of your global settings not being
> saved. Is there anything you can tell me about the
> machine you're using? Also, has the following
> registry key been created on your system?
>
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Alaska Software\Visual Xbase++
>
> You may use REGEDIT.EXE to verify this.
>

Yes, that key exists, and I can edit the registry entries directly with
REGEDIT, and VX reads them and sees the changes I make. However, if I use VX
to change any settings, then look in REGEDIT, the settings have not changed.
I click "Save All" in VX and they still haven't changed, and I close and
reopen VX and I'm back to my old settings. I am using WinXPPro SP1. I've
seen references in the newsgroup to a "Save Project" function but I see
nothing labeled like that anywhere; I'm assuming they mean "Save All".

> > 2) I get fairly frequent crashes where VX just
> > disappears.
>
> Oh? We'd be grateful for anything you could tell
> us that helps reproducing this!
>

I'll try to keep an eye out for you. I'm really under the gun to get my
project done though so I don't have much spare time to play. I was really
hoping VX would increase my productivity but right now that is not the case,
so I'm back to using MEW and the old debugger.

> > 3) I get perpetual messages "modified files exist?
> > Do you want to recompile?" This needs an "Ignore
> > All" button, as it appears over and over.
>


> Please check if the syntax highlighting option has
> been enabled in Tools -> Editor Options (Intellicode
> tab). If your code doesn't use the syntax enforced
> by this option (or uses this only infrequently),
> enabling syntax highlighting does modify your
> code. Therefore, if this tends to be a nuisance,
> try switching syntax highlighting off. The problem
> in itself is already on our lists.
>

Both syntax highlighting and keyword case switching are checked. I can
uncheck them, but of course the settings are in the registry and therefore
are not being saved (see problem #1!). I can't tell which keyword in the
registry corresponds to syntax highlighting so I can't fix it manually.

However, I think the big problem here is that PBUILD is all tangled up with
the new XPJ file that VX has created. If I run PBUILD alone outside of VX I
get essentially this same problem; I can run it over and over WITHOUT the /a
option and it insists on recompiling EVERY prg file EVERY time, even if
nothing has changed. I have tried deleting all the OBJ references in the XPJ
file that were automatically inserted by VX and it doesn't help. I've tried
PBUILD with /a followed by without /a; that doesn't cure it either. I can
get no hint why PBUILD insists on recompiling everything each time. I
suspect VX uses the same algorithm as PBUILD to determine that "modified
files exist" so that is why I am getting the messages. I posted the XPJ file
in the Xbase Generic forum if you want to look at it and give me a hint as
to what is causing this behavior. This is my most urgent problem right now
as a compile cycle takes two minutes and that is a REAL productivity hit.
PBUILD is giving me no error messages during the build, only some compiler
warnings.

> > 7) My call stack is wierd. After a few listings, there
> > is a single listing ":" and I can't see any more of the
> > call stack. Clicking on the ":" gives the error message
> > "ist kein gultiger Integerwert". The call stack looks
> > fine using the old XPPDBG debugger on the same
> > code.
>
> Again, this is something I don't think I have seen yet.
> Can you give me pointers as to how to reproduce this?
>

It appears that the missing call stack entries start at the first call from
a static DLL (Topdown) that is linked into the application. In other words,
the call stack shows up until the first Topdown call, which is shown as ":"
and that is the end of it. I recompiled Topdown with /b and it does show up
OK in XPPDBG's call stack. It just occurred to me that Topdown's source
files are not in the XPJ as they are not really part of the project - could
that be the problem?

> If there's more, please tell us about it. Your input is
> much appreciated!
>

I'll keep playing as I have time.

Charlie

Charlie,

>However, I think the big problem here is that PBUILD is all tangled up with
>the new XPJ file that VX has created. If I run PBUILD alone outside of VX I
>get essentially this same problem; I can run it over and over WITHOUT the
>/a option and it insists on recompiling EVERY prg file EVERY time, even if
>nothing has changed. I have tried deleting all the OBJ references in the 
>XPJ file that were automatically inserted by VX and it doesn't help. 

The most likely reason why PBuild would always compile everything, is 
(usually) that a *.CH file can not be found. This will not create any error 
message, but PBuild (apparently) interprets the missing Date/Time stamp as 
a changed file (newer than other, depending, project files, like *.OBJ, 
*.DLL, *.EXE, etc. files). 

PBuild exhibited that flaw from the beginning -- this is nothing new (and 
not related to VX).

Check if all listed files exist -- specifically the ones with explicit path 
names -- or if the INCLUDE environment variable covers all the listed files.

You could use "PBuild /g", which would re-create all dependencies, and if 
the problem still exists afterwards, check for the availability of each 
listed file, specifically the *.CH files.

Hope that helps.

