Debugging plugins

[BillOatman 596]

Hi.  In the dev doc for plugins it says

The quickest way to test code changes is to work without the debugger. 

It seems to be advocating debugging via log statements?  Does [remote] debugging with visual studio work?

[Luke 42077]

I find that to be the easiest but @@softworkz may have some tips.

[softworkz 5066]

Hi.  In the dev doc for plugins it says

The quickest way to test code changes is to work without the debugger. 

It seems to be advocating debugging via log statements?  Does [remote] debugging with visual studio work?

 

I can't explain the sentence you quoted, but:

 

Generally, remote debugging should work in most situations. I've even been able to remote-debug Emby Server while it was running on a Linux machine(!!).

 

Also, you can of course attach to an Emby process running locally.

 

 

But the most convenient approach is to configure Visual Studio in a way that you simply need to hit F5 or click the green-arrow button.

 

To do this, you need to set up two things:

1. Create a post-build step that automatically copies your plugin dll and the .pdb file to the plugins folder of a local Emby Server installation.

   (I can't send you a sample script for this because we're using an MSBuild task that wouldn't work in your case)

   .

2. Modify your plugin-project's Debug settings to "Launch an Executable" and configure it to start Emby Server. (also set the working folder)

Hope this helps...

[BillOatman 596]

Yup thanks, I tried it last night with the remote debugger and the hue plugin source (I put the dll and pdb files on the server).  The breakpoints never went active even when i started/stopped a movie (which it should have), but I am also not seeing any info log output which makes me think it isn't really running.  The plugin author is releasing new source this week so hopefully I will have better luck with it.

 

Thanks for the the input and confirmation.

 

Actually, where should I be putting the plugin dll and pdb files on my windows 10 Emby server machine if I want to test them?  Maybe that's my problem.  

Edited May 1, 2019 by BillOatman

[softworkz 5066]

1. Create a post-build step that automatically copies your plugin dll and the .pdb file to the plugins folder of a local Emby Server installation.

[BillOatman 596]

Yeah I didn't think I'd get that lucky.

 

I built the existing hue plugin and added this logging just to see if it was running at all.  The log shows that the plugin was loaded, but I get no info messages in the log at all.  Is there anything else that needs to be done?

 

   public class HueControl : IServerEntryPoint

public HueControl(ISessionManager sessionManager, IJsonSerializer jsonSerializer, IHttpClient httpClient, ILogManager logManager, IUserDataManager userDataManager, ILibraryManager libraryManager)
        {
           _logger = logManager.GetLogger(Plugin.Instance.Name);
            _libraryManager = libraryManager;
            _sessionManager = sessionManager;
            _userDataManager = userDataManager;
            _httpClient = httpClient;
            _jsonSerializer = jsonSerializer;


            Instance = this;
        }


 public void Run()
        {
            _logger.Info("Got to Run()");


            _sessionManager.PlaybackStart += PlaybackStart;
            _sessionManager.PlaybackStopped += PlaybackStopped;
            _sessionManager.PlaybackProgress += PlaybackProgress;


            //_libraryManager.ItemAdded += ItemAdded;
        }


      private void PlaybackStart(object sender, PlaybackProgressEventArgs e)
        {
            _logger.Info("***** PlaybackStart *****");

Edited May 1, 2019 by BillOatman