How can I get Visual Studio to use Embedded Source code whilst debugging?

Question

I have embedded the C# source code into a portable PDB file using the <EmbedAllSources> element in the csproj file, and I have embedded the pdb into the assembly using the <DebugType>embedded<DebugType> as described in Embedding C# sources in PDB with new csproj

My assembly looks like this:

<PropertyGroup>     <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>         <EmbedAllSources>true</EmbedAllSources>     <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>     <DebugType>embedded</DebugType>    </PropertyGroup> 

I can confirm that the pdb is type portable, and contains my source code:

According to the release notes for Visual Studio 15.5 the debugger should be able to use these files during debugging:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/releasenotes/vs2017-relnotes-v15.5#EmbeddedSource

I'm using Visual Studio 2017 (version number 15.8.8)

However, when I F11 into the code from my assembly it asks for the sourcecode:

Whilst googling around there's a comment from ctaggart in the discussion https://github.com/ctaggart/SourceLink/issues/192 which says running sourcelink print-urls will print "embed" but mine doesn't, perhaps this is a hint:

Has anyone got this to work successfully? If so can you tell what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

Easiest way is to go to:

Debug -> Windows -> Modules

Inside this list, you should be able to find your assembly (dll/exe).

Right click it -> Load Symbols

It will ask for where to load the symbols from.

Navigate to the directory where your matching .pdb file is.

It should auto load. Stepping into, or having uncaught errors in this referenced assembly should trigger a break in that code, or ask you to navigate to the code file that corresponds to the file that threw the error.

In our process, we generally have to navigate to the nuget cache to find the pdbs for our installed nuget packages. (%UserProfile%/nuget/packages/YourPackage/VersionNumber/../..)

We also package up the source with those packages and navigate to those /nuget/packages .cs files as well, though, any corresponding .cs file should allow it to load.