0xC0020001: The string binding is invalid. - Only occurring in WPF - c#

First off, I should probably say that I'm probably at a grade 5 level with this stuff... I'm using a C++ add-in in a WPF application. Whenever I try to exit the program, I get this error:
Unhandled exception at 0x770d15de in Raptor.exe: 0xC0020001: The string binding is invalid.
I've been using this blog entry to try and figure the problem out, but I'm having no luck. One thing I noticed though, when I use the same C++ addin in a Console application, calling many of the same methods used in the WPF application, the Console exits without a problem.
I've also gone through the C++ code and cannot find a single static variable declared anywhere. There are static methods though.
Any help would be much appreciated!
EDIT: I enabled a number of debugging features to see where this breaks. It was breaking the sp_counted_impl.hpp file (Boost) on the last bracket of the following:
virtual void dispose() // nothrow
{
#if defined(BOOST_SP_ENABLE_DEBUG_HOOKS)
boost::sp_scalar_destructor_hook( px_, sizeof(X), this );
#endif
boost::checked_delete( px_ );
}

This occurs with certain DLLs that don't link with native libraries and thus their DllMain does not initialize some needed native subsystem (like CRT or ATL). Sounds like you have a mixed-mode DLL of some sort. One recommended solution is to remove the entry point from the managed DLL:
Remove the Entry Point of the Managed DLL
Link with /NOENTRY. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project
node, click Properties. In the Property Pages dialog box, click
Linker, click Command Line, and then add this switch to the
Additional Options field.
Link msvcrt.lib. In the Property Pages dialog box, click Linker,
click Input., and then add msvcrt.lib to the Additional Dependencies
property.
Remove nochkclr.obj. On the Input page (same page as in the previous step), remove nochkclr.obj from the Additional Dependencies property.
Link in the CRT. On the Input page (same page as in the previous step), add __DllMainCRTStartup#12 to the Force Symbol References property.
More detail can be found here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/814472

Related

Finding some terminologies for doing R&D

I am here because I have a program and some features in my mind.
But I am not sure what these features are called in programming terms. So I am unable to even do a proper google search regarding the same. I am keen to identify what this is called, so I can progress my Analysis and Research.
I have developed a program, with C# and Windows Forms. Currently it interfaces with YouTube API and monitors the chat. I am also raising some events, when chat messages arrive and when the message follows a certain format/syntax. Everything is working fine so far.
What I want to do is:
If someone using my software, who has access to just the binaries. But want to write their own logic, which handles some of the events I am raising. How do they do that?
I want the user to write their own program/class, put it in a specific folder. I will expect it to have a Start() and End() method. Inside the methods, they can write the code to subscribe to any event of their choice and do what they need to.
I already have written code inside my main loop, which will loop through the folder which is supposed to contain the user programs, and tries to invoke the Start/End method of their programs/classes.
For me, as the original author of the project, I can just go ahead and start writing the code inside the folder. Once I build and execute. Everything works fine. The main program triggers the Start/End inside the program/class that I added. And the events are also handled fine.
But how about someone using my software, who wants to handle it's events, without having to re-compile my code. How do they do that?
You have the following options
Option 1
Create a template project with all required references and a code file (.cs) with the Start() / End() methods.
Add comments to the start() / end() methods or add a code sample of how they can work with the additional events.
The project should compile fine without any source code for your main project.
If you expect the users to use Visual Studio Code, give them instructions to compile using VS code.
If they are going to use any text editor, you need to provide them with a msbuild command line to compile their code.
Finally they can put the .cs code file in the specific folder along with your main project binary and try it out.
Option 2
The above option will work only if your users are also programmers.
If they are semi-techies, you could provide a simpler format for them to provide the additional events.
For example, create a json or xml format where they can specify the event name and how they want to handle it - either a script or choose from some options. For example -
{
"myevents": [
{
"event": "chatUpvote",
"handler": "ThankYouHandler"
},
{
"event": "chatDownvote",
"handler": "TellMeMoreHandler"
}]
}

How to Show the Content of a Variable Which is in a Class Library In A Form Or Console?

