HOWTO: Debug a VB DLL under Active Server Pages

• Microsoft Active Server Pages, version 1.0b

SUMMARY

It is possible to debug a Visual Basic ActiveX DLL running under Active Server Pages and Internet Information Server 3.0. This article will explain how to do this.

MORE INFORMATION

To debug a Visual Basic component running under Active Server Pages and IIS 3.0, it is necessary to use a debugger that uses the CodeView style of debug information. This article will use Microsoft Developer Studio. Developer Studio is the application used to develop Visual C++ and Visual J++ applications.

1. In the project options for your Visual Basic DLL, select "Create Symbolic Debug Info." This option generates symbolic debug information in an executable or DLL file. You should also select "no optimization."



2. Run IIS 3.0 (INetInfo.exe) under the debugger. Doing this is covered in Tech Note 063, which is part of your C++ documentation. This article can be found by searching in Developer Studio or Microsoft Developer Network with the key words "TN063: Debugging Internet Extension DLLs"(see REFERENCES section below). Here is a summary of the necessary steps:
   
   
   1. Make sure your user account has the necessary privileges to run inetinfo. See Tech Note 063 - Debugging Tips for a detailed explanation.
   
   
   
   2. Select "Open Workspace" and open INetInfo.exe.
   
   
   
   3. Under the debug settings for the workspace, enter "-e W3Svc" as a program argument.
   
   
   
   4. Under additional DLLs, select your Visual Basic DLL.
   
   
   



3. In a test DLL, export a method - GetInfo. This method is in a file called InfoObj.cls. To debug the GetInfo method, load InfoObj.cls into Developer Studio and set a break point in the method. Browse to a page that loads the DLL and calls the method. Developer Studio will stop at the break point in this function.

REFERENCES

Microsoft Developer Studio Technical Notes 063 - TN063: Debugging Internet Extension DLLs

For the latest Knowledge Base artices and other support information on Visual InterDev and Active Server Pages, see the following page on the Microsoft Technical Support site:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/vinterdev/

Keywords          : kbASP kbVBp600 kbWebServer kbGrpASP 
Version           : WINNT:1.0b
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbhowto 

Last Reviewed: July 20, 1999