I don't think Arduino supports this which is why we have a USB debugger.

In future versions we hope to use the std Atmel output folder so the hex and elf would be found but I still don't think it will work.

Of course you can stop using the pde/ino system and revert to a std Atmel Studio project with a "main" source file, but then you will not have an Arduino compatible compile and I still believe it would fail.

If you have an Atmel project without ino/pde then Visual Micro will "go silent" and not manage the project for you. You will be back to raw Atmel Studio.

Sounds like it should work, the sim seemed to work so the debug should work.

Are you going to try it?

Hi switch on options "compiler>always show build folder"

This will give you a link to the build folder

CTRL+CLICK to open the folder or just copy and use the link as required

Don't forget you can also upload using a programmer from Visual Micro. Take a look at the "tools menu > upload using programmer"

Thanks

Simulator example here uses same system http://www.visualmicro.com/post/2013/06/05/How-to-start-the-Atmel-Simulator-Ardu...

Hello,

Yes some Arduinos use 328 but there are other chips. However the usb debugger is available because hardware debug is not an easy or often practical solution for Arduino.

Thanks for the info, look forward to hearing of any other questions or issues in this forum

Looks like the topic is getting a bit old, but this may be useful.

I needed to use a HW debugger with Atmel Studio 6.1SP2 on Windows 7 for a Uno, but wanted the final debugged product to be Arduino-compatible.   I tried the method suggested to open an object file debugging session, and I have to report it works fine with the simulator and also with the AVR Dragon debugWire debugger.  You may need to locate some source files for the debugger, but otherwise it is very similar to a standard AS project.

I did try to copy the .elf file to the Arduino project/sketch, in the hope the debugger would just work according to the project tool properties, but those properties don't seem to work fully for an Arduino project, so no luck. It would be good to be able to opt to use the standard project tool properties instead of the Arduino setup.

A couple of related points on this topic that might not be generally known:  if you have installed the AtmelUSB driver, the AVR Dragon is tied to AS and can't be accessed by avrdude, even from inside AS or even if AS is not running: you have to use the AS Device Programming menu.  If you don't install AtmelUSB, you can use avrdude, but you can't use the AS Device Programming menu, so no debugging in AS.  I had no luck trying to install the libusb_win "filter" driver, but the regular driver worked fine.

Also, if you are programming an Arduino (or anything else) with a capacitor attached to RESET, debugWire will not work and the MCU will probably end up brain dead, stuck in debugWire mode but not responding to it - bad news.  For the same reason, it's good to disable debugWire before you exit AS.

Oh, I agree entirely.  I was still using the Arduino IDE for the bulk of the job (I chose the Arduino/AVR platform over the PICs I used to use because of the IDE and C++), moving over to AS only when it occasionally became necessary to use the HW debugger.  That move was always avoided as long as possible, because it wasn't always easy, the Arduino compatability is lost, and HW debugging is inherently tricky anyway.  Atmel Studio with the VM extension provides a much better IDE, retains the Arduino compatability, has a very useful debugger, and allows me to do the whole thing in AS.  Very nice.