Debugging Resources

  • Article

It is beyond the scope of this documentation to teach you how to debug Web applications. However, this topic directs you to sources of additional information about how to debug potential problems that may occur with your use of Commerce Server and the Solution Sites.

This topic contains:

  • Articles About Debugging
  • Debugging Tools
  • Articles on ASP Development

Articles About Debugging

The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=5161 contains a large volume of information related to debugging. You may find the following articles instructive (search for them by title, using "Exact Phrase" as your search criteria and including both "MSDN Library" and "Web Workshop" in your search scope):

  • Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0 Debugging
  • Debugging Distributed Web Applications
  • Debugging Applications and Components
  • Troubleshooting Components Under ASP Technology
  • Debugging ASP Applications
  • Debugging Script Objects in ASP Pages for Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0 Developers

You can find additional information about debugging in the technical articles on the Visual InterDev Web site at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=6735.

Debugging Tools

One of the primary tools used to develop Commerce Server was Microsoft Visual Studio, which includes Microsoft Visual InterDev, Microsoft Visual C++, and Microsoft Visual Basic. It is the recommended integrated development environment for working with Commerce Server.

The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=5161 contains information about additional tools that can be useful when debugging Web applications, including how to acquire these tools. Search for the indicated tool by title, using "Exact Phrase" as your search criteria and including both "MSDN Library" and "Web Workshop" in your search scope:

  • Microsoft Script Debugger. Search string: "Microsoft Script Debugger for Internet Explorer".
  • IIS Exception Monitor. Search string: "Troubleshooting with Exception Monitor".
  • User Mode Process Dump. Search string: "OEM Support Tools".
  • WinDbg. The WinDbg files are installed when you install the developer tools included with the Platform Software Development Kit (SDK). For information on using WinDbg, see the help file windbg.hlp, which is included with WinDbg.
  • System Monitor, Performance Logs and Alerts, and Event Viewer. These three Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins are included, by default, in the Commerce Server Manager console. You may find them useful for debugging and performance tuning your Web site.

When debugging pipelines, you should consider turning on logging for pipeline execution to help see where failures occur.

The Order sitelet in the Commerce Server SDK includes the script file DumpOrder.vbs (in the source\pipeline sub-folder). This file is designed to be used with the Scriptor pipeline component. It can be used to dump the contents of an OrderForm object at arbitrary points in the execution of the Order Processing pipeline (OPP). For more information, see the instructions at the beginning of the file DumpOrder.vbs.

Articles on ASP Development

An important way reduce the occurrence of bugs in the first place is to understand and apply various best practices. The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=5161 contains such information, discussing best practices for Web site development using Active Server Pages (ASP). Search for the following articles by title, using "Exact Phrase" as your search criteria and including both "MSDN Library" and "Web Workshop" in your search scope:

  • "Improving ASP Application Performance"
  • "ASP Component Guidelines"
  • "Load Test Your ASP Application"
  • "ASP Guidelines"

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