I have a C# solution which contains a project and a class library written by somebody else. The class library gets GPS data via wifi. The project shows the processed data on a map. Now, I want to see the contents of some variables in the class library in real time for the sake of debugging.
I tried to use
System.Diagnostics.Debug.Write(value)
without success. It seems it does not do anything.
Also I tried "MessageBox.Show(value.ToString())" which was good but it stopped the wifi reading and interrupted the program as I needed to press OK button each time that it showed up.
Moreover, I added a windows form (which contained a textBox) to the class library to print the data in the textBox, however, when I wrote:
Form1.textBox1.Text = value.ToString()
It gives me this error:
Error 3 'MapNMEA.Form1.textBox1' is inaccessible due to its protection level C:\Users\john\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\new ver of map purecom\MapExplorer\MapExplorer\MapNMEA\MapNMEA\SerialPort.cs 184 27 MapNMEA
"MapNMEA" is the name of the class library. Also "MapExplorer" is the name of both solution and the project. "SerialPort.cs" is a file inside the class library in which I wrote the above code.
My question is how to show the content of those variable (they are 3,4 variables) in real time and this act should not stop the wifi reading. I need to do this as an electrician who does not know much about programming wants to check whether a GPS device sends the data to my computer correctly or not.
UPDATE 1: Actually I noticed that System.Diagnostics.Debug.Write(value) is working but as there was too many warning messages showing up in the debug window, I did not noticed it. Now, if somehow I could remove (or hide) other (warning) messages, I would see only my desired output. Do you know?
Debug.Write should be fine if you attach a listener first (Debug.Listeners.Add( new _a_listener_type() )).
Also, you should probably be aware of the AutoFlush property on the Debug class which determines whether or not Flush is automatically called.
Debug.Write should work - by default it will write to the 'Debug' window in Visual Studio if you have the debugger attached. Are you sure you're looking in the right place?
If you want to use the form approach, you need to keep track of the instance of the form which is open, and give it a public method. For example:
public void WriteDebug(string message) {
TextBox1.Text += message + Environment.NewLine;
}
Then you can call formInstance.WriteDebug(message);.
Do you run debug build? Also your code with textbox does not work, because textBox1 is non-public
I think you may not be searching the right location: Is there something preventing you from debugging on a PC first before going to a target? If not, the you should probably use the traditional way: put spies on variables, use your IDE (Visual Studio) to watch them and so on.
If you actually NEED to run on target without advanced debug tools, then you might want to take a look at some easier solutions:
log them to a text file (append or replace, whatever you need), then have a viewer opened at hand
make another non-modal form with a textbox, and call a form2.writeDbgTextBox(String) every time you need to refresh
Be sure to remove this code on release (eg. by putting them in a #if DEBUG section)
And whatever happens, DO NOT try to write to an existing Message box! they are made to pop up and close, not to interact with your code.

"Cannot locate resource" again

I have an application which loads dlls with user controls dynamically. Inside one of the dlls I have a control which shows a button, which, when hit, pops up a new window. Everything would be great but the window does not appear... all I get is the "Cannot locate resource XXX.xaml" message with the name of the xaml which defines the window to pop up.
The window to pop up is created in a command which is binded to the button:
private void onCmdSetIndexValidator(object _param) {
IIndex param = (IIndex)_param;
new IndexValidatorsEditor(param).Show();
}
Any ideas?
Resources in the Window need to be scoped for the assembly where they live. If you access an asset in your Window (Image, Page, etc), you need to specify the assembly it comes from (even if it comes from its own assembly). If you do not specify the assembly, WPF will assume the resource comes from the executing assembly (your client app).
Define the assembly via pack URI's. Example: /nameOfAssembly;component/folder/background.png
It also may help to look at the inner exception value of the original exception. Sometimes this provides clues as to what resource its having trouble locating.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa970069.aspx
The solution was simple... the code which loaded my dll was wrong - it used Assembly.LoadFile instead of Assembly.LoadFrom

Reason for VS.NET 'current breakpoint will not be hit' warning?

Trying to debug a controllers action method, and when I attach to process the debug icon goes hollow and says the 'current breakpoint will not be hit'
But I am doing a response.write at that point and when the page renders it does output the test text.
So that section is indeed being executed, why does debug mode not work?
Your source code may be different than the version of the corresponding process that you are attaching to. Your other process may also be built in release mode, i.e., there is no debug info.
There are a few reasons why you may see this message:
You are attached to the wrong process
You are attached to the right process but the AppDomain hasn't loaded the assembly yet
You are attached to the right process but you have forgotten to build so the source code and the PDB file are out of sync
I've noticed this happen when using reflection and dynamically loading .dll projects. If the code isn't specifically reference (i.e. you are using interface animal but dynamically loading implementations of animal such as cat/dog) it will say it won't hit the breakpoint, but actually does.
I do not like to play with knives but the only thing that worked for me involves editing the .csproj file itself. So, unload the project file, edit it by cutting and pasting the three asp.net files so that they are together in the ItemGroup. However, sometimes it is necessary to go further as explained here: http://carnotaurus.tumblr.com/post/4130422114/visual-studio-debugging-issue-with-files-of-the-same - Also, I give a list of other proposed solutions that did not work for me. I hope it helps.
Another reason is when you attach to the process to quickly.
For example, when I attach to Excel to debug a VSTO add-in (I am using Add-In Express), if I Build, then Start > Run > Excel, then quickly press Ctrl+Alt+P to attach to process, then press E to highlight Excel and press Enter I see this, before Excel has loaded:
The result is no Breakpoints will be hit.
However, if I give Excel a couple of seconds to load and then press Ctrl+Alt+P, notice the Title is showing:
The result is Breakpoints will be hit.
It also tells me your source code is different from the version but it is not true. I build the whole solution, then attach to process, but still it says the breakpoints won't be hit because the source code is different. Maybe it is a bug?

