where is my C# service when Visual Studio breaks?

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Hello all,

I am somewhat new to C# programming, and have a very basic question.
In most debuggers/emulators I am familiar with, when the code is running
and you "break" the debugger, the debugger usually shows you exactly where
the code was running.

This does not seem to be the case when I do this for my Windows service.
It always takes me back to an early point:

ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);

Is there any way to see the stack and/or the exact instruction (preferably
source code line) where it is running when I break?

Thanks,

Mitch

Posted 26-Jul-11 3:51am

mitchmcc

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2 solutions

Solution 1

Yes there is a view stack option.

Here[^] is more information on this window.

Posted 26-Jul-11 4:17am

Abhinav S

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mitchmcc 26-Jul-11 11:06am

When I "break all", the call stack shows the same place I mentioned in my original post, which is not really where the program is running (I know it is always busy, and expect to see where in the main program logic it is).

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BobJanova · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-26T04:46:00

Solution 2

If the process is in a message loop wait state, you will often get a useless breakpoint like this (or Application.Run in WinForms apps). If the service is not really doing anything on its primary thread (and a service is not most of the time), breaking it will do this. Put a breakpoint in some functional code if you want to get a stop in a useful place.

Posted 26-Jul-11 4:46am

BobJanova

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mitchmcc 26-Jul-11 11:08am

I know I can put in a breakpoint and get it to stop somewhere useful, but in this instance, I knew (or at least suspected) that it was blocked inside a MessageQueue.Receive() call, but the "break all" does NOT show this in the call stack trace, as I would have expected.