managed-debugging-recommended-property-settings.md

title	Recommended debugger property settings for C#, VB
description	See the build and compile property settings that should be the same for all managed debugging. Other settings can vary depending on project type.
ms.date	11/04/2016
ms.topic	best-practice
dev_langs	CSharp VB FSharp C++
helpviewer_keywords	debugging [Visual Studio], managed debugging managed code, recommended property settings
author	mikejo5000
ms.author	mikejo
manager	mijacobs
ms.subservice	debug-diagnostics

Managed Debugging: Recommended Property Settings

Certain properties should be set the same way for all managed debugging scenarios.

The following tables display recommended property settings.

Settings not listed here may vary among the different managed project types. For example, Start Action will be set differently in a Windows Forms project than in a ASP.NET project.

Configuration Properties on the Build (C#) or Compile (Visual Basic) tab

Property Name	Setting
Define DEBUG constant	C# and F#: Set the check box to checked. This enables your application to use the Debug class.
Define TRACE constant	C# and F#: Set the check box to checked. This enables your application to use the Trace class.
Optimize code	C#, F#, and Visual Basic: Set to false. Optimized code is harder to debug, because the generated instructions do not correspond directly to your source code. If you find your program has a bug that appears only in optimized code, you can turn this setting on, but remember that code shown in the Disassembly window is generated from optimized source that might not match what you see in the Code Editor. To debug optimized code, you must turn off Just My Code. (See Restrict stepping to Just My Code). For more information, see Project Settings for C# Debug Configurations or Project Settings for a Visual Basic Debug Configuration.
Output path	Set to bin\Debug\.
Advanced Compile Options	Visual Basic Only. Click Advanced to set the advanced properties that are described in the following table.

Advanced Compiler Settings dialog box

Property Name	Setting
Enable optimizations	Set to false for the reasons specified in the Optimize code option in the preceding table.
Generate debugging information	Select this check box to cause the /DEBUG flag to be set when compiling, which will generate information needed to facilitate debugging.
Define DEBUG constant	Select this check box to define the DEBUG constant, which enables your application to use the xref:System.Diagnostics.Debug class.
Define TRACE constant	Select this check box to define the TRACE constant, which enables your application to use the xref:System.Diagnostics.Trace class.

Related content

• Debugging Managed Code
• Managed debugging: Recommended project settings