All the information I’ve found regarding compiler settings is with regards to the full version of VS, which seems to be at odds with the express edition.
The first point is, there is no option on the screen to say if I’m setting options for debug or release mode. Now to the questions:
(1) The enable optimizations option is checked. Is this for release mode, and it’s implicitly unchecked for debug mode?
(2) The generate debug info is set to pdb-only. Is this for release mode, and it’s implicitly set to full for debug mode?
With regards to pdb files, I’ve read that you don’t need to ship them in order to get line numbers in exception dumps. Instead you can archive them and then when sent a dump, you can link it up somehow to find the line numbers.
(3) Is this something that’s only possible in the full versions? In the express edition, it’s not possible to attach a debugger (e.g. to debug at design time). Maybe it has something to do with this?
(4) Define DEBUG constant is unchecked and Define TRACE constant is checked. Are these two settings for release mode and are implicitly checked for debug mode?
EDIT:
I can’t believe it, it’s always the same. As soon as I ask the question, my google skills suddenly increase.
I’ve answered the question below.
The reason I couldn’t see the debug or release options is because I needed to change a setting to show advanced build configurations.
Go to:
Tools>Options>Project and Solutions>General and check ‘Show advanced build configurations’.
Note, if you don’t see this, check ‘Show all settings’ on the main options dialog.
Hope this saves time for others.
ETA: If you are not seeing the advanced build configs, the ones you are seeing are the release mode versions, and the debug versions are the same as I guessed, in the OP.