How to find if code is running in Debug mode

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Hi,
I need to Execute some block of code only if Code is running in Debug Mode.
I dont know how to achieve this, Can you illustrate it ??

I googled Many pages but found none useful.

Prathamesh

Posted 9-Nov-11 16:36pm

prathameshpitale

Updated 15-Feb-23 13:30pm

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 1 · 2011-11-09T17:29:00

Please look at the solution by Prerak. Effectively and practically, it probably solves your problem.

However, this is not what you literally asked for. You asked "I need to execute some block of code only if code is running in Debug Mode". If you use the solution pointed out by Prerak, you will get something different: you will be able to execute or not execute some fragment of code, but only because you can have two different builds of you code: one when your fragment is executed, and one when it is not. Once your application is compiled, it will behave either in one or another way.

In other words, you cannot run your application in one or another "mode"; instead, you only can create two different applications which behave differently for two different configuration. One important node: the Debug is only a configuration and has nothing to do with debugging itself. What does have something to do with debugging is the compilation options. You can have as many different configurations as you want; a configuration is just an umbrella for some configuration set under a certain name; you manually configure options for each configuration, and these options may or may not be related to debugging. That said: be careful with the code which executes only in certain configuration; it can be a source of inadequate testing results.

In other words, you cannot determine if a code is running in Debug Mode because such mode does not exist.

Surprise? :-)

—SA

Prerak Patel · Answer 2 · 2011-11-09T16:41:00

Solution 1

Use directives like

C#

#if DEBUG
    Console.WriteLine("Debug version");
#endif

Posted 9-Nov-11 16:41pm

Prerak Patel

Comments

prathameshpitale 9-Nov-11 22:54pm

I kept my mode in #if Debug Directives,
But while code is not in debug mode still it gets executes

Prerak Patel 10-Nov-11 3:12am

You need to build your application in specific mode - Debug or Release. SA has explained it well in detail.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Nov-11 23:32pm

Prerak, my comment may come at surprise: even though your answer is useful in practice, formally it is completely incorrect. Read the question again. There is no such thing: Debug Mode or Release Mode; one can just create different versions of software with different behavior.

Please see my solution.
--SA

Mehdi Gholam · Answer 3 · 2011-11-09T16:55:00

Solution 2

Read this :
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/104235/how-can-i-use-debugbreak-in-c

Posted 9-Nov-11 16:55pm

Mehdi Gholam

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Nov-11 23:33pm

Sorry, this is not really related to the question. My answer to the question can look a bit surprising. The thing is: there is no Debug or Release modes. Please see my solution.
--SA

Member 15914308 · Answer 4 · 2023-02-15T13:30:00

Noting the dates of the above replies, it may be a bit late for the OP ;-)
But in the hope that it may help others, here is what I found in 2023: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36418307/visual-c-detect-if-the-program-is-loaded-into-the-visual-debugger[^]

In case that link gets broken, here's an example:

if (IsDebuggerPresent()) printf("Eureka!");

It works in VS2019 under Windows 10, and googling "IsDebuggerPresent" gets you straight to the Microsoft documentation.
--Jon.