What exactly means "Strip native debugging symbols"? - xamarin.ios

In Visual Studio with Xamarin.iOS there is this option on iOS Build properties page: "Strip native debugging symbols"
(It seems I'm forced to not use this option because then some native static linked libraries (.a) are removed...)
What exactly is included in a generated ipa file if the option is NOT checked ? The C# assemblies (the source code) ? Can anyone really debug the app published to App Store if the option was not active during build ?

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Unable to load Json.NET dll Xamarin Studio

I have an Indie license for Xamarin so that I can develop apps for iPhone/iPad in my most proficient programming language, C#. With this license I can't use the Visual Studio plugin from Xamarin. I still prefer Visual Studio to Xamarin Studio, so I still develop on Visual Studio whatever code that does not need MonoTouch references and then just manually copy the dll into Xamarin Studio.
I have one assembly, .Net framework 4.5, that gets the following error message when I try to debug my app:
Loaded assembly: /Users/EdGriMac/Dropbox/Quiz/Newtonsoft.Json.dll
[External]
2013-09-23 20:30:38.021 Exam936[2228:c07] Could not load 'Newtonsoft.Json' for registration:
System.Reflection.ReflectionTypeLoadException: The classes in the module cannot be loaded.
at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Reflection.Assembly:GetTypes
(System.Reflection.Assembly,bool)
at System.Reflection.Assembly.GetTypes () [0x00000] in
/Developer/MonoTouch/Source/mono/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/Assembly.cs:351
at MonoTouch.Registrar.OldDynamicRegistrar.RegisterAssembly
(System.Reflection.Assembly a) [0x00000] in
/Developer/MonoTouch/Source/monotouch/src/ObjCRuntime/OldDynamicRegistrar.cs:67
2013-09-23 20:30:38.023 Exam936[2228:c07] This could be due to an outdated assembly kept by the simulator, location:
/Users/EdGriMac/Dropbox/Quiz/Newtonsoft.Json.dll
My tries:
The first thing that springs to mind is that NewtonSoft.Json can't be used with MonoTouch, but I don't know how to find out. Is there a way to find out for sure if a 3rd party dll can be used?
My second idea was that an older or newer version of NewtonSoft.Json could be used by another assembly. This is not a large project, however, and the only other assembly I have that uses Json is RestSharp, but I don't think that uses NewtonSoft.Json. I looked at the web pages for their GitHub page, but was unable to find a reference.
I googled a bit and found this post saying that (a bit down) MonoTouch.Registrar.OldDynamicRegistrar.RegisterAssembly indicates that (quote:) I can't build the app using the build flags --registrar:olddynamic. If I remove that, it now works, I can now link and it appears to be working.. This is probably a setting in Visual Studio you can adjust when you have a Business license. I don't know how to build without these flags.
Is what I am trying to do possible? If yes, what should I do?
Thanks in advance!
The Json.NET version from Xamarin component store (http://components.xamarin.com/view/json.net/) works fine. And it installs directly from within Xamarin Studio

How to create crashlytics binding for Xamarin.iOS?

