Just as the title asks. I have solution with 5 projects in it. All dlls are connected with each other and whenever I start debugging, I can freely debug any of them. I'd like to add a separated project and access it's object by using reflection only (no references between the rest and 6th proj at all). Can I make it attach automatically to the debugger? I'm aware of function 'attach to existing process' but that's manual job.
You don't need anything special. Make sure you have pdb file next to the dll for that separate project, have source code locally matching to the version used to build that project, and possibly turn off "my code only" in tools -> options -> debug. At that point Visual Studio should pick up debugging information and allow you to set breakpoints and debug normally.
If PDB located somewhere else you can manually point to the PDP via debug->window->modules view by selecting "load symbols" from context menu on module you are interested to debug.
If sources don't match exactly you can instruct VS to use whatever you have also it likely will lead to confusing debugging experience (How does Visual Studio know if the source file matches the original version?).
You can put below line in your debugging dll ,in which function you want to debuge. it automatically ask you to attach with debugger
System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch();
I have a project I was handed that I unzipped, put on my computer, and now I can't put any breakpoints in. Whenever I try to put a breakpoint in I get an exclamation point over the breakpoint saying "This breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document." Anyone know how I can fix this? This error doesn't show up until the I start to run the code, while the code isn't running the breakpoint looks like it is there just fine.
I'd guess that you might be running a release build? Check the project settings to make sure it's a debug build, otherwise breakpoints can be ignored due to compiler settings sometimes since the optimizations can make the debugger a bit upset.
Might also be worth doing a clean and rebuild all to make sure that you're running against the correct version of the binaries etc.
Here are some things you can try:
Open up the properties page of the project(s) and select the "Build" tab. Click on "Advanced". Make sure where it says "Debug Info" that "Full" is chosen.
Additionally, delete any PDB files in the output folder.
A C# desktop application (on the Visual Studio Express edition) worked, but then it didn't work 5 seconds later.
I tried the following:
Ensure debug configuration, debug flag, and full debug information are set on all assemblies.
Delete all bin and obj folders and all DLL files related to the project from my entire machine.
Recreate projects causing the problem from scratch.
Reboot.
I have two Windows Forms projects in the solution. One of them loads the debug information, one doesn't. They both refer to the assembly I'm trying to get debug information on in exactly the same way in the project file. Any ideas?
I want to add here, mostly for myself when I come back to review this question, that symbols are not loaded until the assembly is loaded, and the assembly is not loaded until it is needed. If the breakpoint is in a library that is only used in one function in your main assembly, the symbols will not be loaded (and it will show the breakpoint as not being hit) until that function is called.
Start debugging, as soon as you've arrived at a breakpoint or used Debug > Break All, use Debug > Windows > Modules. You'll see a list of all the assemblies that are loaded into the process. Locate the one you want to get debug info for. Right-click it and select Symbol Load Information. You'll get a dialog that lists all the directories where it looked for the .pdb file for the assembly. Verify that list against the actual .pdb location. Make sure it doesn't find an old one.
In normal projects, the assembly and its .pdb file should always have been copied by the IDE into the same folder as your .exe, i.e. the bin\Debug folder of your project. Make sure you remove one from the GAC if you've been playing with it.
Check to make sure that you are not in release but in Debug.
When in debug:
First try rebuilding your project by right mouse click the project > Rebuild
If that doesn't work, try a clean of the project (right mouse click on the project > clean)
If that didn't work check this:
Right mouse click your project
Select [Properties]
Select the [Build] tab
Make sure [Define DEBUG constant] and [Define TRACE constant] are checked
Make sure [Optimize Code] is unchecked
Click the [Advanced] button at the bottom of the Build tabpage
Make sure that [Debug Info:] is set to [full]
Click [OK] and rebuild the project ;-)
(step 7 generates the .pdb files, these are the debugging symbols)
Uncheck the "Enable Just My Code" option in the
Tools/Options/Debugging/General
Just something simple to try - you may have tried it already.
