Production Debugging talk at Code Camp Philly

Thanks to everyone who attended my talk on Production Debugging. You can now download my slides and code samples from the talk. I have listed some questions and answers from the talk at the bottom.

Where can I get Reflector?

It is a free download on Red Gate's site. You don't have to buy the Visual Studio in­te­gra­tion. When it starts up you are asked for the version of .NET to use. I always select the latest version as .NET backwards com­pat­i­bil­i­ty is good. Of course this can be changed later.

How do you stop someone from de­com­pil­ing your code with Reflector?

The truth is that you cannot stop a determined hacker from getting at your code. Your best option is to make it harder by using an ob­fus­ca­tion tool such as PreEmptive Dot­fus­ca­tor, Red Gate Smar­tAssem­bly, Remotesoft Salamander, Xheo Code Protection, or one of the many other .NET ob­fus­ca­tors.

You should be aware that ob­fus­ca­tors can make your life more difficult. One way they make code harder to read in Reflector is through method renaming. This can result in the stack traces from the obfuscated code being out of sync with your code.

Can I use ELMAH with Windows apps?

Not easily. ELMAH relies on various features of ASP.NET to do a lot of it's work. Some people have make their own mod­i­fi­ca­tions, but it not something that a beginning developer might want to attempt.

I wrote a sample ages ago called BugBack that works for WinForms. It is old and in need of some love but it is a starting point. If you want an off the shelf solution you should look at Red Gate Smar­tAssem­bly.

Tagged with asp-net, codecamp, debugging, fiddler, http, philadelphia, presentation, sharepoint and talk.