visual studio debugging

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visual studio debugging

Merve 1

I am using visual studio 2022. But I am having debugging problem. It constantly compiles and runs the previous code file. It does not compile the source code file I just opened.

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Answer 1

Merve 1

So should I open a separate project?

Michael Taylor 61,221 Reputation points

2022-06-08T17:51:35.16+00:00

As I mentioned you can solve the problem in several different ways. If you're just playing around with code then a single project that has a single main where you just keep changing what it is doing is more than enough. I personally create "test" functions that do the actual work that I want to do. Then I have main call that. I just comment out the old test function call and add the new one if I want to play around with something else.

However if your code is dramatically different between source files and you don't want to keep modifying things then separate projects is a better route as well. I do this as well when I'm working on different types of projects (UI vs console, etc).

Answer 2

Michael Taylor 61,221

You'll need to provide us more information. At a minimum please identify what language you're using. Also please confirm that you're actually opening a project and not just opening a random source file. Screenshots are helpful here. VS will only debug files in projects that are open and it'll only compile and debug (by default) the startup project and any dependent project.

Merve 1 Reputation point

2022-06-08T16:01:46.64+00:00

Sorry, I forgot to write. I am using C++. For example I compile file 19 but system runs 18.
Michael Taylor 61,221 Reputation points

2022-06-08T16:21:29.13+00:00

It sounds like maybe you're trying to create multiple .cpp files that each have their own main function. It sounds like your expectation is that this will work and it won't. C++ allows only a single main function as an entry point. Since C++ compiles each .cpp file separately you won't get a compiler error because they are compiled in isolation but you should be getting a linker error LNK2005 saying there are multiple main functions.

The correct solution is to have a single main function in your project (generally in an app.cpp, main.cpp or program.cpp file. Then have that function either conditionally reference the other code you want to run. Alternatively exclude and include the various .cpp files as you are trying to compile the code or use pre-processor directives to conditionally include code.

Personally I find preprocessor directives the best solution here or just create different C++ projects if the code is radically different. Then you can switch between C++ projects within the solution.

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