Right click the Solution in solution explorer, click "clean solution", this deletes all the compiled and temporary files associated with a solution.
Do a rebuild of the solution and try to debug again.
I've also had troubles with breakpoints multiple projects in a solution - some compiled as x86, some as x64.
The selected answer led me to fix my problem. But I need to do a few things more:
Even with "Debug" selected in the dropdown:
And in the project Properties > Build:
The Visual Studio was not loading symbols to a specific project. So in that dropdown I select "Configuration Manager" and saw that the settings to my web project was incorrect:
Then I set that to "Debug" and it started to generate the .pdb file.
BUT I need to manually copy the PDB and DLL and put in the folder that VS was looking (here is where the selected answer helped me):
Sometimes, even though it gives you this error, the Breakpoint still gets hit, so just ignore the error.
This happens fairly often in the Views of an MVC web app, i.e. .cshtml.
I was able to fix the error by simply setting the option in the 'Attach to Process' to 'Automatically determine the type of code to debug' option as shown in the attached screenshot.
Simply follow the steps below:
Go to Debug from the menu bar
Click on Attach to Process
Near the Attach to option, click on the Select button
The Select Code Type window will appear
Now select the option Automatically determine the type of code to debug and click the OK button.
Debug > Windows > Modules to see what modules were being loaded put me in the right direction.
In my case IIS Express seemed to be loading a different DLL from the temporary ASP.NET files.
The solution?
Browse to C:\Users\<YOUR USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\Temporary ASP.NET Files\vs
Delete everything in this directory!
Check if your .pbd file is missing in your bin/Debug folder. If it is then go to "Properties" of your project, selected "Build" and then "Advanced" at the bottom. Choose "full" under "Debug info" in the new window that appeared. This was my issue and solved it for me.
In my case "Optimize Code" was checked in my project properties. This caused VS to see my assembly as "not my code", and in turn, it did not load symbols for it.
The solution was to uncheck this.
Try running visual studio as an administrator within windows.
You need to enable "Generate debug info" in compiler settings
I tried everything mentioned above, but nothing worked.
[Clean solution, and check for PDB files etc.]
Even publishing the same solution did not resolve the issue.
Then I went to back to what I usually do to resolve (fool this stubborn Visual Studio)
All I did was to make a deliberate change in code and publish the solution.
Then I reverted the change and published again.
Voila [PDB files rid of evil spirits].. Not a smart resolution, but this did work.. :-|
We found the cause of our problem. This code was using the "CodeBehind" attribute in the Page directive of the .aspx file instead of the "CodeFile" attribute (ASP.NET 2.0 and beyond). After days of desperation, a simple search and replace solved the problem.
Option "Start debugging, Debug + Windows + Modules" does not exist in Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 edition.
Unchecking "Use Managed Compatibility Mode" in Tools Options Debugging fixes this.
Webapplications (IIS Express) only:
Rightclick IIS Express Tray and close the IIS.
Clean Solution
Clean solution and Rebuild
Check the configuration is set to Debug
Make sure that the PDB file is in the Debug folder it self
From Debug menu click Enable All Break points
Make sure you're in Debug and not is release by choosing debug in the dropdown menu like you can see in the picture below.
Then, try cleaning your project by clicking the right button in your mouse on the solution in the solution explorer window and choosing Clean solution.
Then rebuild your solution by clicking the right button in your mouse on the solution in the solution explorer window and choose Rebuild solution
Check are the following two setting the same in Visual Studio:
Right click test project, go to Properties, Build tab, and look at Platform target
Mine are all set to "Any CPU" so x64
On the Main Menu bar, go to Test, Test Settings, Default Processor Architecture
Mine was set to X86
Changing this to X64 to match above setting made the built in Visual Studio menu “Debug Test(s)” work and hit breakpoints that were previously ignored with the message “The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document”.
