What debugging tools are available for directshow filters? Presently, I have a project that compiles and registers a video source filter that I then setup a graph in GraphEdit. I am using c++ in visual studio 2008. Is it possible to get a debugger attached to the filter in any way where I could set break points, inspect variables, etc? Barring that is there a way to log diagnostic information somewhere that I can view in real time?
There should be no problem with attaching a debugger. Set graphedt.exe as the debug target in your filter's Visual Studio project and you should be able to set breakpoints in your code. If you're having difficulty with this, it might be because of the anti-debugging logic in some decoders — you'll have to avoid using those.
You can also get useful debug information by logging the deliveries and their timestamps and latency. The best way I find to do ths is to use a pass-through filter. There is an example monitor filter like this available in source and binary form from www.gdcl.co.uk/mobile (win32 and win mobile).
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