Cant hit breakpoint in web api controller

Question

When i try to debug this code :

 // POST: api/Events
    [HttpPost]
    public async Task<IActionResult> PostEvent([FromBody] object savedEvent)
    {

        Event addedEvent = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Event>(savedEvent.ToString());

        if (!ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            return BadRequest(ModelState);
        }

Cant hit this line :

   Event addedEvent = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Event>(savedEvent.ToString());

Debuger reacts like i hit continue but code past doesnt execute. Im really confused. Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

Couple of things you may try

1) Make sure you are running in Debug mode (not in release)

2) Make sure you are running the latest code with all symbols loaded (hovering over the break point can give you extra information of why its disabled)

Answer 2

Try removing the async part of the action. This isn't a permanent solution, but it might help you debug. Another thing I'd suggest is to put a try catch around the code in your action. It's possible your deserialization is failing and throwing an exception that for whatever reason, the debugger isn't catching.

// POST: api/Events
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult PostEvent([FromBody] object savedEvent)
{

    Event addedEvent = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Event>(savedEvent.ToString());

    if (!ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        return BadRequest(ModelState);
    }

Answer 3

You are probably running your application in the "Release" mode instead of "Debug".

You can't set breakpoints in "Release mode" (most of the times).

What is in a symbol (.pdb) file? The exact contents of symbol files will vary from language to language and based on your compiler settings, but at a very high level they are the record of how the compiler turned your source code into machine code that the processor executes.

Source: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/devops/2015/01/05/understanding-symbol-files-and-visual-studios-symbol-settings/