Does nuget package contain pdb symbols

3
votes

I've included a NuGet package (Edge.js) that I would like to debug by stepping into the source code. When I "step in" it "steps over". I'm guessing this is because there are no symbol file to step in to. Possibly the EdgeJS package was published without sources and this could be the reason. However I don't know how to verify if a NuGet package contains the pdb symbols.

It might also be that I failed configuration of Visual Studio but because I don't know if the NuGet package contains symbols I don't know which way to look.

Thanks for any help

2
visual-studionuget
You should mention that Edje.js isn't a javascript framework/library despite its name. – Panagiotis Kanavos
This other question sheds some light on why it isn't available and how to make it so through symbolsource.org or other stackoverflow.com/questions/13488280/… – Johan Martinsson

2 Answers

2
votes

Nuget supports creating packages that contain PDB and source files with the nuget pack -Symbols command. Usually, these packages are uploaded to symbolsource.org for open source projects. Visual Studio can be configured to use symbolsource.org during debugging, see this guide.

However, not every open source project uploads symbol packages to symbolsource.org, so you have to check whether Edge.js does (I don't know that library).

If Edge.js does not provide symbol packages, your options are as follows:

  • Download the edge.js sources and build locally with debug symbols. Copy the DLL and the PDB to the output folder of your application and start debugging.
  • Use a decompiler. You don't get as much information as with the debug symbols and source files, but it may suffice for your case. The decompiler that ships with Resharper (commercial tool) is pretty useful for debugging DLLs in this manner.
0
votes

You can't "step-into" anything if you don't have the source code. Debug symbols won't help in this case.

You can step-into the decompiled code only by using third-party tools like RedGate's Reflector or Telerik's JustCode that decompile the IL on the fly and generate C# code for viewing purposes. These tools don't need the debug symbols to work, although they can use them to make the decompiled code more presentable.