[support]

Hi,

Most likely, the old project file hardcodes the incorrect path somewhere in the settings. VisualGDB stores its ESP-IDF project settings in XML-based .vgdbcmake/.vgdbproj files, so you should be able to find out the difference by simply comparing a working and a broken project file side-by-side.

Also doing a full rebuild (Rebuild All, not Build All) might help, as it will reset the CMake-specific cache that may also contain some invalid paths.

[support]

The VSIX installer is likely using a different API than the VisualGDB installer. We do not use the VSIX installer because VisualGDB needs to install several components (e.g. MSBuild platform) that are shared between multiple VS instances and would not be handled correctly by the VSIX installer.

[support]

Yes, please consider following our BSP relocation tutorial.

[support]

No problem, we have compared the 2 projects and found the following differences:

1. The VisualGDB project did not specify the scatter file and was using the default one.
2. The VisualGDB project used the regular C library, while the Keil project used microlib.

After updating both settings and building the release configuration, the output produced by both projects appears identical (when using the release configuration).

Please try re-importing the project using the following VisualGDB build: VisualGDB-5.5.3.3493.msi .

It will automatically import the scatter file setting from the Keil project and will also hide the GCC toolchains when selecting the Keil toolchain on the first wizard page and vice versa.

The microlib setting needs to be configured manually as shown in the attached file (please use the Keil Settings page, as the setting affects both compiler and linker).

If the file produced by VisualGDB still doesn’t work, please confirm that you are using the Release configuration (the project you attached had the Debug configuration built) and try replacing the VisualGDB’s ELF file (VisualGDB\Release\<Project Name>) with the axf file produced by Keil (ensure you disable automatic project rebuilding via Tools->Options->Projects and Solutions->Build and Run). This should help understand whether the problem is still triggered by some differences between the ELF files, or by debugger settings.

Attachments:

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[support]

Hi,

We would normally advise to use the regular BSP mechanism and then explicitly set the “Excluded from build” flag (not “Exclude from Project”) for the BSP-specific files in the native configuration.

The “Excluded from Build” flag is set for each platform/configuration independently, so it will only affect the configurations where you set it. VisualGDB will not overwrite this flag when regenerating BSP-specific files, so the VisualGDB-specific configurations will also work as intended.

You can read more about combining multiple platforms and configurations in the same project here: https://visualgdb.com/tutorials/porting/multiplatform/

[support]

Yes, please try the following build: VisualGDB-5.5.3.3491.msi

It includes a redesigned Hardware Registers window with live mode, previous value history and other usability improvements.

[support]

Hi,

Looks like you are using the regular Embedded Project Wizard that is no longer recommended for the ESP32 devices.

Please try using the Advanced ESP-IDF Project Wizard instead as shown in this tutorial: https://visualgdb.com/tutorials/esp32/esp-idf/

[support]

Hi,

Please refer to the following page for details: http://visualgdb.com/support/oldpackages/

[support]

Sorry, the names shown in the VisualGDB installer come directly from the Visual Studio installer interfaces and it looks like the VS installer reports both versions the same way.

As this is a fairly rare scenario, our advice would be to find out experimentally which of the checkboxes corresponds to the instance you need. Once you select it, VisualGDB will remember it when installing updates, so you won’t need to do it again.

[support]

Hi,

Thanks for providing the repro files. It looks like the imported project is missing a reference to the startup file (startup_stm32f429xx.s), hence it indeed won’t work.

Most likely, this happened because you did not select to use the Keil compiler when importing the project (see below). Please double-check both first and the second pages of the wizard have the Keil compiler selected (sorry, those settings are currently separate due to backward compatibility):

Another difference between the projects is that the Keil project is built with full optimization, while VisualGDB project has the Debug configuration selected. It should normally not cause any problems, but some project-specific bugs can only be triggered in one of configurations, but not the other one. Hence if adding the startup file doesn’t solve the problem, please try checking whether the Release configuration of the VisualGDB project works as expected.

Attachments:

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[support]

No problem. We have rechecked everything and found the root cause. Turns out, that the logic responsible for automatically locating missing packages was not always updating the package definitions, hence it would not find the very recently released packages. We have fixed the issue in our development branch and will include the fix in the next Preview release of v5.5.

[support]

Hi,

Please try reproducing the problem with the command-line gdb and OpenOCD tools. If the problem persists, please contact Espressif for help.

If the problem only happens when using VisualGDB, we can help you compare the setups and replicate the results of the command-line session with VisualGDB.

[support]

No problem, we will try to help you. The steps you provided should normally work, hence the issue is likely caused by some combination of settings that were not explicitly mentioned. Hence, following the generic steps on our side will very likely not reproduce the problem.

We can still help you resolve this, however we would need you to do the following additional steps on your side:

1. Locate the project generated by STM32CubeMX that you imported into VisualGDB. Open it using the Keil IDE.
2. Add the same scatter file to it. Make sure it is exactly the same as the scatter file you used with the VisualGDB project.
3. Build the project with the Keil IDE and make sure it works as expected.
4. Try comparing the memory layouts and symbols of the 2 projects using VisualGDB’s Memory Explorer (you can choose the .axf file produced by Keil as a reference).
5. If the comparison doesn’t point to a specific cause, please create a .7z archive of the VisualGDB project (including all relevant sources and the output file) and the equivalent Keil project (including all the relevant sources and the .axf file) and attach it here. If the archive is too large, please try using a file hosting service, such as Google Drive.

If we could build both projects on our side and confirm that they behave differently despite using the same sources, we should be able to update VisualGDB to replicate the output of the Keil IDE.

[support]

Hi,

This is by design. The “Fixed Stack/Heap” framework only works when using the StackAndHeap.c file provided by it and a VisualGDB-generated linker script that is compatible with the file.

The options in the GUI simply define the FIXED_STACK_SIZE and FIXED_HEAP_SIZE macros that are used by StackAndHeap.c.

If you are using your own logic for managing stack/heap, you can either specify the macros it expects manually, or update it to use the macro names used by VisualGDB.

If you would like to avoid using the startup file shipped with VisualGDB, please consider updating to the latest EFM32 BSP (v5.9.1). It adds a checkbox allowing to exclude the startup file to VisualGDB Project Properties.

[support]

Thanks for the screenshot. Looks like you are using the legacy formatter, so the clang-format settings are irrelevant.

We have double-checked the configuration you mentioned. The option you mentioned controls an extra newline between “{” and “}”. In order to control whether “{” gets on a separate line, please use the “New control blocks” option instead.

[Author]

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