Visual Studio Hacks

Set Breakpoints #36

Chapter 5, Debugging

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#36

Set Breakpoints Hack #36

Visual Studio’s breakpoints appear pretty trivial at first, but you can create

some that have quite a bit of intelligence.

Visual Studio offers a powerful debugger to aid with testing and trouble-

shooting your applications. One of the most common uses of a debugger is

to set breakpoints, which are positions in the code that, when reached, cause

the program execution to pause, allowing the developer to inspect the code

and state of the program. When a breakpoint is reached and the application

suspended, the application is in break mode. In break mode, you, the devel-

oper, can examine and change the values of the program variables. With

Visual Studio 2005, you can even change the program’s code during this

time.

In its simplest form, a breakpoint interrupts program execution whenever it

is reached. However, Visual Studio allows for more intelligent breakpoints,

ones that suspend the program only if a certain condition has been met or if

the breakpoint has already been passed over a certain number of times.

Enter Break Mode Whenever a Particular Line

of Code Is Reached

Developers often want to suspend their program’s execution and enter break

mode when a specific line of code is reached, such as the first line of code for

a particular method or a line of code inside a conditional statement. The

simplest way to add a breakpoint ...