Attaching to a running process
All Turbo Debugger command-line options start with a hyphen (-) and must be separated from other items in the command line by at least one space. To explicitly tum a command-line option off, follow the option with another hyphen. For example, -p-disables the mouse.
Any settings you specify using command-line options will take precedence over the settings loaded from Turbo Debugger's configuration files.
The following sections describe Turbo Debugger's command-line options in detail. Unless otherwise noted, all options work the same for TD, TDW, and
TD32. .
The -a options, used orily by TD32, lets you attach Turbo Debugger to a process that's already running under Windows NT. See "The Attach command" on page 50 for details on attaching to a running program.
-ar# The -ar option attaches TD32 to process identification number #.
The process will continue to run after the attachment is made.
-as# The -as option is the same as the -ar option, except that TD32 gains control when the attachment is made.
Appendix ~, Command-line options 171
Loading a specific configuration file (-c)
Display updating (-d options)
Getting help (-h and -? options)
Session restart modes (-j options)
By default TD.EXE loads the configuration file TDCONFIG.TD, TDW.EXE loads TDCONFIG.TDW, and TD32.EXE loads TDCONFIG.TD2, if the files exist. The -cfilename option lets you load a different configuration file, specified by filename. There must not be a space between -c and the file name.
For example, the following command loads the configuration file MYCONF.TDW and the program MYPROG:
TDW -cMYCFG.TDW MYPROG
The -d options, used by TD and TDW, affect the way Turbo Debugger updates the display.
-do The -do option enables dual-monitor debugging. This lets you view your program's screen on the primary display and Turbo
Debugger's on the secondary one. For more information on dual-monitor debugging, see "Dual-dual-monitor debugging" on page 9.
-dp The -dp option, used only with TD.EXE, enables screen flipping-Turbo Debugger is displayed on one screen page and the program you're debugging is displayed on a second screen page. Screen flipping minimizes the time it takes to switch between the debugger's screens and your program's. To use this mode, your display adapter must support multiple screen pages and the program you're debugging must not use screen paging .
..;..ds This option, known as screen swapping, maintains separate screen images in memory for both the debugger and for the program you're debugging. These images are then "swapped" back and forth from memory as each program runs.
Although this technique is the most time-consuming method for displaying the screens, it is the most reliable method. Because of this, display swapping is turned on by default for all displays.
The -h and -? options display a help window that describes the
command-line syntax and command-line options that are available with each debugger.
The -j options specify how Turbo Debugger should handle the session~state
files (described on page 23) when it starts. The options work as follows:
-ji Don't use the session-state file if you've recompiled your program.
Keystroke
-jn Turn off session-state restoring (do not use the restart file).
-jp Prompt if the program has been recompiled since the session-state file was created.
-ju Always use the session-state file, even if it's old.
The -k option, used only by TD.EXE, enables keystroke recording. When keystroke recording is turned on, all keystrokes you type during a debugging session will be recorded to a disk file, including the keys you press in Turbo Debugger and the keys you press inside your program.
Keystroke recording lets you easily recover a previous point in your debugging session. For more information on keystroke recording, see "The Keystroke Recording pane" on page 31.
The -I (lowercase eli) option forces the debugger to start in assembler mode. In this mode, Turbo Debugger does not execute your program's startup code as it's loaded into the debugger (which it normally does). Use this option when you want to debug your program's startup code, or the startup code to a DLL.
The -p option enables mouse support. However, since the default for mouse support is On, this option is normally used to turn mouse support off (-p-).
If the mouse driver is disabled for Windows, it will also be disabled for Turbo Debugger. In this case, the -p option has no effect.
The -r, -rnL;R, -rp#, and -rs# options, used by TD and TDW, are fully described on page 183.
-sc
-sd
The -sc option causes Turbo Debugger to ignore the case when you enter symbol names, even if your program was linked with case sensitivity enabled.
Without the -sc option, Turbo Debugger ignores case only when you've linked your program with the case ignore option enabled.
The -sd option lets you specify one or more directories that Turbo Debugger should search through to find the source code for your program. The syntax for this option is:
-sddirname[idirname ... ]
Appendix A, Command-line options 173
Starting directory
To specify multiple directories, separate each directory name with a semicolon (;). TOW searches for directories in the order specified.
dirname can be a relative or absolute path and can include a disk letter. If the configuration file specifies any directories, the ones specified by the -sd option are added to the end of that list. See page 23 for details on how Turbo Debugger searches for source code.
The -tdirname option changes the directory where Turbo Debugger looks for its configuration file and for .EXE files not specified with a full path.
There must not be a space between the option and the directory path name, and only a single directory can be specified with this option.
All-v options, used only by TD.EXE, affect how Turbo Debugger handles the video hardware.
-vg Saves complete graphics image of your program's screen. Enabling this option uses an extra 8K of memory, but it lets you debug programs that use certain graphic display modes. Try this mode if your program's graphic screens become corrupted when you're running under TD.EXE.
-vn Disables the 43/50-line display under TD.EXE. You can save some memory by using this option when you know you won't be switching to 43/50-line mode.
-vp Enables the EGA/VGA palette save. If your program alters the EGA/VGA palette, use this option to have TD.EXE save your program's palette to memory.
The -we option, used only by TOW, disables Turbo Debugger's system crash checking, which is turned on by default.
If your program generates Turbo Debugger's System crash possible. Continue?
error message, you can use this option to turn the message off. Normally, this error message is generated after you have paused your program's execution with the system interrupt key and then begin to single step.
When you disable the system crash checking, Turbo Debugger issues the message only once, and not as you continue to single step through your program.
The -wd option, used only by TOW, enables DLL checking by Turbo Debugger. When this option is turned on (the default setting), Turbo
DLLs used by your program are available. By turning this option off, you can disable the check for the DLLs.