Debugging a .NET Application

After you have deployed a PowerBuilder Web Forms or Windows Forms application, you can debug it.

1. To open the debugger, you can:
   • Right-click the target or project in the System Tree and select Debug from its context menu.
   • Open the project to debug, and select Design > Debug Project from the Project painter menu bar.
   • Make sure the application you want to debug is current and select Debug applicationName in the PainterBar.
2. To start the debugging process:
   • From the Debugger toolbar, select Start applicationName .
   • From the Debugger menu, select Debug > Start applicationName.

• Attaching to a Running Windows Forms Process
  For Windows Forms projects, you can start your deployed application from its executable file before starting the debugger, and then attach to the running process from the debugger.
• .NET Debugger Restrictions
  The .NET debugger supports most features of the debugger for standard PowerBuilder applications, including expression evaluation and conditional breakpoints.
• Release and Debug Builds
  If you choose to compile an application or component as a debug build, an extra file with the extension .PDB is generated in the output directory, and additional information is included in the Output window.
• DEBUG Preprocessor Symbol
  Enable the DEBUG preprocessor symbol if you want to add code to your application to help you debug while testing the application.
• Breaking into the Debugger When an Exception is Thrown
  When an application throws an exception while it is being debugged, the debugger sees the exception before the program has a chance to handle it.
• Debugging a .NET Component
  You can debug .NET components as well as .NET applications that you build in PowerBuilder.