Writing a Debugger in Visual Basic

Introduction

Windows NT (and successive operating system versions) expose a set of API functions and structures for debugging a running process. This article shows how these can be accessed from Visual Basic (version 5 or 6). It is recomended that the article Inside the executable: an introduction to the Portable Executable format for VB programmers be read in conjunction with this article.

Getting a Process to Debug

There are two ways to get a process to debug. Either (a) attach a debugger to a process that is already running or (b) start a new process with a debugger attached to it.

Starting a new process with a debugger attached

To start a process, you can use the CreateProcess API call:


Private Declare Function CreateProcess
Lib _
“kernel32” Alias “CreateProcessA” (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, _
ByVal lpCommandLine As String, _ =
ByVal lpProcessAttributes As Long,_
ByVal lpThreadAttributes As Long,_
ByVal bInheritHandles As Long, _ =
ByVal dwCreationFlags As ProcessCreationFlags, _
ByVal lpEnvironment As Long, _
ByVal lpCurrentDirectory As String, _
lpStartupInfo As STARTUPINFO,_
lpProcessInformation As PROCESS_INFORMATION) _
As Long

In addition to the functionality of the Shell command, this allows you to specify additional flags that affect how the process is created:


Public Enum ProcessCreationFlags
DEBUG_PROCESS = &H1
DEBUG_ONLY_THIS_PROCESS = &H2
CREATE_SUSPENDED = &H4
DETACHED_PROCESS = &H8
CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE = &H10
NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS = &H20
IDLE_PRIORITY_CLASS = &H40
HIGH_PRIORITY_CLASS = &H80
REALTIME_PRIORITY_CLASS = &H100
CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP = &H200
CREATE_UNICODE_ENVIRONMENT = &H400
CREATE_SEPARATE_WOW_VDM = &H800
CREATE_SHARED_WOW_VDM = &H1000
CREATE_FORCEDOS = &H2000
CREATE_DEFAULT_ERROR_MODE = &H4000000
CREATE_NO_WINDOW = &H8000000
End Enum

To start the process with an attached debugger, you specify the flags DEBUG_PROCESS + DEBUG_ONLY_THIS_PROCESS.

Attaching a debugger to an existing process

To attach a debugger to a process that is already running, you need to obtain a handle to it and then attach a debugger using the DebugActiveProcess API call.


Private Declare Function DebugActiveProcess Lib “kernel32” _
(ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long

The Debug Loop

Once you have attached your debugger to the process, you need to go into a debug loop. This consists of waiting for a debug event, processing the event when it comes in, and then allowing the debugee to continue.

Waiting for a debug event to occur

To wait for a debug event, you call the WaitForDebugEvent API call:


Private Declare Function WaitForDebugEvent Lib “kernel32” _
(lpDebugEvent As DEBUG_EVENT_BUFFER, _
ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long

This will return TRUE when a debug event has occurred and filled out the DEBUG_EVENT_… structure, which depends on what event occurred but always starts with a DEBUG_EVENT_HEADER:


Private Type DEBUG_EVENT_HEADER
dwDebugEventCode As DebugEventTypes
dwProcessId As Long
dwThreadId As Long
End Type

Processing the debug event

How you deal with a debug event depends, naturally enough, on what event occurred. The event types are:


Public Enum DebugEventTypes
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT = 1&
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT = 2&
CREATE_PROCESS_DEBUG_EVENT = 3&
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT = 4&
EXIT_PROCESS_DEBUG_EVENT = 5&
LOAD_DLL_DEBUG_EVENT = 6&
UNLOAD_DLL_DEBUG_EVENT = 7&
OUTPUT_DEBUG_STRING_EVENT = 8&
RIP_EVENT = 9&
End Enum

EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT

This debug event is thrown whenever an exception occurs in the application being debugged. For example, if there was code in the application that was attempting to divide by zero, you would get an EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT. The buffer that is passed back for this event is:


Public Enum ExceptionCodes
EXCEPTION_GUARD_PAGE_VIOLATION = &H80000001
EXCEPTION_DATATYPE_MISALIGNMENT = &H80000002
EXCEPTION_BREAKPOINT = &H80000003
EXCEPTION_SINGLE_STEP = &H80000004
EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION = &HC0000005
EXCEPTION_IN_PAGE_ERROR = &HC0000006
EXCEPTION_INVALID_HANDLE = &HC0000008
EXCEPTION_NO_MEMORY = &HC0000017
EXCEPTION_ILLEGAL_INSTRUCTION = &HC000001D
EXCEPTION_NONCONTINUABLE_EXCEPTION = &HC0000025
EXCEPTION_INVALID_DISPOSITION = &HC0000026
EXCEPTION_ARRAY_BOUNDS_EXCEEDED = &HC000008C
EXCEPTION_FLOAT_DENORMAL_OPERAND = &HC000008D
EXCEPTION_FLOAT_DIVIDE_BY_ZERO = &HC000008E
EXCEPTION_FLOAT_INEXACT_RESULT = &HC000008F
EXCEPTION_FLOAT_INVALID_OPERATION = &HC0000090
EXCEPTION_FLOAT_OVERFLOW = &HC0000091
EXCEPTION_FLOAT_STACK_CHECK = &HC0000092
EXCEPTION_FLOAT_UNDERFLOW = &HC0000093
EXCEPTION_INTEGER_DIVIDE_BY_ZERO = &HC0000094
EXCEPTION_INTEGER_OVERFLOW = &HC0000095
EXCEPTION_PRIVILEGED_INSTRUCTION = &HC0000096
EXCEPTION_STACK_OVERFLOW = &HC00000FD
EXCEPTION_CONTROL_C_EXIT = &HC000013A
End Enum

Public Enum ExceptionFlags
EXCEPTION_CONTINUABLE = 0
EXCEPTION_NONCONTINUABLE = 1 ‘\ Noncontinuable exception
End Enum

Private Type DEBUG_EXCEPTION_DEBUG_INFO
Header As DEBUG_EVENT_HEADER
ExceptionCode As ExceptionCodes
ExceptionFlags As ExceptionFlags
pExceptionRecord As Long
ExceptionAddress As Long
NumberParameters As Long
ExceptionInformation (EXCEPTION_MAXIMUM_PARAMETERS) As Long
dwFirstChance As Long
End Type

The exception flags tell you whether it is possible to resume from the exception.

More by Author

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Developer Insider for top news, trends & analysis

Must Read