How to debug external class library projects in visual studio

Question

I have a project A  that references an assembly from an external project B  class library that is located in another vs solution    I have yet to understand how i can efficiently debug the class library from B while running the program from project A  Is there something i have to enable on project B such as debug info etc so i can step-into at debug time from A   Thanks in advance

User · Answer

I run two instances of visual studio--one for the external dll and one for the main application.
In the project properties of the external dll, set the following:

Build Events:

copy /y "$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).dll" "C:\<path-to-main> \bin\$(ConfigurationName)\$(TargetName).dll"
copy /y "$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).pdb" "C:\<path-to-main> \bin\$(ConfigurationName)\$(TargetName).pdb"

Debug:

Start external program: C:\<path-to-main>\bin\debug\<AppName>.exe
Working Directory C:\<path-to-main>\bin\debug

This way, whenever I build the external dll, it gets updated in the main application's directory. If I hit debug from the external dll's project--the main application runs, but the debugger only hits breakpoints in the external dll. If I hit debug from the main project, the main application runs with the most recently built external dll, but now the debugger only hits breakpoints in the main project.

I realize one debugger will do the job for both, but I find it easier to keep the two straight this way.

User · Answer

according to Martin Beckett  the guy who send me this answer     You can debug into an external library   In the project settings tab look for  visual studio directories  in the  source code  field include the path to the openCV sources  Then make sure that the  pdb files for each of the debug dll are in the same directory as the dll

User · Answer

I was having a similar issue as my breakpoints in project B  were not being hit  My solution was to rebuild project B  then debug project A  as the dlls needed to be updated   Visual studio should allow you to debug into an external library

User · Answer

This has bugged me for some time  What I usually end up doing is rebuilding my external library using debug mode  then copy both  dll and the  pdb file to the bin of my website  This allows me to step into the libarary code

User · Answer

NuGet references  Assume the  -Project A  produces project a dll  -Project B  produces project b dll   and Project B references to Project A by NuGet packages then just copy project a dll   project a pdb to the folder Project B Packages  In effect that should be copied to the  bin   Now debug Project A  When code reaches the part where you need to call dll s method or events etc while debugging  press F11 to step into the dll s code

User · Answer

Try disabling Just My Code  JMC     Tools -  Options -  Debugger  Uncheck  Enable Just my Code    By default the debugger tries to restrict the view of the world to code that is only contained within your solution   This is really heplful at times but when you want to debug code which is not in your solution  as is your situation  you need to disable JMC in order to see it   Otherwise the code will be treated as external and largely hidden from your view     EDIT  When you re broken in your code try the following    Debug -  Windows -  Modules Find the DLL for the project you are interested in Right Click -  Load Symbols -  Select the Path to the  PDB for your other project

User · Answer

Assume the path of   Project A  C  Projects ProjectA   Project B  C  Projects ProjectB   and the dll of ProjectB is in   C  Projects ProjectB bin Debug    To debug into ProjectB from ProjectA  do the following   Copy B s dll with dll s  PDB to the ProjectA s compiling directory   Now debug ProjectA  When code reaches the part where you need to call dll s method or events etc while debugging  press F11 to step into the dll s code     NOTE   DO NOT MISS TO COPY THE  PDB FILE

[visual-studio] How to debug external class library projects in visual studio?

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