How to debug a custom ContentTypeWriter

1

I’ve been trying to work on a custom content processor for the content pipeline, but I’m not quite sure how to debug this. I’ve looked at other topics but they weren’t really of much help.

Right now I have a breakpoint in my custom ContentTypeWriter that I’d like to hit.

These are the steps I’m taking;

  • Open op the MGCB.exe
  • Select Build -> Debug
  • Select Rebuild

This window pops up:

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I can’t actually select anything with my cursor, but hitting enter does the trick. But then I just get a blank screen

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I can actually understand that I’m not able to peek into MGCB.exe since I didn’t build it myself. But I’m not quite sure how to set this up properly.

Thanks in advance!

2

For debugging, you really will want to build MGCB yourself from source.

3

Ahh that’s what I guessed. What do I do once I build it from source though? My guess is it won’t automagically enable me to step through the code in my ContentTypeWriter, since that’s file is in a different project alltogether

4

I typically run MGCB directly from Visual Studio and pass it the parameters, including /rebuild so it always runs your content pipeline extension. Even better, make a small .mgcb file that just has one asset for testing purposes.

Command: $(TargetPath)
Command Arguments: /rebuild /@:Content.mgcb
Working Directory: path containing the .mgcb file