[Resolved] Variable resets itself

Hello,
I have written an installer to install drivers and an application package. It's a simple program that launches other installers. At issue is the OS variable. This runs fine on an XP machine, but on W7 64 bit, I get screwy behavior. Upon load, the OS variable is initialized to 0. The OS is polled and OS is set to either 32 or 64, for 32 bit or 64 bit. The type of OS is then displayed in the title of the form, and on both XP and W7, it displays correctly. That is, 32 bit for my 32 bit XP machine and 64 bit for my co-workers 64 bit W7 machine. Now, when the Ok button is clicked, the OS variable is evaluated and if it's 0, the error message "Unable to determine OS bit width..." appears. Well, the error message should not appear at all because OS = 32 or 64, but on the W7 machine, it does appear. How in the world could OS be getting reset to 0?
Driving me nuts!!
Thanks.

Code:

---

Imports Microsoft.Win32
Public Class Form1
    Private OS As Integer

    Private Sub BtnCancel_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles BtnCancel.Click
        Me.Close()
    End Sub

    Private Sub BtnOk_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles BtnOk.Click
        Me.Hide()

        If rbtnDriversOnly.Checked Or rbtnDriversAndApp.Checked Then
            If OS = 0 Then
                MessageBox.Show("Unable to determine OS bit width.  Please manually install driver by browsing to the USB Drivers " _
                    & "folder on the CD and running DPInst_x86 (for 32 bit OS) or DPInst_x64 (for 64 bit OS).", "Error", _
                    MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            Else
                Try
                    Select Case OS
                        Case 32
                            Shell("USB Drivers\DPInst_x86.exe", AppWinStyle.NormalFocus, True) 'launch, normal window, wait for completion
                        Case 64
                            Shell("USB Drivers\DPInst_x64.exe", AppWinStyle.NormalFocus, True) 'launch, normal window, wait for completion
                        Case Else
                    End Select
                Catch ex As Exception
                    MessageBox.Show("Error launching USB Driver installation.  Please manually install driver by browsing to the USB Drivers " _
                        & "folder on the CD and running DPInst_x86 (for 32 bit OS) or DPInst_x64 (for 64 bit OS).", "Error", _
                        MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
                End Try
            End If
        End If

        If rbtnDriversAndApp.Checked Or rbtnAppOnly.Checked Then
            Try
                Shell("Application.exe", AppWinStyle.NormalFocus, False) 'launch application, normal window, don't wait for completion
            Catch ex As Exception
                MessageBox.Show("Unable to launch Application.exe.", "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            End Try
        End If

        Me.Close()
    End Sub

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        rbtnDriversOnly.Checked = False
        rbtnDriversAndApp.Checked = False
        rbtnAppOnly.Checked = False
        BtnOk.Enabled = False
        BtnCancel.Enabled = True
        rbtnDriversOnly.Focus()
        OS = 0 'init to no detected OS
        Try
            If Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0").GetValue("Identifier").ToString.Contains("x86") Then
                OS = 32 '32 bit OS
            End If
            If Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0").GetValue("Identifier").ToString.Contains("x64") Then
                OS = 64 '64 bit OS
            End If
        Catch ex As Exception
        End Try
        If OS <> 0 Then 'if OS bit width detected, show it
            Me.Text = "USB Driver & App Installer - (" & OS.ToString & " Bit OS)"
        End If
        Timer1.Enabled = True
    End Sub

    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        If rbtnDriversOnly.Checked Or rbtnDriversAndApp.Checked Or rbtnAppOnly.Checked Then
            BtnOk.Enabled = True
        Else
            BtnOk.Enabled = False
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

---

I can tell you right now that won't work for detecting all x64 processors. My current system has "Intel64 Family 6 Model 44 Stepping 2" in the identifier field.

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to check into that, but it's not the problem I'm having here. This program is correctly reporting the 64 bit machine, only to execute the if OS=0 statement just a bit later.

Well, variables don't clear themselves automatically, so either you are doing it in code you didn't show (and probably forgot you wrote), or it never was anything other than 0. I can certainly see how it could get through that load event and remain 0 (if an exception is thrown, for instance), so how are you confirming that it is not 0 at the end of the load statement.

EDIT: I guess I see how you are determining that it is correct, as you display it.

Shaggy, there is no more code. You are looking at the entire program.

I can't see how you'd end up with 0 if it was set to either 32 or 64.

I've simplified it down to setting the variable and then checking it on the button click and I don't see anywhere it could be reset to 0

vb.net Code:

Imports System.Management
 
Public Class Form1
 
    Private OS As Integer
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
 
        OS = 0
 
        Dim query As String = "SELECT * FROM Win32_Processor"
        For Each mo In New ManagementObjectSearcher(query).Get()
            OS = mo.Properties("AddressWidth").Value.ToString()
        Next
 
        Me.Text = OS.ToString() & "-bit OS"
 
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub OkButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles OkButton.Click
        Me.Hide()
 
        If OS = 0 Then
            MessageBox.Show("Non determined OS architecture")
        Else
            Try
                Select Case OS
                    Case 32
                        MessageBox.Show("32-bit OS")
                    Case 64
                        MessageBox.Show("64-bit OS")
                End Select
            Catch ex As Exception
                MessageBox.Show("Blah....")
            End Try
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

That's suggestive, though I see no way for the results you are reporting to occur. There are two things you might try (they are different variations on the same thing):

1) Change the break model (on the Debug menu) to break when a runtime exception is thrown.

2) Wrap the ENTIRE Load event in a Try...Catch block and throw up a message in the case of an exception.

The fact that there is so little code, and that you are getting this exception on a Win7 64-bit machine, only, brings to mind the strange fact that exceptions thrown in the Load event will cause the Load event to cease without any visible sign. I realize that this shouldn't be possible to affect you, but it is bug-like behavior related to that particular OS, so the first step might be to try to identify if it is happening at all, then it might be possible to figure out how you are getting the results that you are. If you take those steps, and either one shows that you are getting an exception in the Load event....that could be fascinating.

After some experimenting, it turns out that things are not quite as I thought. MattP. called it on not reading the x64 correctly. No exceptions are thrown. On the 64 bit machine, there is no x64 in the key, so it should have never set OS to 64. OS is displayed in the title bar as 64 bit, but displaying the OS variable directly every time the timer fires shows it to have the value 0. So the real question is, how in the world did it ever get to be 64?

Well, just to rule out the obvious: You didn't happen to hard code the title to something in the designer during testing did you?

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha... omg, I did exactly that. I thought I took that out. I'm so embarrassed. Thanks for pointing it out. Ok, I'm good to go now. Duh, what you must think of me.

BTW, thanks all for the help. I'm sure I'll get it working now.

What I think of you? I think you're human.

I spent all of yesterday morning chasing false leads trying to figure out a bug all because I tried to copy an .mdb file from one folder to another twice, and managed to fail both times without noticing. That made me think that the problem was not in the file, but in the program that accessed the file, because I was using a non-corrupted version rather than the corrupted version. It took me about three hours to figure out that I had copied the file to the wrong folder.

I did the 64 bit os thing just to check to see if it fit on the title bar, and was fully intending to remove it... but got sidetracked. Oh well, this problem is solved now. Thanks again.