| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| richardss |
Posted - Oct 09 2009 : 09:33:13 AM
Is anybody seeing a problem where the IDE deadlocks when you right-click on a symbol? It seems to be a repeatable bug.
This is in a big, complex solution, with a dozen projects built for several smart device platforms. My system info is below.
I'm evaluating the demo, and I like the software, but it has to be stable and 100% reliable. Seeing you bang out a release every other week does not fill me with confidence!
VA_X.dll file version 10.5.1738.0 built 2009.10.01
DevEnv.exe version 9.0.21022.8
msenv.dll version 9.0.21022.8
Font: Courier New 13(Pixels)
Comctl32.dll version 6.0.2900.5512
Windows XP 5.1 Build 2600 Service Pack 3
2 processors (x86)
Platform: Win32
Stable Includes:
c:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\\VC\\include;
c:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\\VC\\atlmfc\\include;
C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v6.0A\\include;
C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v6.0A\\include;
Other Includes:
Stable Source Directories:
c:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\\VC\\atlmfc\\src\\mfc;
c:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\\VC\\atlmfc\\src\\mfcm;
c:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\\VC\\atlmfc\\src\\atl;
c:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\\VC\\crt\\src;
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| 14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| membry |
Posted - Oct 22 2009 : 5:00:32 PM
A few weeks or a month or so ago, I had a similar experience. But with a deadline, I couldn't really dig into it. Did track it down to either VAX or Intellisense writing to disk at the same time as I was doing a right-click. My workaround was to revert VAX to the last general release (1724 IIRC). Not surprised about the corrupted Intellisense DB. Even MFC wizards will give seemingly strange and unrelated errors when the DB is corrupted. Pretty sure I deleted the .ncb file and let it rebuild as part of my troubleshooting. Will have to look into WinDbg for further reference. |
| feline |
Posted - Oct 15 2009 : 12:32:47 PM
I am glad you have found a fix for this problem. I have seen a corrupt NCB file crash the IDE on loading a solution before, but crashing / hanging on right click is not something I recognise.
Michal you might want to try the same thing if you are still seeing this problem. |
| richardss |
Posted - Oct 14 2009 : 11:38:16 AM
Good news, and bad news: The good news (for you) is the problem is still there if I uninstall VA. The bad news (for me) is the problem is still there....
...
Actually I think I have fixed it. I deleted all the Vis C++ intermediate files (aps, vcn, dep, idb, ncb, sbr, pch, obj, res) in my workspace, and I renamed feacp.dll. Then I re-installed VA, and everything is working fine. Well, the parser is still underlining symbols that are valid code, but it is not hanging. I'm pretty sure I did rename feacp.dll earlier, but there must have been something corrupt in one of those intermediate files.
Anyway, VA is exonerated, and it seems like a great tool. Sorry I pointed the finger at you! I will purchase it soon.
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| Michal Puczynski |
Posted - Oct 14 2009 : 11:08:17 AM
No, this is not the one. What I meant as hang was what richardss described. Studio is not refreshing any window. When you move it it gets white on the entire area and does not redraw. CPU seems idle. Maybe the source of problem is the same as for 9089 but it ends up differently. |
| feline |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 2:40:45 PM
This is understandable. Hopefully you can work around the problem for now, and try to produce a mini dump for us to look at when you have more time.
Many apologies for this problem, it really should not be happening for what that is worth. |
| richardss |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 2:22:46 PM
The problem I saw is a deadlock: Visual Studio does accept any input, but there is no crash and CPU is idle. Unfortunately, I don't have time at the moment for more diagnostics. |
| feline |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 2:12:30 PM
Michal if this is the hang you are talking about in this thread:
http://forum.wholetomato.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9089
I have replied about it there. |
| Michal Puczynski |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 08:44:27 AM
I saw hangs on my desk as well. In my case they happen when debugging in one studio instance and having another one open. What I saw on top of call stack in that state was something called "update debug state" within VA_X.dll |
| feline |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 11:45:02 AM
The hang, without a mini dump to look at there is not much we can really say. WinDbg is quite quick and easy to download and install, if VS2008 still refuses to let you save out a mini dump file.
It sounds like VA's parser being confused is a possible factor here, but that should never hang the IDE, you should just find that the VA refactoring commands you want to use are disabled.
Can you try closing the IDE and disabling the IDE's intellisense parser as described here, either via zero length read only NCB files or by renaming feacp.dll. Since the IDE right click menu is used to do things like jump to the declaration of a symbol it is just possible the IDE its self is part of the problem here:
http://docs.wholetomato.com?W133
VA's parser being confused by the macro's is a somewhat separate issue, but we might be able to do something here by adding simple helper macro definitions to VA's StdAfx.h file, as explained in this FAQ entry:
http://docs.wholetomato.com?W302
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| richardss |
Posted - Oct 09 2009 : 5:35:50 PM
I'm using Right click on its own.
