How to debug an application crash that only occurs within the executable and not in development?

[Cereal]

LabVIEW 2011

Looking for ideas on how to debug an application that crashes only from within the executable.

Is there anything useful that this error report can be used for, thanks in advance.

####
#Date: Tue, Aug 23, 2011 3:10:18 PM
#OSName: Windows 7 Enterprise
#OSVers: 6.1
#OSBuild: 7600
#AppName: LabDAQ
#Version: 11.0 32-bit
#AppKind: AppLib
#AppModDate: 08/23/2011 18:59 GMT
#LabVIEW Base Address: 0x30000000

8/23/2011 3:10:48.331 PM
Crash 0x0: Crash caught by NIER
File Unknown(0) : Crash: Crash caught by NIER
minidump id: a1c0be18-ad05-4b09-b914-afe4a3073daf
ExceptionCode: 0xC0000005± N
0x3072C874 - lvrt <unknown> + 0
0x3072CC28 - lvrt <unknown> + 0
0x7C37FDB4 - MSVCR71 <unknown> + 0
0x77330DF7 - ntdll <unknown> + 0
0x772F9ED5 - ntdll <unknown> + 0
0x00000000 - <unknown> <unknown> + 0

[jcarmody · Accepted solution]

I sprinkle One Button Dialogs throughout the code so I can see how far the code gets before it crashes.

[MarkMoss]

You could use NI-SPY to try and narrow down what part of the software results in the crash.  You could also try progressively disabling more and more of the code until the program no longer crashes. 

Mark Moss

[Cereal]

Looks like the Button sprinkle has done the trick in isolating the problem area. Thanks.

[jcarmody]

I've been playing that game all morning 🙂

[BruceMoyer]

This problem occurred for me too, wasted my whole morning.  Had to litter dialog boxes everywhere, multiple builds, etc.

It ended up being a IMAQ property node that crashed when it tries to get the Image Name of an Image Ref that doesn't exist.  Changed the property node to an "IMAQ Get ImageInfo" VI instead.  Now it works.

LabVIEW 2011 SP1.

Bruce

[NGerry]

I've same problem. Turning off the webserver (in the .ini file

WebServer.Enabled=False) solve this 🙂

[oberfl]

Could you please explain me about the "One Button Dialog Sprinkle" technique? Thanks!

[Blokk]

"I sprinkle One Button Dialogs throughout the code so I can see how far the code gets before it crashes."

You can put "one button dialogs" at different parts in your code, so when you run your code from exe, you will get pop-up windows with some descriptions which you should make to identify the actual position. In this way you may find a problematic part in the code which creates the crash. So your code only crashes in built EXE, but not when you run it as a VI?

[Hooovahh]

Additionally you can use the tools LabVIEW has for debugging an EXE.  It basically allows you to look at the block diagram of VIs within your EXE.  Normal debug tools work as they should and you can set breakpoints, probes, and the other debug tools.

http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361J-01/lvhowto/debug_apps_dlls/