App runs and minimizes/crashes in release

Question

Hi,

We're developing Windows 8 app. The app is already in the store and we are working on new features. Recently we met an issue which we cannot solve. After we create a package and install it locally on our desktop, the app runs and almost immediately crashes. Actually it minimizes - it's still visible in a desktop toolbar, any time we open it, the app minimizes again. The app crashes on the launch screen.

In debug mode everything works fine. We suspect that there is something wrong with a certificate. The certificate expires in about 1 month so it's still valid.

When the app crashes. It generates a dmp file but it shows nothing useful. Should we prepare the app in some particular way to be able to see any stack trace?

Thanks for any hints.

Pawel

Answer 1

If it crashes immediately you need to isolate the code that gets executed on startup.  Start hacking out things until you spot the problem area and isolate it that way.  When your program crashes it generates the crash dump so either 1. It is crashing somewhere you don't have symbols for or 2. you are having difficulty analyzing the dump.

This is a useful article

Debugging a Windows 8.1 Store App Crash Dump - …

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Jeff Sanders (MSFT)

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Answer 2

Hi Jeff,

Thank you for your feedback. The reason why the app did crash (or minimize) was that it wasn't built with "anyCPU" option.

I'm not sure if it's related but in Windows 8.1 (actually in new VS 2013 Express) there is a new option which allows you to create app bundle (If needed, Always, Never). When I select "Never", a package is created in a folder with suffix "...anyCPU_Test". When I select "If needed" the folder has suffix "...Test". I don't understand these relations but this is what I've observed.

btw Nice article about debugging crash dump.