-- Andreas

---                                                                      ---
  Andreas Gehrs-Pahl              E-Mail: GPahl@CharterMI.net
  415 Gute Street                     or: Andreas@DDPSoftware.com
  Owosso, MI 48867-4410               or: Andreas@Aerospace-History.net
  Tel: (989) 723-9927           Web Site: http://www.Aerospace-History.net
---                                                                      ---

"Charles Freeman" <charlie[at]aeromed[dash]software[dot]com> wrote
in message news:op1I0U#QEHA.6380@S15147418...
> Till, please see imbedded...
(...)
> Yes, that key exists, and I can edit the registry entries directly with
> REGEDIT, and VX reads them and sees the changes I make. However,
> if I use VX to change any settings, then look in REGEDIT, the settings
> have not changed. I click "Save All" in VX and they still haven't
> changed, and I close and reopen VX and I'm back to my old settings. I
> am using WinXPPro SP1. I've seen references in the newsgroup to a
> "Save Project" function but I see nothing labeled like that anywhere;
> I'm assuming they mean "Save All".

Charles,

Very strange! Can it be that settings get stored in the wrong location??
If you've got time to spare, could you please check where the IDE
maintains its registry info? The easiest way is probably to issue a
vx20 -cr
on the command line. That clears the registry. If you restart VX, it
should recreate its registry tree. Does it and where?

>
> > > 2) I get fairly frequent crashes where VX just
> > > disappears.
> >
> > Oh? We'd be grateful for anything you could tell
> > us that helps reproducing this!
> >
>
> I'll try to keep an eye out for you. I'm really under the gun to get
> my project done though so I don't have much spare time to play. I
> was really hoping VX would increase my productivity but right
> now that is not the case, so I'm back to using MEW and the old
> debugger.

Thank you. I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you.

> > > 3) I get perpetual messages "modified files exist?
> > > Do you want to recompile?" This needs an "Ignore
> > > All" button, as it appears over and over.
>
> > Please check if the syntax highlighting option has
> > been enabled in Tools -> Editor Options (Intellicode
> > tab). If your code doesn't use the syntax enforced
> > by this option (or uses this only infrequently),
> > enabling syntax highlighting does modify your
> > code. Therefore, if this tends to be a nuisance,
> > try switching syntax highlighting off. The problem
> > in itself is already on our lists.
> >
>
> Both syntax highlighting and keyword case switching are
> checked. I can uncheck them, but of course the settings are in
> the registry and therefore are not being saved (see problem
> #1!). I can't tell which keyword in the registry corresponds
> to syntax highlighting so I can't fix it manually.

Reading your post, I realise that I've made a mistake: syntax
highlighting by itself should be safe. It's the "keywords in
uppercase" option that's changing code, you're right.

The latter should be controllable via the following registry
key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Alaska Software\Visual Xbase++\2.0\IntelliCode,
see KeywordsInUppercase

> However, I think the big problem here is that PBUILD is all
> tangled up with the new XPJ file that VX has created. If I run
> PBUILD alone outside of VX I get essentially this same problem; I
> can run it over and over WITHOUT the /a option and it insists on
> recompiling EVERY prg file EVERY time, even if
> nothing has changed. I have tried deleting all the OBJ references
> in the XPJ file that were automatically inserted by VX and it doesn't
> help. I've tried PBUILD with /a followed by without /a; that doesn't
> cure it either. I can get no hint why PBUILD insists on recompiling
> everything each time. I suspect VX uses the same algorithm as
> PBUILD to determine that "modified files exist" so that is why I am
> getting the messages. I posted the XPJ file in the Xbase Generic
> forum if you want to look at it and give me a hint as
> to what is causing this behavior. This is my most urgent problem
> right now as a compile cycle takes two minutes and that is a REAL
> productivity hit. PBUILD is giving me no error messages during the
> build, only some compiler warnings.

> > > 7) My call stack is wierd. After a few listings, there
> > > is a single listing ":" and I can't see any more of the
> > > call stack. Clicking on the ":" gives the error message
> > > "ist kein gultiger Integerwert". The call stack looks
> > > fine using the old XPPDBG debugger on the same
> > > code.
> >
> > Again, this is something I don't think I have seen yet.
> > Can you give me pointers as to how to reproduce this?
> >
>
> It appears that the missing call stack entries start at the first call
> from a static DLL (Topdown) that is linked into the application. In
> other words, the call stack shows up until the first Topdown call,
> which is shown as ":" and that is the end of it. I recompiled
> Topdown with /b and it does show up OK in XPPDBG's call
> stack. It just occurred to me that Topdown's source
> files are not in the XPJ as they are not really part of the project -
> could that be the problem?

Hm, I don't think so. the debugger should be able to find the
sources from the executable alone, provided path info is
still valid. I'll keep my eyes open...!

> I'll keep playing as I have time.

Again, thanks for your detailed info!!

Regards,
  Till Warweg
  [Alaska Software]

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