Differentiating Debug or Release

[ayozzhero]

Is there anyway to detect during runtime whether the app is running under Debug mode or Release mode?

My actual problem is, I create one or two test button on a form. I want the buttons to appear when I run the app in Debug mode (on other words, when I click Run/Play button in VB .Net) and dissappear (hidden & disabled) in Release mode.

Thank you for helping

 

[jmcilhinney]

VB.NET has a C-style preprocessor that can execute conditional compilation:

	Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
#If DEBUG Then
		Me.Button1.Visible = True
#Else
		Me.Button1.Visible = False
#End If
	End Sub

Default constants are CONFIG, DEBUG and TRACE but you can also define your own. Go to the project properties and select Configuration Properties -> Build.

Edit:
Notice that in the properties for the Debug configuration the "Define DEBUG constant" option is checked, while it is not for the Release configuration.

 

[ayozzhero]

Sometimes things are so simple and easy, yet we need some knowledge to accomplish it, otherwise it is still far beyond reach.

Thanks a lot for your help jmcilhinney

 

[jmcilhinney]

I'm sure that a great many VB.NET developers, and the vast majority of inexperienced ones, know nothing about conditional compilation. I don't think I've ever heard it mentioned on a forum anywhere. My background is C/C++ so when I saw #region in VB.NET I just thought I'd try #somethingelse and see what happened. You'll notice that typing a # automatically moves to the far left-hand side, where preprocessor directives (as they are called in C) are usually written.

 

[TechGnome]

I knew that .NET had conditional preprocessors in them, but I didn't know that DEBUG was auto created when in Debug setting. Pretty cool. Most VB developers in general don't know any thing about preprocessors. With a C (ANSI) and Pascal background, not having preprocessors realy drove me mad when moving to VB (back in the VB3 days).

Tg

 

[ayozzhero]

I agree with both opinions. Knowing this preprocessor thingy does help in many condition. I tried to explore more and found it on:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...r7/html/valrfDefinePreprocessorDefinition.asp