What is the difference between Run and Debug in QtCreator?

Pauly

I'm sending commands using the SendMessage to send cmd to an application (in Windows).

void MyClass::SendCmd(HWND hwnd, QString cmd)
{
COPYDATASTRUCT data;
data.dwData = 0x267811;
data.cbData = cmd.size()+1;
data.lpData = cmd.toLocal8Bit().data();;
DWORD lpdwResult;
LRESULT err = SendMessageTimeout(hwnd, WM_COPYDATA, 0, (LPARAM)&data, SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG, 2000, &lpdwResult); //WM_COPYDATA
}

I compile the code in QtCreator and it works fine if I use the "Run". But since I need to debug something so I want to compile and run in the "Start Debugging" mode in QtCreator, but this code does not work. The application always shows it gets some invalid character but I can't seem to get what to application really get. Any advise? What is the difference between Run and Debug in QtCreator? Thank you.

jsulm

@Pauly The difference is: in debug mode the binaries contain debug information and less optimizations.
What does cmd contain? Are there any non ASCII characters?
You can try to print out data.lpData

Pauly

cmd is just QString with only ASCII characters, such as "capture image".

I print out data.lpData in Run mode and Debug mode. It is strange that for Run mode it is something like 0x4bd1568 regardless what command is sent (checked data.cbData which is the right amount of characters to be sent). For Debug mode it is something like 0x4d0ae08 and it is different for different command and it is different even for sending then same command.

The application seems to get the command right in Run mode, but not in Debug mode.

I'm totally confused how this should work...

jsulm

@Pauly 0x4bd1568 looks like a pointer. Do you print the pointer or the string the pointer is pointing to?

Pauly

Can you give me some hint how can I print that as string? Thanks.

jsulm

@Pauly

qDebug() << data.lpData;

should do
How do you print it out now?

VRonin

Good old hungarian notation makes it clear that lpData is a pointer and you are passing a pointer to a temporary variable to it so it can't work.

LPCTSTR dataString = new TCHAR [cmd.size()+1];
 for(int i=0i<cmd.size();++i)
dataString[i]= static_cast<TCHAR>(cmd.at(i).unicode());
dataString[cmd.size()]=static_cast<TCHAR>('\0');
COPYDATASTRUCT data;
data.dwData = 0x267811;
data.cbData = cmd.size()+1;
data.lpData = dataString;
DWORD lpdwResult;
LRESULT err = SendMessageTimeout(hwnd, WM_COPYDATA, 0, (LPARAM)&data, SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG, 2000, &lpdwResult); //WM_COPYDATA
delete [] dataString;

Pauly

qDebug() << data.lpData;

was what I used. It seems to print the pointer...

so i did some searching and used

char* a=(char *)data.lpData;
for (int i=0; i<data.cbData; ++i) {
    qDebug() << *a ;
    ++a;
}

I can see that in Run mode the characters are correct. And in Debug mode it is a bunch of garbage, so it fails. So why would this be different in debug mode?

Pauly

@VRonin said in What is the difference between Run and Debug in QtCreator?:

data.lpData = dataString;

I'm getting a bunch of errors. What should I do?

191: error: assignment of read-only location '*(dataString + ((sizetype)(((unsigned int)i) * 2u)))'
dataString[i] = static_cast<TCHAR>(cmd.at(i).unicode());
^

192: error: assignment of read-only location '(dataString + ((sizetype)(((unsigned int)cmd.QString::size()) * 2u)))'
dataString[cmd.size()]=static_cast<TCHAR>('\0');
^
error: invalid conversion from 'const void' to 'PVOID {aka void*}' [-fpermissive]
data.lpData = dataString;
^

VRonin

sorry, didn't realise LPCTSTR (I too failed at reading hungarian notation) is defined as const, just replace it with LPTSTR or with TCHAR* or with auto

Pauly

@VRonin said in What is the difference between Run and Debug in QtCreator?:

sorry, didn't realise LPCTSTR (I too failed at reading hungarian notation) is defined as const, just replace it with LPTSTR or with TCHAR* or with auto

Thanks for the note. So I change the code to:

TCHAR* dataString = new TCHAR [cmd.size()+1];
for(int i=0; i<cmd.size();++i)
    dataString[i] = static_cast<TCHAR>(cmd.at(i).unicode());
dataString[cmd.size()]=static_cast<TCHAR>('\0');


COPYDATASTRUCT data;
data.dwData = MAGIC;
data.cbData = cmd.size()+1;
data.lpData = dataString;
char* a=(char *)data.lpData;

for (int i=0; i<data.cbData; ++i) {
    qDebug() << *a ;
    ++a;
}
DWORD lpdwResult;
LRESULT err = SendMessageTimeout(hwnd, WM_COPYDATA, 0, (LPARAM)&data, SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG, 2000, &lpdwResult); //WM_COPYDATA

I can see the cmd being printed out (only half of cmd thought) but debug mode still failed. Target application now seems to get the first character of cmd, just as if I send QString* or QString.toLatin1().data().

I guess the question comes down to, what is the difference in QString::toLocal8bit().data() in Run mode and Debug mode?

VRonin

@Pauly said in What is the difference between Run and Debug in QtCreator?:

char* a=(char *)data.lpData;

Are you sure lpData is char and not wchar?

instead of

char* a=(char *)data.lpData;

for (int i=0; i<data.cbData; ++i) {
    qDebug() << *a ;
    ++a;
}

try printing it using

#if defined(UNICODE) || defined(_UNICODE)
std::wcout
#else
std::cout
#endif
<< static_cast<TCHAR*>(data.lpData);

what is the difference in QString::toLocal8bit().data() in Run mode and Debug mode?

QString::toLocal8bit() returns a temporary QByteArray, .data() returns a pointer to the internal data of that temporary variable. That pointer becomes invalid as soon as the temporary variable gets destroyed (i.e. a line below). The debug mode might just keep that variable alive for longer lo let you see inside it if you needed to

Pauly

@VRonin

Where could I see the output as printing it your way? I'm running this at QtCreator and I can't figure out where the output goes. Thanks.

jsulm

@Pauly "Application output" tab

Pauly

@jsulm

I see that now. Yes, it is the cmd that I'm trying to send. However the application still does not get it...

VRonin

How does the application expect the command? UTF-16, UTF-8, ASCII?

Pauly

I think UTF8, since .toLocal8bit() is the only thing that works, even in Run mode...

VRonin

ok then, back to the basic:

void MyClass::SendCmd(HWND hwnd, QString cmd)
{
const QByteArray utf8Cmd = cmd.toUtf8();
COPYDATASTRUCT data;
data.dwData = 0x267811;
data.cbData = cmd.size()+1;
data.lpData = utf8Cmd.data();
DWORD lpdwResult;
LRESULT err = SendMessageTimeout(hwnd, WM_COPYDATA, 0, (LPARAM)&data, SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG, 2000, &lpdwResult); //WM_COPYDATA
}

@Pauly said in What is the difference between Run and Debug in QtCreator?:

I think UTF8, since .toLocal8bit() is the only thing that works

toLocal8bit not necessarily == toUtf8