Can you debug plugin files using breakpoints?

[sn0skier]

I got my build to work and could run the debugger from Visual Studio, but when I set breakpoints in "...\Tubifarry\Tubifarry\Metadata\ScheduledTasks\SearchSniper\SearchSniperTask.cs" and then I run the debugger the breakpoints say "The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document." I noticed that a folder had been created at "C:\ProgramData\Lidarr\plugins\TypNull\Tubifarry" with the Tubifarry DLL files (I've never loaded lidarr on this machine before). Presumably Lidarr is running the plugin from this folder and that's why I can't set breakpoints in the Tubifarry solution in Visual Studio?

I did make the mistake of running Lidarr from the Lidarr Solution the first time instead of running it from the Tubifarry solution. I cleaned both solutions and built again but I still wasn't able to set breakpoints. Am I missing something?

[TypNull]

Yes, it’s possible, but the current version on GitHub isn’t configured for this yet. So far, I’ve only debugged using logs, as you’d still need to recompile the plugin when you change something. Hot reload likely won’t work.

I plan to push an update this weekend to simplify the development environment and make contributing easier (except for the JSON DLL, which still needs to be copied to the output directory). I'll need to address any potential issues with the build pipeline if they arise.

At the moment, I can’t provide instructions on how to make it work, as I need to update the contribution guide and test everything with a clean installation after the changes.

In short: With the current setup (based on TrevTV plugins), it’s not possible yet. Please give me until tomorrow to finalize and update the develop branch.

[sn0skier]

Great to hear you're working on this! I look forward to the update.
Thanks again for developing this tool. I hope to help as much as I can.

[TypNull]

I've pushed the changes. Breakpoints should be working now. Could you test it out on your site and confirm it's working?

[sn0skier]

Hi, I'm working on this now. I'll let you know.

[sn0skier]

I'm running VS 2026 on a Windows 11 machine. I have the .net 8 SDK and .net 10 SDK installed since I understood from the old Contribution.md that .net 8 SDK is a prereq.

Instead of the main instructions I wanted to create a clean clone and I understand that I should be working from the develop fork. So I synced my develop fork with upstream and then ran:

git clone -b develop https://github.com/sn0skier/Tubifarry.git Tubifarry-clean

When I open Tubifarry.sln in VS I get an error in

Failed to restore D:\Dev\Tubifarry-cleantwo\Tubifarry\Tubifarry.csproj

In the VS status bar I get a message Failed to restore D:\Dev\Tubifarry-cleantwo\Tubifarry\Tubifarry.csproj.
That clears eventually but when trying to build I get two errors and one warning:

Severity	Code	Description	Project	File	Line	Suppression State
Error (active)	NU1104	Unable to find project 'D:\Dev\Tubifarry-clean\Submodules\Lidarr\src\NzbDrone.Core\Lidarr.Core.csproj'. Check that the project reference is valid and that the project file exists.	Tubifarry	D:\Dev\Tubifarry-clean\Tubifarry\Tubifarry.csproj	1	
Error (active)	NU1104	Unable to find project 'D:\Dev\Tubifarry-clean\Submodules\Lidarr\src\NzbDrone.Common\Lidarr.Common.csproj'. Check that the project reference is valid and that the project file exists.	Tubifarry	D:\Dev\Tubifarry-clean\Tubifarry\Tubifarry.csproj	1	
Warning (active)	MSB9008	The referenced project ..\Submodules\Lidarr\src\NzbDrone.Common\Lidarr.Common.csproj does not exist.	Tubifarry	D:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\amd64\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets	2189	

This is strange, because all of the files mentioned in the errors do exist. In Contribution.md for Step 4: Build Again you do mention that errors can be ignored, but I'm on Step 2: Open and Build. I ignored the errors and continued with the steps.

For step 4 I didn't get any errors just the following warning:

Severity	Code	Description	Project	File	Line	Suppression State
Warning (active)	CS8604	Possible null reference argument for parameter 'item' in 'void List<string>.Add(string item)'.	Tubifarry	D:\Dev\Tubifarry-clean\Tubifarry\Indexers\Soulseek\SlskdItemsParser.cs	118	

So I think the ⚠️ You may see some errors on this build - these can be ignored. should really go below step 2.1 instead of step 4.1. Nevertheless I followed the instructions and built again and the build completed in 00.243 seconds. I started debugging and the lidarr web ui started up. Everything is going well so far.

I will now test if I can use breakpoints correctly.

[TypNull]

The steps you followed seem correct. But did you miss out the restart of Visual Studio after the initial build?

This is strange, because all of the files mentioned in the errors do exist

This was because the project files are not fully loaded. To resolve this, you need to do one of the following:

• Right-click each .csproj file in Solution Explorer and select "Load".
• Close Visual Studio completely and reopen the project like described on the guide.

I put the warning there because I got some Nuget warnings after this Build. I cleared the nuget cache. It seems to be good to add this warning on step 2.1 too, so everyone knows this is intentional.
But its good that the rest seems to go well.

[sn0skier]

But did you miss out the restart of Visual Studio after the initial build?

I did restart, yes.

It seems to be good to add this warning on step 2.1 too, so everyone knows this is intentional.

I agree. After reading further in the instructions I kind of figured it was intentional but I left the comment anyway because I wasn't positive.

Breakpoints work! On SearchSniperTasks.cs anyway which is what I'm trying to work on.

Thanks for taking care of this so quickly. Great work.