Microsoft Sharepoint Products and Technologies Resource Kit eBook

1016 Part IX: Maintaining a Server in Windows SharePoint Services
If you want to start the debugging process manually and you already have
code-behind assemblies and a symbol table in place, you do not have to change any
settings within Visual Studio .NET. In this scenario, you will not be able to debug
inline code.
If you want to debug code within the .aspx page itself and you want ASP.NET
to generate the symbol table, for any pages that it compiles you need to set the trust
level in the Web.config file to at least WSS_Medium.
If you want Visual Studio .NET to automatically attach itself to the process that
runs your Web Part, you need to set the debugging settings to true. You can do this by
setting the debug attribute of the element in the Web.config file to
True, like this: . You should also make sure
that debugging is enabled for your Web Part library project. You can do this by rightclicking
the project name in the Solution Explorer and choosing Properties. Then
choose Configuration Properties | \Debugging, and set Enable ASP.NET Debugging
to True.
The next step in the debugging process, regardless of the scenario that applies to
you, is to set breakpoints in your code. For example, the RenderWebPart method
would be a good place to set a breakpoint. You can set breakpoints by opening your
Web Part assembly in Visual Studio.NET, going to the line of code where you want to
enter a breakpoint, right-clicking the line, and then clicking Insert Breakpoint.
To manually attach to the process
You can manually attach to the W3wp.exe process to debug your Web Part. This
method is less useful in situations where you are in the middle of a repeated development
and debugging cycle. On the other hand, this method is extremely helpful
in situations where you are attempting to debug code access security–related problems.
In a scenario in which you are automatically attaching to a process, you might
have to artificially raise the trust level (to at least WSS_Medium). This could possibly
hide security exceptions that might be encountered only at lower trust levels.
1. Set up a Web Part Page with the Web Part you want to debug on your local
SharePoint server.
2. Attach the debugger to the ASP.NET process: W3wp.exe.
a. On the Debug menu, click Processes.
b. Select the Show system processes and Show processes in all sessions
check boxes.
c. In the Available Processes list, select W3wp.exe and then click Attach.
d. In the Attach to Process dialog box, select Common Language Runtime
and then click OK.
e. Click Close.