Maybe you should point them to the proper docs? http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/387/u...8-with-iis-70/

See the section titled "Use F5 to Debug a Remote IIS 7.0 Web Application from Visual Studio" near the end of the article. The article may also help you to set up things correctly.

This is the "I feel lucky" result of a Google search; I am sure the tech person can find the same article using Live.com search.... ;)

Imar

---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
http://Imar.Spaanjaars.Com
Everyone is unique, except for me.
Author of Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 : in C# and VB, ASP.NET 2.0 Instant Results and Dreamweaver MX 2004
Want to be my colleague? Then check out this post.

Hi Imar,

Thanks. I'm running Windows 2003 servers and IIS 6.0. However, after a quick scan for the article it looks they suggest using the debugger on a file.

I did escalate my call and got an American who confirmed that Visual Studio does not natively support remote debugging. The reason for this, at least from what this tech said is that in order to program remote debugging into VS 2008 they would have had to connect to the Frontpage Server Extensions. He said that the programmers working on VS 2008 determined that the code was so bad for the Frontpage Server Extensions that they didn't want to mess with it. Anyway, that's the reason he gave.

However, he did give me a work around which is included here. It seems much the same as what it suggests in that article you found.

"In addition, you must open the remote IIS 7.0 Web site or application project using the File System, FTP Site or Remote Site options as discussed in the "Using Visual Studio 2008 with a Remote IIS 7.0 Server" section earlier in this article."

I may have even seen that article but dismissed it since I'm not using IIS 7.0.

Here's the work around he suggested which works just fine. It's a little cumbersome but once it's set up it's not that big a deal.

1. Install the "Visual Studio 2008 Remote Debugger" on the remote machine.

2. Run "Visual Studio 2008 Remote Debugger Configuration Wizard" from the start menu of the remote machine.

3. Choose "Run the 'Visual Studio 2008 Remote Debugger' service (running it as a non-service will likely lead to debug rights issues)

4. Leave the user as "LocalSystem" and leave the password blank then click "Next"

5. If you see a "Configure the Windows Firewall for Debugging" option, choose the avaiable option to suit your needs then click "Next" and "Finished"

6. Open your vbproj or csproj file in notepad and remove the "IISUrl" settings. Save file.

7. From your local workstation, open Visual Studio 2008 then click "File --> Open Project" and browse to the UNC path where the project or solution file resides.

    - Example \\someServer\C$\inetpub\wwwroot\RemoveWebApp\myapp .csproj

8. Leave the "web" settings for the project properties set to "Use Visual Studio Development Server"

    Or

    Allow visual studio to create "http://localhost/RemoteWebApp" instead of "http://someServer/RemoteWebApp"

      - This second option will actually create a vDir called "RemoteWebApp" that points to the UNC path in step 2.

      - But, running the project like this will attach to a LOCAL process so running the project like this isn't the goal.

9. In this instance of Visual Studio you can change source files and compile the application as necessary.

10. From your local workstation, open a second instance of Visual Studio 2008.

11. Click "Tools --> Attach to process"

12. Enter "someServer" for the "Qualifier" then click "Refresh"

13. Choose the correct remote process (aspnet_wp.exe or w3wp.exe for example) and click "Attach"

      - If there are multiple w3wp.exe processes running and you aren't sure which to pick you can run "cscript c:\Windows\System32\iisapp.vbs" on the remote machine to get the right PID.

      - If there are *no* processes running that you know you need to attach to, then you should make at least one request to http://someServer/RemoteWebApp" in order to spawn the worker process.

13. In this "debugging" instance of VS2K8, click "Open --> File" and open the source file that you want to debug

14. Set breakpoint.

15. Open IE and run page and you should break at the desired location.

16. Done!

Thanks,
Richard

Wow, long story to make it work.... ;)

Thanks for the update. I am sure this will come in handy some day....

Imar
---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
http://Imar.Spaanjaars.Com
Everyone is unique, except for me.
Author of Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 : in C# and VB, ASP.NET 2.0 Instant Results and Dreamweaver MX 2004
Want to be my colleague? Then check out this post.

Long story is right... maybe we could make a book out of it!

Maybe it's an interesting topic for a Wrox Blox? Not a real book, but a downloadable PDF??

Imar


---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
http://Imar.Spaanjaars.Com
Everyone is unique, except for me.
Author of Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 : in C# and VB, ASP.NET 2.0 Instant Results and Dreamweaver MX 2004
Want to be my colleague? Then check out this post.

I was really kidding about the book. I'm sure a Wrox Blox would be very helpful on this topic though, especially when VS 2008 usage becomes more prevalent.

Richard

The Level II tech from MS created a blog entry. While he told me on the phone that MS has specifically not programmed remote debugging into VS 2008, he writes on his blog that, "At this point I can only guess as to why connecting to a remote web application project no longer seems to work."

He also explained in a letter to me responding to my questions as to why MS can't create informational error messages that, "Coming up with good error messages that correctly lead people to solving their problems has always been somewhat of a challenge. The same message text is often interpreted differently by differently people. And some people don’t read the error messages at all of course." I suggested that they write an error message saying that, "Remote debugging functionality has not been included in this version of Visual Studio." That would be hard to misinterpret.

Here's the URL for his blog entry if you'd care to take a look.

http://blogs.iis.net/brian-murphy-booth/

Thanks,
Richard

Interesting.... Thanks for the update.

I hardly use(d) remote debugging as it's so much easier to develop locally, and then merge changes with my team's development later. But again, I am sure this will come in handy some day...

Imar


---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
http://Imar.Spaanjaars.Com
Everyone is unique, except for me.
Author of Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 : in C# and VB, ASP.NET 2.0 Instant Results and Dreamweaver MX 2004
Want to be my colleague? Then check out this post.