Developing for Saleslogix web using external assemblies provides you with a lot of freedom when developing code for Saleslogix web. External assemblies can be helpful when organizing projects, reusing code and working with references to other assemblies. You also have the ability to step through your code for debugging and troubleshooting.
In this post, I'm going to briefly outline how to launch your custom assembly code in debug mode in Visual Studio. I am using Visual Studio 2010 ultimate and a Saleslogix 8.0 web system for this walkthrough.
First of all, this will need to be done on the SalesLogix server itself. On that server, follow these steps:
Step 1: Ensure that debug mode is enabled.
In the web.config file, found in the deployed files under wwwroot\SLXClient, there is a line that reads: <compilation debug="false" defaultLanguage="C#" numRecompilesBeforeAppRestart="250" targetFramework="4.0"> Change the debug line to "true" and you should be set.
Step 2: Open the assembly project in Visual Studio.
Step 3: Attach the assembly in VS to the running process for Saleslogix.
Under the Debug menu in VS, select "Attach to Process".
You will want to select the w3wp.exe process. You may have to check the "Show processes in all sessions" checkbox before it is visible. When the process is selected, click "Attach". You may also be presented with a security warning. Go ahead and click "Attach" on that screen as well.
Step 4: Assign breakpoints.
Go ahead and set breakpoints in your code as you normally would do in Visual Studio.
Once you've done those steps, you should be good to go! Performing whatever action is tied to your external assembly in the Saleslogix web client should then launch you into debug mode in Visual Studio, when you can step through the code that is being run. Pretty simple!
I hope you find this quick walk-through helpful. Thanks for reading!