testing enviroment and win 7

[JohnOne]

I've created a VM to test my application

The app is written in C# and uses autoitx3.dll, which is registered in system32 folder.

The app is targeted at .net 3.5, and 3.5.1 is active in the test environment

The testing environment is working as expected wherein the application is not working (I expected this), but what else I expected was for win7 to produce more details of errors.

I run the app, and is crashes, but the only options it gives is to check online for an answer, or close it, the first reveals nothing.

The only informative info I get are these

problem event name: CLR20r3

problem signature 09: SystemDllNotFoundExeption

Rightly or wrongly, I was expecting windows to pick up on and reveal which library it could not find.

My main reason for all this was to see if installing microsoft c++ redistributable pack would cover any files needed, which unfortunately it does not.

So what I'm asking here is how do I find out what library is missing?

EDIT:

I know its not autoitx3.dll that's the problem as one of the apps first jobs is to activate a window using it, and that occurs before the crash.

Edited July 28, 2011 by JohnOne

[jvanegmond]

Did you write this? I can take a look at it, I have a few years experience working with C# on a daily basis including very large projects.

You have a few options:

1. Attach a debugger, this is easiest but requires you to install Visual Studio which may or may not make your error go away leaving you without a reproducer.

2. Write error handling that gives better errors. If your app is already running, then it's your app their responsibility to handle errors; Even the dll loading ones.

[JohnOne]

I see, I have a fair bit of error checking in the code, but obviously not for this type of error. I'm not quite certain how to handle such things if I'm honest. But I suppose I need to find out.

I'd appreciate any pointers you might be able to offer.

Thanks for the advice.

[jvanegmond]

Make sure you're deploying a build with the configuration set to 'Release' and not 'Debug'.

The problem could be that autoit3x.dll is trying to use other dll's which are expected but not found.

You can use process monitor and check for things that don't say SUCCESS.

You can use dependency walker.

[JohnOne]

Cheers Manadar. process monitor done the trick.

[jvanegmond]

Cheers Manadar. process monitor done the trick.

What was the problem in the end? Related to autoit3x or no?

Edit: On an unrelated note, I just saw someone do this:

for (sbyte i = 1; i < 128; i++)

LOL

Edited July 28, 2011 by Manadar

[Richard Robertson]

Debugging doesn't require Visual Studio installed on the host. A remote debugging executable is enough.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bt727f1t%28VS.90%29.aspx

Here's the page for .Net 3.5 remote debugging.

Edited July 28, 2011 by Richard Robertson

[JohnOne]

What was the problem in the end? Related to autoit3x or no?

Nope, some other win32 dll it needs, which I should really have noticed was not present.

Thanks for that tip Richard Robertson I'll look into that.