C# is not working in release build

Question

Trying to debug a problem on a C# application, I stumbled upond this problem which is the cause of the app malfunctioning.

Basically I have this code:

double scale = 1;
double startScale = 1;
...
scale = (e.Scale - 1) * startScale;
if(scale <= 1)
    scale = 1;
...

What happens is that even if scale is greater than 1 the excecution enters inside the if the scale ends up being Always 1.

This happens only in release build.

Does anyone have an idea of what's going on?

EDIT

This is the, almost (missing only the ctor which does nothing, of a custom control for Xamarin Forms, taken from their example to implement a pinch gesture (here).

public class PinchView : ContentView
{
    private double StartScale = 1;
    private double CurrentScale = 1;
    private double XOffset = 0;
    private double YOffset = 0;

    ...

    private void PinchGesture_PinchUpdated(object sender, PinchGestureUpdatedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e.Status == GestureStatus.Started)
        {
            // Store the current scale factor applied to the wrapped user interface element,
            // and zero the components for the center point of the translate transform.
            StartScale = Content.Scale;
            Content.AnchorX = 0;
            Content.AnchorY = 0;
        }

        if (e.Status == GestureStatus.Running)
        {
            // Calculate the scale factor to be applied.
            CurrentScale += (e.Scale - 1) * StartScale;
            if(CurrentScale <= 1)
            {
                CurrentScale = 1;
            }

            // The ScaleOrigin is in relative coordinates to the wrapped user interface element,
            // so get the X pixel coordinate.
            double renderedX = Content.X + XOffset;
            double deltaX = renderedX / Width;
            double deltaWidth = Width / (Content.Width * StartScale);
            double originX = (e.ScaleOrigin.X - deltaX) * deltaWidth;

            // The ScaleOrigin is in relative coordinates to the wrapped user interface element,
            // so get the Y pixel coordinate.
            double renderedY = Content.Y + YOffset;
            double deltaY = renderedY / Height;
            double deltaHeight = Height / (Content.Height * StartScale);
            double originY = (e.ScaleOrigin.Y - deltaY) * deltaHeight;

            // Calculate the transformed element pixel coordinates.
            double targetX = XOffset - (originX * Content.Width) * (CurrentScale - StartScale);
            double targetY = YOffset - (originY * Content.Height) * (CurrentScale - StartScale);

            // Apply translation based on the change in origin.
            Content.TranslationX = targetX.Clamp(-Content.Width * (CurrentScale - 1), 0);
            Content.TranslationY = targetY.Clamp(-Content.Height * (CurrentScale - 1), 0);

            // Apply scale factor.
            Content.Scale = CurrentScale;
        }

        if (e.Status == GestureStatus.Completed)
        {
            // Store the translation delta's of the wrapped user interface element.
            XOffset = Content.TranslationX;
            YOffset = Content.TranslationY;
        }
    }
}

These are steps of my debug session (e.Scale has been optimized and isn't visible, but you can see the value of CurrentScale changing):

Answer 1

CurrentScale and StartScale are instance fields and not method fields, so they can be affected by another thread. To detect any race condition, can you put a lock around this bloc and debug again:

lock (StartScale) {
    // Calculate the scale factor to be applied.
    CurrentScale += (e.Scale - 1) * StartScale;
    if(CurrentScale <= 1)
    {
        CurrentScale = 1;
    }
}

If this works, you should have better results with local variables to reduce external interferences (and so remove the lock):

lock (StartScale) {
    // Calculate the scale factor to be applied.
    var localCurrentScale = CurrentScale + (e.Scale - 1) * StartScale;
    if(localCurrentScale <= 1)
    {
        CurrentScale = 1;
    } else CurrentScale = localCurrentScale;
}

You can use tools like Redgate Reflector or Telerik JustDecompile (free) to analyze your compiled assembly (it's pretty readable) and see what's been optimized during the compilation.

N.B.: StartScale is a bad lock but is fine for this debugging.