C if then directives for debug vs release

Question

In Solution properties  I have Configuration set to  release  for my one and only project    At the beginning of the main routine  I have this code  and it is showing  Mode Debug    I also have these two lines at the very top     define DEBUG   define RELEASE   Am I testing the right variable     if  DEBUG              Console WriteLine  Mode Debug      elif  RELEASE              Console WriteLine  Mode Release      endif   My goal is to set different defaults for variables based on debug vs release mode

User · Answer

Be sure to define the DEBUG constant in the Project Build Properties. This will enable the #if DEBUG. I don't see a pre-defined RELEASE constant, so that could imply that anything Not in a DEBUG block is RELEASE mode.

User · Answer

It is worth noting here that one of the most significant differences between conditionally executing code based on  if DEBUG versus if System Diagnostics Debugger IsAttached  is that the compiler directive changes the code that is compiled   That is  if you have two different statements in an  if DEBUG  else  endif conditional block  only one of them will appear in the compiled code   This is an important distinction because it allows you do do things such as conditionally compile method definitions to be public void mymethod   versus internal void mymethod   depending on build type so that you can  for example  run unit tests on debug builds that will not break access control on production builds  or conditionally compile helper functions in debug builds that will not appear in the final code if they would violate security in some way should they escape into the wild   The IsAttached property  on the other hand  does not affect the compiled code   Both sets of code are in all of the builds - the IsAttached condition will only affect what is executed   This by itself can present a security issue

User · Answer

DEBUG  DEBUG should be defined in VS already   Remove the  define DEBUG in your code  Set preprocessors in the build configuration for that specific build   The reason it prints  Mode Debug  is because of your  define and then skips the elif   The right way to check is    if DEBUG     Console WriteLine  Mode Debug      else     Console WriteLine  Mode Release      endif   Don t check for RELEASE

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Since the purpose of these COMPILER directives are to tell the compiler NOT to include code  debug code beta code  or perhaps code that is needed by all of your end users  except say those the advertising department  i e   Define AdDept you want to be able include or remove them based on your needs  Without having to change your source code if for example a non AdDept merges into the AdDept  Then all that needs to be done is to include the  AdDept directive in the compiler options properties page of an existing version of the program and do a compile and wa la  the merged program s code springs alive    You might also want to use a declarative for a new process that is not ready for prime time or that can not be active in the code until it s time to release it   Anyhow  that s the way I do it

User · Answer

By default  Visual Studio defines DEBUG if project is compiled in Debug mode and doesn t define it if it s in Release mode  RELEASE is not defined in Release mode by default  Use something like this    if DEBUG      debug stuff goes here  else      release stuff goes here  endif   If you want to do something only in release mode    if  DEBUG      release     endif   Also  it s worth pointing out that you can use  Conditional  DEBUG    attribute on methods that return void to have them only executed if a certain symbol is defined  The compiler would remove all calls to those methods if the symbol is not defined    Conditional  DEBUG    void PrintLog         Console WriteLine  Debug info       void Test         PrintLog

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I got to thinking about a better way  It dawned on me that  if blocks are effectively comments in other configurations  assuming DEBUG or RELEASE  but true with any symbol   public class Mytest               public DateTime DateAndTimeOfTransaction             public void ProcessCommand Mytest Command                        CheckMyCommandPreconditions Command                  do more stuff with Command                        Conditional  DEBUG            private static void CheckMyCommandPreconditions Mytest Command                        if  Command DateAndTimeOfTransaction  gt  DateTime Now                  throw new InvalidOperationException  DateTime expected to be in the past

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Slightly modified  bastardized   version of the answer by Tod Thomson as a static function rather than a separate class  I wanted to be able to call it in a WebForm viewbinding from a viewutils class I already had included    public static bool isDebugging         bool debugging   false       WellAreWe ref debugging        return debugging      Conditional  DEBUG    private static void WellAreWe ref bool debugging        debugging   true

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NameSpace  using System Resources  using System Diagnostics    Method     private static bool IsDebug                 object   customAttributes   Assembly GetExecutingAssembly   GetCustomAttributes typeof DebuggableAttribute   false           if   customAttributes    null   amp  amp   customAttributes Length    1                         DebuggableAttribute attribute   customAttributes 0  as DebuggableAttribute              return  attribute IsJITOptimizerDisabled  amp  amp  attribute IsJITTrackingEnabled                     return false

User · Answer

If you are trying to use the variable defined for the build type you should remove the two lines       define DEBUG    define RELEASE        these will cause the  if  DEBUG  to always be true   Also there isn t a default Conditional compilation symbol for RELEASE   If you want to define one go to the project properties  click on the Build tab and then add RELEASE to the Conditional compilation symbols text box under the General heading   The other option would be to do this      if DEBUG     Console WriteLine  Debug     else     Console WriteLine  Release     endif

User · Answer

Remove your defines at the top   if DEBUG         Console WriteLine  Mode Debug      else         Console WriteLine  Mode Release      endif

User · Answer

I m not a huge fan of the  if stuff  especially if you spread it all around your code base as it will give you problems where Debug builds pass but Release builds fail if you re not careful   So here s what I have come up with  inspired by  ifdef in C     public interface IDebuggingService       bool RunningInDebugMode       public class DebuggingService   IDebuggingService       private bool debugging       public bool RunningInDebugMode                    if DEBUG           return true             else           return false             endif         WellAreWe            return debugging              Conditional  DEBUG        private void WellAreWe                 debugging   true

User · Answer

bool isDebug   false  Debug Assert isDebug   true           not        The method Debug Assert has conditional attribute DEBUG  If it is not defined  the call and the assignment isDebug   true are eliminated      If the symbol is defined  the call is included  otherwise  the call  including evaluation of the parameters of the call  is omitted    If DEBUG is defined  isDebug is set to true  and passed to Debug Assert   which does nothing in that case

User · Answer

Remove the definitions and check if the conditional is on debug mode  You do not need to check if the directive is on release mode   Something like this    if DEBUG      Console WriteLine  Mode Debug      else     Console WriteLine  Mode Release      endif

User · Answer

I prefer checking it like this over looking for  define directives   if  System Diagnostics Debugger IsAttached               else                With the caveat that of course you could compile and deploy something in debug mode but still not have the debugger attached

User · Answer

A tip that may save you a lot of time - don t forget that even if you choose debug under the build configuration  on vs2012 13 menu it s under BUILD    CONFIGURATION MANAGER  - that s not enough    You need to pay attention to the PUBLISH Configuration  as such

[c#] C# if/then directives for debug vs release

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