I've downloaded Crashlytics app that integrates Crashlytics.framework into XCode project, and it works great for XCode. But as far as I know, to build Xamarin.iOS binding I need static library, and I can't find it neither in framework nor in Crashlytics.app contents. There is only "run" executable and header. I don't know how to use it under Xamarin.iOS. Btw, AndrewReed on Xamarin forum managed to build dll somehow, so it's possible.
So, how to create crashlytics binding for Xamarin?
AndrewReed answered this question on Xamarin forum:
As with quite a few sdk's, sometimes they bundle a folder instead of the static lib,which essentially is the static library. There will be a sizeable file that maybe doesnt have an extension(this is your .a file) so you can rename that to be .a and then include that in a xamarin bindings project. Run the sharpie marker on the header file in the folder which will generate your necessary files. Watch out for one gotcha, delegate is a reserved word in c#, so you may need to go around and change this by adding an # symbol(to the name) to allow you to use the reserved word.
So what I actually did was, created a project in xcode and ran the crashlytics programme, this then added the crashlytics framework to the project. In finder locate that and you will have a structure like so: - run - /Versions --/A ---Crashlytics ---/Headers ----Crashlytics.h
So the /A folder is essentially your static lib, use this and create your binding from that, or in this particular case, just download it from the mono bindings || my repo.
If you're looking for an officially supported crash reporting plugin, Crittercism just released one (Full disclosure: I'm one of the co-founders). You can download the bindings from the Xamarin store here: http://components.xamarin.com/view/crittercism
The latest version of Xamarin seems to have it build in.
Here are the steps that I followed
1.) In the Xamarin Studio , go to the main app, and add the Crashlytics API key in the Build -> Crash reporting section. Build and run that app. The evidence suggests that is enough to get data sent to Crashlytics. I saw that it knew about older versions of the app I had built and ran weeks ago with the API key already in.
2.) Go to Xcode and create a new project with the same name as the Xamarin project, com.{company}.{appname}. (You probably need to have that profile downloaded.) I did it in Swift by the way with no issues.
3.) Go to crashlytics.com com and go to settings -> Apps (or https://www.crashlytics.com/onboard)
4.) You will get an app to download and run. The app walks through the steps of adding
A.) A build phase run script
B.) Code to the application main Crashlytics.startWithAPIKey(“nnnn”)
5.) Run your Xcode version of the app
The Crashlytics web page popped up immediately.

Visual Studio 2010 C++/CLI in Static Library Mode: could not find assembly 'mscorlib.dll'

I am working on a C++/CLI project with VS 2012 in Dynamic Library (.dll) and x64 mode.
If I switch the mode to Static Library, I get the error below.
Error 1 error C1107: could not find assembly 'mscorlib.dll': please specify the assembly search path using /AI or by setting the LIBPATH environment variable C:\Depot\Main\Current\Sln\ALibraryProject\Stdafx.cpp 1 1 ALibraryProject
I tried removing the reference to the mscorlib.dll then adding it again from:
Project > Properties > General > Common Properties
But that didn't help. As I know that VS handles the reference to the .NET assemblies, I don't want to add a disk file reference to it as it seems illogical! Did anybody face this before?
I had the same problem when converting my solution from the VS2010 compiler to VS2013 compiler.
I resolved it by changing the project settings (for the project containing the managed .cpp file that was throwing this error) as follows: In Project Settings | C/C++ | General | Additional #using Directories I added the macro $(FrameworkPathOverride). This resolves to the reference assembly directory for the version of .NET that you're targeting, which in my case is C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.5.1
If I switch the mode to Static Library
This is not the typical error you get when you try to build a static library with /clr in effect. I'd have to assume you've been tinkering with project settings to get rid of the inscrutable linker errors you get when you try to do this.
Core issue is that the C++/CLI build system doesn't support static libraries that contain MSIL. Managed code doesn't use a linker, binding happens at runtime. Which makes the essential difference between static libraries and DLLs disappear. So Microsoft decided to not support it because it didn't make much sense to implement it. Unfortunately they don't yell loud enough when you try to do it anyway, the linker errors you get don't give enough of a hint what you did wrong. Workarounds, like merging with ILMerge don't work either, it cannot deal with mixed-mode assemblies. Merging the native code sections and their associated relocation table entries is very untrivial.
Keep in mind that it is fine to link native static libraries. A typical C++/CLI project has only the ref class wrappers that need to be built with /clr in effect. You can glue any amount of native code from libraries into the final assembly.
I'm forced to theorize about the actual compile error, too many programmers get this error for another reason that doesn't have anything to do with building static libraries and they are harassing me in the comments.
Do beware that targeting a different version of .NET than the one you have installed on your machine is quite a hazardous affair, particularly so if you want to target 4.0 and you have 4.5.x installed. The key element in your .vcxproj file is the <TargetFrameworkVersion>. This will be missing if you started the project targeting an old .NET version, you have to insert it yourself. The IDE also doesn't support changing it if it is present, again edit by hand.
Which is enough to coax MSBuild into generating the proper compile command. You can verify if that panned-out well, look in the *.tlog subdirectory of the Debug build directory for your project. The cl.command.1.tlog file shows the options that were passed to the compiler. It should contain:
/AI"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0"
/FU"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\mscorlib.dll"
Note the subdirectory, very important that it matches your intended .NET target. v4.0 in this example. And very, very important that it does not point to c:\windows\microsoft.net, the legacy location for reference assemblies.
I have the same problem. Having a dll doesn't work, as I need to provide a native C++ wrapper for a .net object so it can fulfil a natice c++ interface - I can't use .net in a dll interface - this gives a compile error
This worked as a static library in VS 2010 (with .net 4)
Some of my executables and dlls which also have some code with /clr. They don't have an issue. I'm not trying to make a net Lbirary.
I solved it by removing dependency in old and not updated mixed lib, which was also configured only in Debug configuration, and as result, it started to get the same error as yours after I changed some code.
It was not simple to find it, because error is not clear, and the dependency was set up via "Additional Dependencies" in project settings.
Open visual studio and unload your project then Go to the project folder and open file .vcxproj . Search for tag "targetFrameworkVersion"
(if not present it means ur project is not using dot net frameworks.so no requirement of change)
Change it to required version
Save the file.
And now reload the project .

