How to: Set Breakpoints in Workflows

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[This is prerelease documentation and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

When you use Windows Workflow Designer, you can set breakpoints on your graphical workflows as you would do in Visual Basic or C# code. As expected, workflow execution stops at each breakpoint that you set.

A breakpoint has three states: Pending, Bound, and Error. When you set a breakpoint, it is Pending, and it is represented by a solid red icon. When the runtime has loaded the workflow type, it becomes Bound. If you specify an incorrect format for the breakpoint, such as an activity name that is not valid, an error window appears. The breakpoint is still added to the breakpoint window, but it is marked with a small "x".

Note

Setting breakpoints on invoked workflows is not supported.

Warning

Ensure that you select the option Enable Just My Code (Managed Only) from the Tools, Options, Debugging menu before you debug. If you have two sequences nested within another sequence and you set a break point on the first inner sequence, pressing F11 will not debug into the second inner sequence if the Enable Just My Code (Managed Only)option is not selected.

Warning

Breakpoints in a workflow will not get hit if the full path to XAML file property is not accurate.The full path to XAML file is not accurate after moving the project/solution to another folder or to another machine.Select Ctrl+S to save and update full path property.

To set a breakpoint on an activity in the Design View

  1. Select the activity you want the debugger to break on.

  2. On the Debug menu, select Toggle Breakpoint. A red icon will appear at the top left edge of the activity.

    Alternatively, you can also press the shortcut F9 key after selecting the activity or you can right-click the activity and select Breakpoint then Insert Breakpoint from the context menu.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Invoke the Workflow Debugger
How to: Debug XAML with the Workflow Designer

Other Resources

Debugging Workflows with the Workflow Designer

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Build Date:

2012-08-02