Debugging in VS.NET

If you make a syntax error, then the compiler will tell you and you can easily solve the issue. But what if there is a logical error? You may never know what went wrong, just by looking into the code. During runtime, the application may give wrong results, which may not be noticed immediately by anyone. When someone report that your "calculator program" gives the result 10 when adding 5 and 4, what will you do? A logical error in a small calculator program may be an easy to fix issue, but what if it is a very complex accounting software?

The Debugger becomes a very handy tool in such situations. A Debugger is a software process that help you monitor the execution of your code. Microsoft gives us a very powerful debugger, integrated with the VS.NET. When you execute your code in debug mode, you can watch how it executes each line of code. You can run (debug) the application step by step, line by line and see the value of each variable at any point of time. You can visually count how many times a whileloop executes and see whether it executes the ifblock or else block.

So, in short, debugger help you watch how your code is executed. You can see how your calculator program calculates 5 + 4 = 10 and easily figure out the logical error.

Debugging your project

Running your project in Debug mode doesn't need lot of work. Just choose the menu : Debug > Start or press F5. Now your application will run in debug mode. To run your application in non-debug mode, choose the menu : Debug > Start without Debugging or press Ctrl F5.

You may not feel any difference whether you run in debug mode or non-debug mode. In both the cases, your application runs as usual! To find the difference, you can use breakpoints

.BreakPoints

BreakPoints are used to stop the execution at certain lines of code in the application and monitor the values of various variables etc at that point of time. To put breakpoints, click on any line of code and press F9or click on the leftbar of any line of code. When a breakpoint is enabled, the line will be highlighted with BROWN color and a BROWN circle will appear on the left bar (See image below). To remove a breakpoint, press F9 again.

Open your project and mark breakpoints in different lines of code. Now start the debugger by pressing F5. Note that every time the execution passes through the lines marked as 'breakpoint', execution stops there. You can press F5 to continue the execution again. Or, press F10 to continue the execution line by line! When the execution stops on a breakpoint, or when you continue execution line by line by pressing F10, you can point your mouse over any variable and it will show you the value of that variable at that point of time. You can see how the values are changed at each line of code and this helps you easily figure out the logical errors. This process is called 'Debugging'. Next time, when you hear someone complaining about his 'debugging nightmares', you know what it is!

Change path of execution

When the execution reaches a breakpoint, you can see a little YELLOW Arrow on the leftbar of the current line of code and the line will be highlighted with YELLOW color (See image below). When you press the F10, the execution will proceed to the next line of code.

You can change this execution path by clicking on the yellow arrow on the leftbar and dragging it into any other line of code. For example, if you are currently inside an if block, you can drag the execution to the else block (or, to some other line of code), thus changing the application behaviour the way you want! Don't you agree that the Debugger is a very powerful tool?

Quick Watch

While debugging, you can view the value of any variable instantly by pointing the mouse over the variable (See image below. You can see a very small light yellow window showing name = "Little John". This is displayed when the mouse is pointed over the variable name). But this will work only for simple types like int, string etc. In case of types like DataTable, DataSet, ArrayList etc, you can right click on the object name and choose Quick Watch. A small window will open and will show you the complete object. You can expand the properties of the object and view the values of each proeprty. In case of a DataSet, you can Quick Watch the dataset and expand each table inside the dataset, each row in each table, each column in each row etc. Thus the Quick Watch will help you view the values of the 'complete object'.

Watch Window

When you debug the application and step through each line, it is not really necessary to point the mouse on each variable to view the value. Just add the variable to the 'Watch Window' and the values are always visible in the little 'Watch Window' in the bottom of your VS.NET (see image below. The variable nameis added to the watch window). To add any variable to Watch Window, righ click on the variable and choose 'Add Watch'. You can choose the same option from the 'Quick Watch' window also.

The 'Watch Window' may be minimized by default. You can point your mouse on the 'Watch' icon in the bottom of the VS.NET to expand this window. Use the 'push button' in the watch window to keep it always expanded.If 'Watch Window' is not visible in the bottom, select the menu option from VS.NET main menu : Debug > Windows > Watch > Watch 1

System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine

You may use System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLineto print any values into the output window while debugging.Ex:

System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine( "*** My name is : " + name );System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine( "+++ See the Output window now." );System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine( "=== End." );

See the image below to see how it appears in the output window.


Advanced features

The debugger comes with several other advanced features like conditional breakpoints, CallStack etc. You may find more information from MSDN or other web sites. To keep it simple and helpful for beginners, we have mentioned only the commonly used features of VS.NET debugger.