How to include debugging symbols to .vsix package

Question

I have written visual studio extension for private use. The package is still under development but I would like to use it and distribute it to my colleagues. Is it possible to include debugging symbols (.pdb) to .vsix package? I prefer a Visual Studio or Project setting to the package editing.

Answer 1

There's no setting for it within the VS UI, but you can edit your .csproj or .vbproj file to change it. If you open the .csproj file in notepad, either update or add this under a <PropertyGroup>

<IncludeDebugSymbolsInVSIXContainer>true</IncludeDebugSymbolsInVSIXContainer>

You probably want to add this under your "debug" PropertyGroup so that way it gets included in debug builds but not release ones you might stick somewhere public. If you have project references that get added to the VSIX, go to the <ProjectReference> node in your project file and look for:

<IncludeOutputGroupsInVSIX>BuiltProjectOutputGroup%3bBuiltProjectOutputGroupDependencies%3bGetCopyToOutputDirectoryItems%3b</IncludeOutputGroupsInVSIX>
<IncludeOutputGroupsInVSIXLocalOnly>DebugSymbolsProjectOutputGroup%3b</IncludeOutputGroupsInVSIXLocalOnly>

The first line is the output groups that get included in the VSIX, and the second is what gets copied locally when you hit F5. Tweak the groups as expected, where the %3b is the escaped form of a ; and is the delimiter here.