I am developing a standalone .exe in VB.NET. This is my first full
application since vb6. The sln. contains 2 projects and around 50
classes(including forms). For the first 6 weeks it was working like a
charm, hit f5 and run with the debugger. Then a coworker and I tried
to "cleanup" the references b/c they didnt' look right. well,
needless to say, it is very screwed up now.

1) i cannot get my refernences to recognize the correct assemblies
unless i put them in the same directory as the .exe i want to debug.

2) if i put them in the directory where the .exe then i can debug,
but only from a "step into" sort of debug. then, once i get it up and
running, i cannot close it without it hanging up. i should've
mentioned, just trying to hit f5 to run the debugger will also hang it
up.

3) this is the weird one. when i try to compile sometimes it will
tell me that i cannot write to the specified directory(debug) b/c
something is using it. well, it turns out that the .exe is running,
but only with about 56k in memory. i shut that down and it will
compile.

if anyone has any clues what i'm talking about, i'd really appreciate
some help and would be happy to tell more about it .

until then, thanks,

kyle

Hi Kyle,

> 1) i cannot get my refernences to recognize the correct assemblies
> unless i put them in the same directory as the .exe i want to debug.

This is how it should work, unless the Assembly is registered in the GAC for
global use.

> 2) if i put them in the directory where the .exe then i can debug,
> but only from a "step into" sort of debug. then, once i get it up and
> running, i cannot close it without it hanging up. i should've
> mentioned, just trying to hit f5 to run the debugger will also hang it
> up.
>
> 3) this is the weird one. when i try to compile sometimes it will
> tell me that i cannot write to the specified directory(debug) b/c
> something is using it. well, it turns out that the .exe is running,
> but only with about 56k in memory. i shut that down and it will
> compile.

It sounds to me like your application isn't terminating correctly. do any of
the included assembleys contain "User controls", these can cause big issues
in the IDE if you have bugs in them, because they actually run (so to speak)
in the IDE. When you say you and a cowforker decided to clean up some
references do you mean the terminating of? I'm not quite sure what you mean
by that, if your assigning the wrong types to certain variables you may come
into strange issues,

*he says in a quite voice

You may be able to resolve typing issues by using "Option Strict On",
somewhere in the project properties I do believe........ never used the
thing myself so I wouldn't know.... bla bla bla.

*ahem

Also, try removing your Bin and Obj folders and going for a fresh
compile, obviously making sure that you don't delete any files that you put
in any of them for keep sake or application use. After you have "rebuilt
all" so to speak, try running the application from explorer, rather than the
IDE (might not make the blindest bit of difference but at least then the IDE
wont slow you down if it goes wrong). Sounds like you might need to
"regress" before you done the "clean up some references" with your
cowforker. I hope this helps, let me know if you have any issues.

Nick.