"Invisible" project properties

[jmkresse]

Why, when I click on “VisualGDB Project Properties” under “Project”, does it not display the VisualGDB Project Properties?

[jmkresse]

To clarify, that usually works; but then it appears to stop working for a project, and will not work again. (When I click on “VisualGDB Project Properties”, nothing appears to happen.)

I do have the workaround of bringing up the appropriate .vdgbsettings file, but it’s far easier to explain to my other users how to do things the other way.

[support]

Hi,

This could happen if the property used to store the location of the .vgdbsettings file was set incorrectly. Please try holding Shift while right-clicking on the project and VisualGDB will display the corresponding menu item even if it cannot confirm that it’s a valid VisualGDB Project. It may then display an error that will help locate the root cause for this.

If it does not help, please let us know if it’s an MSBuild-based project or not and we will suggest further diagnostic steps.

[jmkresse]

This issue just appeared in a new project. It it GNU make-based. When I did a Shift-right click on the Project tab, it did not display an error.

[jmkresse]

Now it doesn’t even show the VisualGDB settings in the Solution Explorer, or show “VisualGDB properties” under Project.

Do I need to redo the entire project?

[support]

Hi,

This could happen if the .vgdbsettings file got corrupt or the NMake project settings were modified so that the .vgdbsettings file is no longer specified as the project output.

When you hold Shift, does the VisualGDB Project Properties window show the correct settings? Does opening View->Other Windows->VisualGDB Diagnostics Console and right-clicking on the project again show any error messages?

[jmkresse]

I reverted the directory to an earlier, known good, version, and the issue has gone away. If it reappears, I will try these steps.

Again, I’m using GNU make, not NMake.

Also, can you explain what you mean when you say:

When you hold Shift, does the VisualGDB Project Properties window show the correct settings?

Thanks!

[support]

Hi,

Sorry for the confusion, we will try to clarify.

Visual Studio views the non-MSBuild VisualGDB projects as NMake projects (Visual Studio itself does not know the details about GNU Make vs CMake vs QMake and simply invokes VisualGDB to do the build). In order for those projects to work correctly, their VS-level settings should be configured as shown below:

If the ‘output’ is not set to a .vgdbsettings file, VisualGDB won’t treat this project as its own project and won’t show the settings command. If you manually manipulate the VS project configurations via the VS GUI, you could accidentally break those settings, causing VisualGDB to stop treating the project as a VisualGDB-based project.

Normally if you hold ‘Shift’ while right-clicking on the project, VisualGDB will show its context menu command and try to load the settings from the default file path (<project>-<configuration>.vgdbsettings). If the corresponding .vgdbsettings file is missing, VisualGDB will show default project settings that won’t reflect any of your project’s customizations. Hence the easiest way to check if the .vgdbsettings file is still valid and readable is to open the VisualGDB Project Properties while holding ‘shift’ and check that the settings look correct (e.g. the project type is set to the type you are using and not the default “Windows project”).

[jmkresse]

Thanks for this information!

[support]

Hi,

Most likely some VC++-level project properties that are used by VisualGDB to detect its projects are not set correctly. Please try holding shift while right-clicking in the Solution Explorer – this will force the VisualGDB Project Properties command to appear. Once you open the properties window, VisualGDB should show the details on any errors it detects.

Another way to diagnose this would be to look in View->Other Windows->VisualGDB Diagnostics Console. All non-critical internal errors get logged there, so it might explain what is going on.

If nothing helps, please check that the Output file on the NMake Settings page of VS project properties (not VisualGDB project properties) points to the .vgdbsettings file.

[Author]

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