How to debug WCF programs

Question

My code uses lots of WCF calls and when I try to debug it, it doesnt go to the service code itself. Is there a way to debug WCF code somehow?

Answer 1

There's a much easier way. Just start multiple processes in Visual Studio. Right click the Solution. Click Properties. Select Startup Project. Click Multiple Startup Projects. Set the WCF and the Client projects to Action=Start. Now you will step through the WCF as well as the client.

Answer 2

You need to attach the debugger to the process that your wcf service is running in.

If in iis you need to attach to the corresponding w3p.exe process.

If in a stand alone app or windows service, attach to the name of your exe.

In Visual Studio, on the debugger menu, there is an "attach to process". Open the relevant code, set a breakpoint, and call the service causing that code path to execute.

Outside of debugging, using .net tracing with switchable levels is a good way to get insight to what's going on. I typically setup sys internals debugview to color highlight errors and warnings and constantly have it running while running code or tests. Colored lines out of my peripheral vision while working finds issues.