Debugging Package Manager Console Update-Database Seed Method

Question

I wanted to debug the Seed() method in my Entity Framework database configuration class when I run Update-Database from the Package Manager Console but didn't know how to do it. I wanted to share the solution with others in case they have the same issue.

Answer 1

Here is similar question with a solution that works really well.
It does NOT require Thread.Sleep.
Just Launches the debugger using this code.

Clipped from the answer

if (!System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsAttached) 
    System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch();

Answer 2

The way I solved this was to open a new instance of Visual Studio and then open the same solution in this new instance of Visual Studio. I then attached the debugger in this new instance to the old instance (devenv.exe) while running the update-database command. This allowed me to debug the Seed method.

Just to make sure I didn't miss the breakpoint by not attaching in time I added a Thread.Sleep before the breakpoint.

I hope this helps someone.

Answer 3

If you need to get a specific variable's value, a quick hack is to throw an exception:

throw new Exception(variable);