Visual Studio web debugging: Attaching to IIS with a keyboard shortcut

Nothing new here, but why do we tolerate repetitive chores so easily?

For some reason web developers seem to have extreme patience when it comes to attaching the Visual Studio debugger to the IIS process (w3wp.exe, aspnet_wp.exe or what have you). It’s ridiculously clumsy to open the Attach to Process window and then find the correct process name, even if you knew the proper keyboard shortcuts. And it’s not like the problem hadn’t already been solved. It’s just that the solution is forgotten every now and then – and almost nobody uses it!

The easiest way to fix this is to define a macro for attaching to w3wp.exe process and hey presto, you can start debugging your web application with a single keypress. Read Janne Mattila’s blog post on how to set it up to boost your attach performance. :-)

June 17, 2009 · Jouni Heikniemi · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: .NET

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