“Unleash the Power of Visual Studio 2019: Learn How to Easily Create PDB Files!”

Introduction

Are you wondering about Program Database (PDB) files and how to generate them? As a developer, debugging your code is a crucial step in the development process. PDB files are binary files that contain debugging information such as the source code line numbers, symbols, and variable names. Fortunately, in Visual Studio 2019, you have several ways to generate PDB files for your project. In this article, we will get into the nitty-gritty of how to generate PDB files using different methods.

Method #1: Generate PDB file for the entire solution

If you want to generate a PDB file for the entire solution, you can do so by following the below steps:

1. Open your solution in Visual Studio 2019.
2. Select Build > Build Solution from the main menu.
3. Once the build is completed, navigate to the Bin folder for the desired configuration (Debug or Release).
4. You will find a PDB file with the same name as your executable file (e.g., MyApp.exe for a console application or MyWebApp.dll for a web application).

Method #2: Generate PDB file for a specific project

If you only want to generate a PDB file for a specific project within your solution, you can do so by following these steps:

1. Right-click on the project in Solution Explorer and select Properties.
2. In the project properties window, go to the Build tab.
3. Under the General section, check the box for “Produce outputs on build.”
4. Under the Advanced section, check the box for “Debug Info” and select the desired option from the dropdown menu (e.g., “pdb-only”).
5. Click Apply and then OK to save the changes.
6. Build the project by selecting Build > Build ProjectName from the main menu.
7. Navigate to the Bin folder for the desired configuration (Debug or Release).
8. You will find a PDB file with the same name as your project’s assembly (e.g., MyLibrary.dll for a library project).

Method #3: Generate PDB file using command line

For those who prefer using the command line, here’s how to generate a PDB file:

msbuild /p:DebugSymbols=true /p:DebugType=full /target:Build MyProject.csproj

This command generates a PDB file for the specified project (MyProject.csproj) with the full debugging information.

Conclusion

In conclusion, generating PDB files is crucial for debugging your code. In this article, we’ve discussed three methods to generate PDB files in Visual Studio 2019: generating PDB files for the entire solution, generating PDB files for a specific project, and generating PDB files using the command line. By following these methods, you can easily generate PDB files and debug your code with ease.