How can I debug the library using .pdb file?

Question

I have been looking through ways to **debug external projects like BaseLibrary **. So I haven't seen such a code structure or worked on it. I think I can debug those projects with the use of the .pdb file present in the output.

This is how the project structure looks like. And I will be debugging the last project which is being highlighted. I have gone through these links

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/debugger/specify-symbol-dot-pdb-and-source-files-in-the-visual-studio-debugger?view=vs-2019

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/xamarin-forms/internals/sourcelink?pivots=windows

I have added references for pdb file. I'm not sure if it is incorrect format the reference of pdb file is C:\Workspace\Xamarin.IntegrationLibrary\Output\netstandard2.1 as you can see in the following image.

But they are not helping me with my requirement because it is talking about debugging the NuGet packages which I'm installing in my current project. I want to debug the external projects. Currently, I'm able to navigate to assembly of the base library but I'm not able to navigate to source code or methods. As you can see in the following image.

I even tried debugging in dnSpy but I'm not able to give the executable for that. Also, it is not exactly what I require because I have to debug within the project using pdb.

Some solution says double-clicking on the DLL in the module opens the source code. Well I tried that as well as you can see the following screenshot

I am able to load the .pdb symbols but I want to navigate and debug the source code of base library and integration library from xamarin.xyzApp project. I have no clue how to proceed with this. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Maybe you could try debugging with dnspy (https://github.com/dnSpy/dnSpy)... it allows for debugging most .net projects even without having source code, because it decompiles on demand. You can attach to running process or start from dnspy debugger. Debug/windows/modules to find the dll's, double click on any one of them to view source code and set breakpoints