Update:
For Visual Studio 2019 the menus have been moved around a bit:
I also had the same issue what I rebuild the whole solution (including refereced projects) in x86( or x64)
Even though I set all of my projects to x86 from Configuration Manager (Build->ConfigManager) some of my projects were not set to x86.
So Just to make sure right click on the project and follow
project -> properties -> Debug Tab, verify Configuration and Platform.
The .dll where I want to stop debugger and the associated .pdb files where copied near the .exe file. Those files had an older date so I thought they weren't updated in the runtime. I manually deleted them, Visual Studio create another pair AND put this new pair near the .exe. Now the breakpoint works!
Maybe Visual Studio cannot copy and REPLACE existing files (.dll and .pdb) near the .exe since there are another there. So if I deleted manually then VS could create new one near .exe.
I think that the root cause of the problem is that the Visual Studio use another file in runtime, no the file from the project, with the stop.
Instead of doing all these things just Close and reopen
Project Properties (then select your build config) > Build Tab > Advanced... > Debug Info (dropdown)
Set to 'all' or 'pdb-only' then rebuild
This took me a while tried other options above and for some strange reason debugging stopped working.
Tool -> Options -> Debugging -> General -> (untick) "Require source files to exactly match the original version" option
I was integrating a C# application with a static library using VS10 - which I'm new to. I wrote a managed code dll to interface them. I could set breakpoints everywhere but the static lib. I got the message described above - no symbols have been loaded for this document. I tried many of the suggestions above. I could see that the symbols weren't being loaded. I finally noticed a check box Configuration Debug, Enable unmanaged code debugging. That allowed me to set breakpoints in the static lib functions.
In my case, I was compiling a class library (DLL). No modules seem to be loaded in Debug -> Modules, so I couldn't even load the symbols manually.
My solution was to add this line to my code:
System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch();
Once this code is reached, an exception is triggered and .NET Framework shows a dialog box asking which Visual Studio (i.e. new instance of VS 2008, new instance of VS 2013, etc) you want to use to debug the program. You can choose the existing instance of VS with your project loaded. This will attach the process to your VS session and load all symbols, and now you can debug your project.
Of course, the compilation has to be done using the Debug configuration, not Release.
For an ASP.Net application, check the properties of the site, ASP.NET tab. Ensure that the correct ASP.NET version is selected.
I think the source if this error is, the debug symbols have a hard time surfacing to the solution after building for release.
I tried all the other answers -- generally, regenerating .pdb symbols or checking their location, cleaning and rebuilding project, ensuring active configuration is not Release etc.
What eventually worked for me is right-clicking on the project in solution explorer > Debug > Start new instance.
After trying a bunch of these, the thing that ultimately worked for me was this:
In Debug > Options > General, uncheck Enable Edit and Continue.
this happened to me after copy paste another webservice asmx file into an existing webservice, resulting in the same error when trying to debug the recently added service, to be able to debug I had to start without debug, then attach to the process. its weird but its the only way i found to be able to debug.
I'm loading a dll (c#) from QTP. Is it possible to debug the c# code when the qtp test starts.
Yes you can debug into the dll's you can, but you will need source (unless you want to look at the disassembly) and you will also need the PDBs (debug symbols) for the assembly. It is pretty easy to setup...
start the QTP application
start visual studio
open the source code and make sure the pdb's are in the same directory as the dll
in VS go to the debug menu and select attach to process
In the process list, select the QTP process and click "attach"
Set a breakpoint in the code
Start the tests that execute the code and if all is well you should hit the breakpoint
NOTE: if the breakpoint is not hit, VS probably can't find the PDB's and you either need to add a path in options in VS (or something so it can find them).
Also, try turning off "Enable just my code" in the Tools->Options->Debugging options page if it is still not working (mostly if you are looking at release built code).
Update: Answering comment... If you go to Tools->Options... Select "Debugging" on the list on the left and expand that, then select "Symbols" you can add paths there for VS to search for symbols. Also, if you don't have the exact symbols you can right-click the breakpoint and select location and check the option that will allow the symbols to be out of sync.
