if statement with no result in C# VS 2012

Question

I have a code like this in VS 2012:

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (Properties.Settings.Default["Database"] != null)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("We landed on spot 1");
        }
        else
        {
            MessageBox.Show("We landed on spot 2");
        }
    }

I'm pretty sure I messed up the condition syntax, but I would expect that one of these would happen:

Compiler warns about errors/project fails to run.
First message is shown
Second message is shown.

But neither of these actually happens. I've been staring at this for an hour and resources I could find are pretty slim. If anyone with an experience could explain me what actually happens here?

Edit: Thanks to JMK's link I found out this is basically a wontfix bug popping up in VS debugger under Windows x64. Error fires if application is run outside of debugger.

put a debug point and see if you are getting into `Form1_Load` — Habib, Sep 04 '12 at 12:37
Try a MessageBox.Show("We landed on spot 0"); before the if statement to prove the Form1_Load event is firing — Dave Hogan, Sep 04 '12 at 12:37
This is a well known bug in Windows Forms, the Load event runs asynchronously and exceptions are ignored - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7572995/how-can-i-get-winforms-to-stop-silently-ignoring-unhandled-exceptions — JMK, Sep 04 '12 at 12:40
Set a Breakpoint on the 1st if, i guess you will discover that your code is not running at all. — CloudyMarble, Sep 04 '12 at 12:37

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 04 '12 at 12:41

3

Its silently erroring.

    try
    {
        if (Properties.Settings.Default["Database"] != null)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("We landed on spot 1");
        }
        else
        {
            MessageBox.Show("We landed on spot 2");
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ee)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ee.Message);
    }

Comes back with "The settings property 'Database' was not found"

answered Sep 04 '12 at 12:41

BugFinder

17,474
4
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I tried it and was like wtf, so, added it and there you go :) – BugFinder Sep 04 '12 at 12:58

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 04 '12 at 12:52

0

Try adding your project namespace before the Properties

if (WindowsFormsApplication2.Properties.Settings.Default.Database != null)

answered Sep 04 '12 at 12:52

Conrad Lotz

8,200
3
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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Propably an exception is thrown and not noticed by the debugger. This happens for Windows Forms projects on 64bit Windows Versions (and is not a behaviour specific to .NET but to Windows in general).

More details here: Visual Studio does not break at exceptions in Form_Load Event

Try pressing STRG + ALT + E and mark the checkbox "Thrown" for "Common Language Runtime Exceptions". Now the debugger will break on any exception in Form_Load()

Since I know about that my workaround is to completly avoid using the Load event.

Most of my Forms are Dialogs so I shadow the ShowDialog() method and call a Init() function.

public class Form1
{

    public new DialogResult ShowDialog()
    {
        Init();
        return base.ShowDialog();
    }

    public new DialogResult ShowDialog(IWin32Window owner)
    {
        Init();
        return base.ShowDialog(owner);
    }


    public void Init()
    {
        // code goes here
    }
}

if statement with no result in C# VS 2012

3 Answers3