Question

I’m writing an application wherein I have some debug code that I do not wish to delete, but I wish it to be modified or removed when compiling for release/publish. For example, I would like something like this in a debug build:

MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString(), "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);

…to become this in a release build:

MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);

Ideally, I was hoping to do something like this:

#if DEBUG_BUILD
   MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString(), "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
#else
   MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
#endif

I would prefer to not have to add/remove a Conditional Compilation Symbol in the project properties every time I change the build type; it should happen automatically. Is there a way to do this in Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition? Thanks.

Answer 1

Use:

#if DEBUG
  // Debug work here
#else
  // Release work here
#endif

If you do that, just make sure to turn on the “Define DEBUG Constant” toggle in the property pages (Build page of the Project’s properties), and it will work. This is set to true by default for new C# projects. DEBUG will get defined for you (by default) by the C# compiler.