Overview: The Debugging Interface

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Debugging is the process of correcting or modifying the code in your project so that your project can build, run smoothly, act as you expected, and be easy to maintain later.

To this end, Visual C++ provides a variety of tools to help with the varied tasks of tracking down errors in the code and program components.

The debugger interface provides special menus, windows, dialog boxes, and spreadsheet fields. Drag-and-drop functionality is available for moving debug information between components. Occasionally the debugger is paused in break mode, meaning the debugger is waiting for user input after completing a debugging command (like break at breakpoint, step into/over/out/to cursor, break at exception, break after Break command or Restart).

What do you want to know more about?

Debug build versus release build

Debugger menu items

Debugger windows

Debugger dialog boxes

Drag and drop information

Using spreadsheet fields

Viewing the value of a variable

Modifying the value of a variable

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Debugging Visual C++ projects