Can I debug a compiled assembly?

I am looking for a way to debug com开发者_开发技巧piled assemblies from Visual Studio.

Is it possible? Maybe using some kind of reflector add-in?

I am not looking for a way to decompile/recompile and then debug.

If you don't have the PDB files for the assembly, try using .Net Reflector Pro, which was released a few days ago. It can decompile the code on-the-fly in Visual Studio and then step through it as if you were debugging your own source code (it does not require you to decompile and then recompile again). It is a paid for Visual Studio addin, but comes with a 14 day trial, after which it reverts back to the free version of Reflector.

Yes. You can accomplish this is to disable the "Just My code" feature (Tools -> Options -> Debugging) and then load the PDB for the DLL. After that you will be able to step into the DLL without any issue.

Sure, no problem. As long as you got the .pdb file. The debugging experience isn't as rich, you'll frequently be unable to inspect local variables and single-stepping behaves odd at times.

You can attach to a running process using Debug -> Attach to Process. As long as you have a copy of the running source code with the .pdb in Visual Studio, you can debug normally.