How do I remove unnecessary resources from my project?

I am working with a very big project (a solution that contains 16 projects and each project contains about 100 files).
It is written in C++/C# with Visual Studio 2005.
One of the projects has around 2000 resources out of which only 400 are actually used.
How do I remove those unused resources?
I tried to accomplish the task by searching for used ones.
It worked and I was able to build the solution, but it broke at runtime.
I guess because enums are used. (IMPORTANT)
How can I make sure that it doesn't break at runtime?
EDIT:
I think one method could be to generate the resource (that is not found) on the fly at runtime (somehow).
But I have no idea about ... anything.
NOTE: It's okay if a few unnecessary resources are still there.
What I would do is write a custom tool to search your source code.
If you remove a resource ID from a header file (i.e. possibly called resource.h) and then recompile and get no warnings: then that's a good thing.
Here is how I would go about writing the app. Take as input the resource file (resource.h) you want to scrutinize. Open the header file (*.h) and parse all the resource constants (Or at least the onces you are interested in). Store those in a hash table for quick look up later.
For each code file in your project, search the text for instances of each of your resource ID's. When a resource ID is used, increment the value in the hash table otherwise leave it at zero.
At the end, dump all the resource ID's that are zero out a log file or something. Then test that indeed you can remove those specified resource ID's safely. Once you do that, then write another tool that removes the specified resource ID's given the results of your log file.
You could write such a tool in perl and it would execute in about 0.3 seconds: But would take days to debug. :)
Or you could write this in .NET, and it would execute a little slower, but would take you an hour to debug. :)
You can use third party plug-in for Visual Studio as ReSharper. This add-in will analyze your C# code and point out unused resources. But it only works with C#.
For C++ projects, check out The ResOrg from Riverblade.
"The Resource ID Organiser (ResOrg for short) is an Add-in for Visual C++ designed to help overcome one of the most annoying (and unnecessary) chores of developing/maintaining Windows applications - maintaining resource symbol ID values"
http://www.riverblade.co.uk/products/resorg/index.html
I've never had one that bad. My method in compiled programs is to use a REXX script which emulates GREP looking for references to source that I suspect is not being used, remove them from the program and see what breaks. I use the REXX script because I can pre-filter the list of files I want to search. Which allows me to do a search across folders and computers.
If your code contains dynamic loading of resources (e.g. via strings) at runtime, then there is no way to automatically determine which resources can be safely removed from the source. A dynamic loading statement could load any resource.
Your best bet is to start with your trimmed down version of the app, run it, and identify which resources are missing when you test it. Then add them back in and retest.
You may want to take a look at the tool Reflector (free), not to be confused with ReSharper (expensive). It can show you which DLLs are dependent on another. Then if you want you may be able to remove the DLL that is not being referenced by anything else. Watch out if you are using dependency injection or reflection which then could break your code without your knowledge.
Reflector:
http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/.
This add-in draws assembly dependency graphs and IL graphs:
http://reflectoraddins.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?title=Graph.
In the "Resources View" of the Solution Explorer, right-click and select "Resource Symbols". Now you get a list where you can see which resources constants are used in the .RC-file. This help you might be a bit on the way to cleanup your Resource.h (although it does not show you which resources are not used in the actual C++ code).
Maybe Find Unused Resources in a .NET Solution helps here? Basically, you'll have to check which resources are used (e.g. by comprehensive code coverage checks) and remove the unused ones.
And probably you should not be afraid by using the trail-and-error approach to cleaning up.
In the Solution Explorer, right click and on a Reference and click on the menu item Find Dependent Code.
If it can't find any dependent code then you can remove this reference from the project. (The Remove operation is also under the right-click menu.)
EDIT: For a large project, the Find Dependent Code operation will take a long time. So since you have 2000 resources and most likely value your time this probably is not a viable option....
For C++ resources, did you try right-clicking the project in "Resource View" and then deleting the ones which do not have a tick mark next to them? It is unsafe to delete unused dialog resources since they are referenced as "enum"s in code (like the following).
enum { IDD = IDD_ABOUTBOX };
..however for all the others it should be safe.

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