I have a .dll file and its respective .pdb file. I do not have it's source code. Is it possible to debug the part of code from that dll using .pdb file.
What could be the optimal way to debug using .pdb files.
Thanks
Vijay
pdb's map areas of the binary (exe or dll) to the original source code files. AFAIK They don't contain the code itself so you won't be able to see with source code unless you code files.
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I have an external dll and a pdb file from C# code. I have the source code downloaded on my computer. In Visual Studio, under modules, Symbol status is: Symbol loaded for that specific dll. But User code is: N/A.
And I can't step into the functions in that dll. How do I know where to put the source code so the pdb finds it? Is the pdb looking the C# source file in a specific directory and is there a way to find out where?
There is a tool called SrcTool.exe that is installed with the WinSDK. Srctool.exe utility lists all files indexed within the .pdb file.
SrcTool.exe -r filename.pdb will print the source file paths.
i have a .dll file that written in c#
so i need to decompile .dll file to code with comment ??
I have tried many programs like (JustDecompile , dotpeek , ILSpy) but all of them are decompiling file with out comment.
For the full information you need a corresponding xml file for xml documentation, and a .pdb symbol file containing the metadata.
Without it you can "decompile", but you might find yourself having a hard time.
Note: the full info pdb is usually only provisioned with a debug version of the assembly. If you have an external dll, its not likely it will match.
What is the best/correct way of attaching an external project source code so I can debug it?
I´ve already downloaded the source code of it from CodePlex, so I have all the .cs classes.
I´ve managed to import from a pdb file, but unfortunately, there´s no such file in this project codeplex (SimpleInjector).
After importing the SimpleInjector solution on VS, I could build it and generate the .pdb files, but I wonder whether it is the right way.
If your goal is to step-through debug the binary, then you will need the PDB files. In general, the compiled assembly just doesn't contain the information needed to associate source-code lines with individual IL commands.
The PDB file is a "program database file" which contains lots of useful debugging information; one of those things is the mappings between each compiled IL instruction and the source-code line that generate it. It also keeps a symbol table that lists the names of things that otherwise get compiled out (like local variable names, etc.) The PDB embeds the full path name of each source file, so if your source code is in the same place when you debug as it was when you compiled, the debugger will automatically find it.
If the .pdb file is present but the source code has moved, VS will give you the option to browse to the .cs file. But, if the .pdb file isn't present at all, your options will be rather limited.
The only risk you have is that you are debugging a program that doesn't match your PDB files. Therefore, if you are doing to try to debug the project, you should rebuild, from scratch, in Visual Studio and run that version of the binary.
(Debugging without symbols and source loaded into Studio is, of course, possible, but it's a much harder skill to master.)
Is the .pdb file enough to debug and step into the code of a dll? Or do you actually have to reference the corresponding project source code?
I tried referencing a dll with the .pdb file in the same directory, and was unable to step into the code of the dll. So I was wondering what the rules around dlls and .pdb files where.
Thanks in advance.
The .pdb file will allow you to debug, but it will not provide any sources. Check out this blog post for an excellent description of PDB files and their purpose.
http://www.wintellect.com/CS/blogs/jrobbins/archive/2009/05/11/pdb-files-what-every-developer-must-know.aspx
The PDB file is how visual studio knows how the executing code in the assembly corresponds to the lines in the source code. The answer to your question is yes, Visual studio needs the source code that the corresponding pdb was built from.
The pdb does not contain the source code packaged inside of it (well it can, but it is a bit of a hack and not many people do it), however the symbol server should automatically download it if it has the source available. However the pdb must match the exact version as the dll you are working with for it to download the source.
I have a small suspicion that you are trying to do the .NET framework source stepping and it is not stepping in to it. Microsoft has not updated the symbol servers with the current versions of the pdb files so source stepping is broken if you are running a up to date version of .net (at least until they release the new versions of the source files).
I have a .dll file from a Silverlight class library. How can I create a .pdb and a .xml file from this .dll file?
You can't. Whoever supplies the DLL must supply the auxiliary files too.
And if you have the source code you can generate them on your own by making sure you build as debug rather than retail/free.
Why do you want them?