Using the Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic 5.0 Debugger

The Microsoft Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic 5.0 comes with a separate program you can use to debug your Windows CE applications. This program runs outside of the Visual Basic IDE, so the debugging options available in the Visual Basic IDE are not supported in the toolkit. Instead, the toolkit checks your code for syntax errors, then consolidates the code and property values into a .PVB file for transport to the emulation environment or remote device. Your application is completely compiled before it reaches the debugger, so you cannot edit code in the debugger's code window. Because all errors, other than syntax errors, are caught at run-time, applications must be running in either the emulated or remote Windows CE environment before you can begin the debugging process. Though most debugging is done while in emulation mode, you should also debug your application on the remote device in order to ensure your application is error free.

To debug your application, use the following procedure.

1. Start the debugger.
2. Set breakpoints.
3. Trace through your code using the Step commands.
4. Analyze objects and variables using the Watch and Immediate windows.
5. Test your code in the Immediate Window.
6. Exit the debugger.
7. Modify your application.
8. Recompile your application.

For specific information on using the debugger to complete these and other tasks, see Exploring the Debugging Environment.