Linker warning C++ Visual Studio

I have run into this problem, which although is a warning, I suspect is a sign of something wrong under the hood. When I build in release mode I get this warning:
MSVCRT.lib(cinitexe.obj) : warning LNK4098: defaultlib 'msvcrtd.lib' conflicts with use of other libs; use /NODEFAULTLIB:library
I'm building a dynamic DLL in Visual Studio C++ Express Edition. When I do it in debug mode no warning arises. I've googled a bit and it looks like msvcrt and msvcrtd are both for multithreading, one for debugging and the other not. I could use /NODEFAULTLIB with MSVCRT.lib, but I don't think that avoiding symptoms really helps with the problem.
I really don't know if this is a huge problem. The DLL and .lib files are generated correctly.
Check that your runtime library settings are correct in the Release configuration of your project. Basically it should be the same as your Debug build, but without the word 'Debug' in the description. Visual Studio docs on this issue are here.
Check your settings as follows:
in Solution Explorer right click the Project and select Properties
make sure the Configuration (at the top of the Properties window) is Active (Release)
go to Configuration Properties -> C/C++ -> Code Generation
check that Runtime Library for Release is not a Debug version of the CRT.
The problem is related to your libraries.
They are linked differently than your program.
Your program may be single-threaded, while your libraries may be linked as multithreaded, for example.
Look under
Project Properties
Configuration Properties
C/C++
Code Generation
Runtime Library
to see the setting (e.g. "Multi-threaded Debug DLL (/MDd)").
This is a huge problem, since it can lead to many unexpected crashes of your application, AND you can't distribute an application which links msvcrtd.lib, since you are not allowed to distribute the debug C++ runtimes of Visual Studio.
Though /NODEFAULTLIB should fix those, you should fix the issue itself.
Like casablanca said, msvcrtd.lib is linked in release mode, but it should only be linked in debug mode.
This does not mean that your own application has wrong linker settings. Any of the libraries you use in your project could have incorrect settings as well.
What I usually do to fix this is, to open all the release .lib files which your application links, with a text editor which can open such large binary files (like SciTE), and then I search them for e.g. VC80.DebugCRT (VC80 == Visual Studio 2005 in this case), and if I find this string in one of those libraries, that library should be recompiled with /MD.
If you are linking dynamic libraries, you can use a tool called Dependency Walker on the .dll files instead of manually searching the .lib files.
If Dependency Walker shows the dependency on one of the debug crt DLL files like e.g. MSVCP80D.dll (note the trailing D), recompile that library using /MD.

How to make project exe,how to include all runtime dll files

How to include the windows runtime dll files in setup project.
without vc++ 6.0 software in the machine the project must execute.
or give me the hint how to make a the project setup(EXE) in vc++ 6.0 ,i am using create installor,
You can modify the project settings to link statically to the C runtime (I assume this is what you mean when you said windows runtime ?). The static link flags are:
MultiThreaded static linkage (/MT)
MultiThreaded debug static linkage (/MTd)
Sorry, been awhile since I used VC6.0, so I had to check the GUI. You'll find this in project settings, C++ tab, Code Generation combo box, "Use run-time library").
To add to what Cannonade has already said, if you are doing it through Visual Studio, then this can be done through Project Settings->General Page->Use MFC as a static library. This way your created exe will be ready to run on any windows box.

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