Professional Visual Studio® 2008

Chapter 44. Debugging Web Applications

With Visual Studio 2008, debugging solutions for the Web is just as straightforward as doing the same for Windows-based applications. You can use many of the same debugging windows already discussed in previous chapters, as well as deal with errors through the Exception Assistant. However, there are some differences and additional features specific to web applications that you can use to target your debugging practices more closely to the web paradigm.

In addition to the standard debugging techniques, ASP.NET also provides you with a comprehensive tracing capability, and even the capability to perform health monitoring on your system to ensure it is running in the manner you expect, as well as exposing problematic scenarios when it doesn't.

If you are using Windows Vista with UAC you will want to launch Visual Studio with administrator rights, or you are likely to find the debugger will not attach correctly to the local web server. Right-click the Visual Studio 2008 shortcut and select Run as Administrator. To always launch as administrator, right-click the shortcut and select Properties, and then select the Compatibility tab and check the "Run this program as an administrator" checkbox.