Hope this helps!
You can insert a call to Debugger.Break()and run the external application, when the break point will be reached Windows will offer you to debug the exception.
Choosing debug will enable you to run the code after the break inside Visual Studio and set break points inside your code.
In case you're using Vista/Win7 you might need to enable debugging - have a look at this post to learn how.
Been running into this problem lately... When debugging an app in VS.Net 2005, breakpoints are not connected. Error indicates that the compiled code is not the same as the running version and therefore there's a mismatch that causes the breakpoint to be disconnected.
Cleaned solution of all bin file and re-compile doesn't help. Not just happening on a single box or person either.
Added Note:
This solution is in TFS for Source Control. If I delete my local TFS repository and get it from source control from scratch, SOMETIMES the problem goes away. I've also tried un-installing and re-installed Visual Studio. That also SOMETIMES helps. That fact that both of those work some of the time indicates that the problem isn't caused by either directly.
Maybe this suggestion might help:
While debugging in Visual Studio, click on Debug > Windows > Modules. The IDE will dock a Modules window, showing all the modules that have been loaded for your project.
Look for your project's DLL, and check the Symbol Status for it.
If it says Symbols Loaded, then you're golden. If it says something like Cannot find or open the PDB file, right-click on your module, select Load Symbols, and browse to the path of your PDB.
I've found that it's sometimes necessary to:
stop the debugger
close the IDE
close the hosting application
nuke the obj and bin folders
restart the IDE
rebuild the project
go through the Modules window again
Once you browse to the location of your PDB file, the Symbol Status should change to Symbols Loaded, and you should now be able to set and catch a breakpoint at your line in code.
Source: The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document.
http://dpotter.net/Technical/2009/05/upgrading-to-ie8-breaks-debugging-with-visual-studio-2005/
In Options -> Debugging you can uncheck "require source files to exactly match the original version", which may help.
Is the build configuration set to Release?
Do you have a reference to an external DLL where the breakpoint is set?
Are you creating a DLL project that is consumed by an external executable? Are you using .NET or COM?
If you are using the COM Interop with .NET, the DLL versions can sometimes be a problem when the executable loads the DLL. For instance, if your daily build cranks out an incrementing build number but your debug DLL has a smaller build number, the executable won't load the debug DLL. To fix this, you will need to scan the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID directory in your registry for the GUID/CLSID of your .NET/COM component. Under InProc32, delete entries with a higher version number than your debug DLL.
Again, the above only applies to .NET + COM Interop DLLs.
I've had a similar problem in the past.
It was solved by closing Visual Studio and deleting the temporary ASP.NET generated assembly files for the project under "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework{framework version}\Temporary ASP.NET Files", re-opening the project.
Read the post here and the comments to resolve it.
AviewAnew - had already done that at the request of the MS tech person. It didn't help to uncheck require source file to match version.
Mike L - configuration is set to DEBUG and there are now external DLL. Using all local projects except framework references.
Are you sure the .pdb files are in the same folder as the executable you are running? Make sure the last modified date of both files match, and that VS is attached to that exe (and no other).
Do you have a post build step that touches your binaries in any way? If so, this can confuse the debugger and make it look like your symbols don't match your exe/dll because of the incorrect size/timestamp.
In the past I have sometimes found that switching off compiler optimisations can solve 'missing' breakpoints, as the optimiser had determined (correctly) that the code was not being called, and removed them from the compiled versions.
This does sound like a different issue, but it might be worth making sure that optimisation is switched off in Debug mode. [Project / Properties, Build settings tab]
Sure there are no Debug attributes on the code that prevent code from being debugged, such as DebuggerHidden or DebuggerStepThrough, at any point of the application?
Can you step through your code up to the line of the breakpoint instead of running and waiting for it to hit? Can you step through code at all?