RunCommand not found on WCF IIS library project when trying to debug

Question

RunCommand not found on WCF IIS library project when trying to debug

Torben Koch 1

hey guys... i'm currently trying to migrate from the old csproj pattern to the new one to compress the file and ... various other countless improvements for developers.

It works actually quite nice till the point of debugging. i just can't debug it as i used to, because it keeps telling me "RunCommand not found". i do understand this error, it basically means i need to run an application which calls my WCF library to debug it.

before migrating it worked, but with the new SDK pattern i'm afraid visual studio does not really understand that i want to run this as an IIS application.

so my question now is: how do I debug an iis application using visual studio when the application is a library?

i even tried to "hack" myself to execute the w3wp.exe process but not even that worked... i'm quite desperate and i don't know where to ask anymore. please help me

UPDATE:
the reproduction steps are quite easy. create a WCF web application project (it needs to have a global.asax as entry point, it should be a library). go to the csproj and manually change it to the <project sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">...</project>
you can also choose the Microsoft.NET.Sdk, the result will be different but it will still fail.

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Answer 1

PengGe-MSFT 3,381

Hi @Torben Koch

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

I tried to create a library project but could not reproduce your issue.

Regarding "RunCommand not found", I did not find information about this error, it may be related to the migration of the project, you can refer to this document.

Regarding your other question, "how do I debug an iis application using visual studio when the application is a library", you can refer to Debug DLLs in Visual Studio.

Sincerely,
Peng
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Torben Koch 1 Reputation point

2021-09-09T06:49:42.93+00:00

please don't forget the most important point. I'm talking about a WCF application which needs to be hosted via an IIS.
earlier we had something which was called "Web Application Project"
there it was working well.
but using the SDK pattern i could only use the Sdk.Web
so... earlier i had a section in visual studio called "Web" with all relevant IIS settings, which is now gone.

the problem is, the output is a DLL and there is no main function or anything else serving as an entry point, i'm using a Global.asax

so again. the problem is not debugging a DLL. I know you can debug DLLs with opening the executing program. visual studio will understand that. The problem is debugging a DLL hosted by an IIS

i want visual studio to automatically attach itself to the W3WP.EXE process and listen to incoming requests
PengGe-MSFT 3,381 Reputation points

2021-09-10T08:59:30.06+00:00

Hi @Torben Koch
"i want visual studio to automatically attach itself to the W3WP.EXE process and listen to incoming requests", I suggest you directly suggest this feature to Visual Studio Product Team in our Developer Community, and if you do suggest this feature, please share the link here.
Torben Koch 1 Reputation point

2021-09-10T11:57:23.427+00:00

@PengGe-MSFT but that's the point. the feature is already there. it worked before migrating the project to the SDK pattern and of course it works for normal IIS services.
To communicate with an IIS is already possible for normal .NET Core apps which produce an exe file.
it's only a problem if you use a SDK AND use a library at the same time.

if i request some feature, i could do that but in the very unlikely case it will be considered it will probably take years to show up in the code...
then i could also suggest to migrate our whole project to .NET 6 which would take approximately 5 years if not longer..
PengGe-MSFT 3,381 Reputation points

2021-09-13T08:52:19.2+00:00

Hi @Torben Koch
You can try to create a support ticket in Microsoft Support.
Torben Koch 1 Reputation point

2021-09-13T09:05:37.677+00:00

@PengGe-MSFT i tried and i failed... seems like i need some kind of premium support plan

am i really the first one ever trying to get WCF running with IIS on a newer project? :(
PengGe-MSFT 3,381 Reputation points

2021-09-14T09:11:41.697+00:00

Hi @Torben Koch
I’m now trying to involve someone more experienced in this topic to research this issue.
It may take some time, please be patient to wait. Any update I will share here.
Thanks for your understanding.
Torben Koch 1 Reputation point

2021-09-14T13:09:16.127+00:00

it is actually important to get the play button work. you might be able to debug using attach to process but i can't convince my team to change to the better csproj format if they need to get used to a whole different debugging process :S

Answer 2

Bruce (SqlWork.com) 77,926 Volunteer Moderator

as WCF is a dead technology, it is unlikely that the visual studio team would spend time adding new project support for it.

Torben Koch 1 Reputation point

2021-09-11T09:19:32.14+00:00

i think so too. but that's why i'm asking this question here. they should already have it. i mean it worked in the old project, why doesn't it work in the new project and what can i do?

and this is why i also suggested to go back to the roots. basically the IIS is also just a windows prozess. if i can trigger this process as an exe file i can debug the DLL like i would with launching an application.

the question is: how?
i tried caling the w3wp.exe with command line but everytime i try it it either does nothing and just prints the help info, or it just crashes. massively.

i actually even got it running using IIS express, using commandl ine. using iisexpress.exe starting the application. now i would want it to run with the same configuration as the IIS.

e.g.: we have are calling our stuff using the computer name so it's reachable within everywhere of the network. but the IIS Express request are just caught when making requests to localhost.

i have not much information about that stuff i hoped people have an answer for me...

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RunCommand not found on WCF IIS library project when trying to debug

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