The VA context and definition fields on the symbol look sensible.
I havn't figured out what the colors mean yet. It is a macro that expands to the name of a class, and it is pink.
When I add the invalid line of code, it is underlined with a wiggly line. BUT at the same time three other variables are underlined, too. One is a funtion argument, one is a local static variable and one is a class method (all perfectly valid code). Right-clicking on the underlined class method, or part of the surrounding expression, causes the hang. All of these underlined symbols are related to a class name that has been "Over-ridden" with some macro definitions.
So, yes VA does seem to be a bit confused. But when I put this code into a new project, VA works fine.
In fact, IntelliSense also gets confused in this project. That's why I was looking for a new smart editing tool. I have a feeling the basic problem is I have multiple configurations, multiple platforms, and multiple projects, which use the C++ preprocessor to modify the same source code files. When you open a file to edit, the context is ambiguous because it belongs to more than one project.
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| feline |
Posted - Oct 09 2009 : 4:21:43 PM
Nobodo this is a very interesting experience and perspective. Definitely a road we don't want to go down. If I thought a new build of VA was anything less than rock solid, based on extensive internal testing, I would do my best to make sure it was never released.
richardss are you using Right click on its own to show the IDE context menu, or are you using Shift + Right click to show the VA extended context menu?
If you place the caret into the problem symbol what shows in the VA context and definition fields, these are normally at the top of the editor window? Basically is VA showing something sensible, or something "silly"?
Is the problem symbol shown in the correct colour?
If you add the *invalid* line of code:
khdkfhds = 3;
after the problem line, is "khdkfhds" underlined as a mistyped symbol by VA? This assumes you have turned on:
VA Options -> Advanced -> Underlines -> Underline mistyped symbols using
VA does not start underlining until you have modified the current file, as an optimisation. Adding the invalid code will trigger underlining, and I want to know if the problem symbol is underlined as well or not.
All these tests are about finding out if VA is deeply confused by the code or if it seems to understand it.
As for the mini dump file, I have seen the same problem occasionally when attaching with the IDE. If you download and install WinDbg then you should be able to save out a mini dump. I have never seen this refuse to save out a mini dump file from a hung IDE. |
| Nobodo |
Posted - Oct 09 2009 : 2:31:12 PM
Just some comments here..
<soapbox>
I've been using both Resharper and Visual Assist since 2005. In that time, I have seen Resharper become a much, much less stable product, while VA has always been very stable for me. To top it off, Resharper wasn't very stable back in 2005, either. Why do I keep Resharper around? It does have a lot of really nifty features that I hope are someday in VA, but definitely I'd rather not see them in VA if it means the same loss of stability as seen with Resharper. During a dev day I have VAX loaded 100% of the time, but only have Resharper loaded maybe 5% of the day just so I can use a nifty feature or two, then unload it before it causes VS to grind to a halt.
I also really like that VAX has frequent updates; it isn't the mark of an unstable product but instead one that has a very dedicated development, testing, and support team.
</soapbox>
Thanks!
Mark.
p.s. -- Resharper has nightly releases, and rare 'official' releases that are a 'somewhat stable' nightly release. The forums are filled with problems answered by "you need the Oct 2 nightly release for a fix for that" type of thing. See how the nightly releases are rated by Resharper users here - http://www.jetbrains.net/confluence/display/ReSharper/Download -- at that page, click the 'nightly builds are published on this page' link in the blue table in the middle of the page. The rating system used there has 1 star = 'Broken', 2 = 'Partially Broken', 3 = 'Works', 4 = 'Stable', and 5 = 'No Problems'. Note that even release candidates are hardly ever rated higher than halfway between 'Partially Broken' and 'Works'. |
| richardss |
Posted - Oct 09 2009 : 2:23:53 PM
The problem occurs every time I right-click on a specific symbol. I tried putting that bit of code in a simpler project, but was not able to reproduce the problem there. I tried to capture a dump, but "Save Dump As..." is diabled in my environment.
VA is the only plugin that is enabled. I have CodeJock Extreme Toolkit Pro and Axialis Icon workshop installed, but they are not enabled in the Add-in Manager.
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| feline |
Posted - Oct 09 2009 : 1:08:12 PM
Do you have any other plugin's installed?
Are you right clicking on a symbol? On white space? On something else?
VA should be very stable and reliable, and this is not a known problem. The frequent builds, most of them are beta builds. Final release builds are somewhat rarer.
Can you try grabbing a mini dump next time this happens, and sending it to us please. This FAQ explains how to do this. Hopefully it will offer some clues about this problem.
http://docs.wholetomato.com?W303 |
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