How do I debug Media Browser code?

taken from http://www.samsaffron.com/archive/2009/01/28/Simpler+debugging+of+Vista+Media+Center+plugins

To launch a media center plugin you have to execute ehshell.exe, and to debug these plugins you need to attach to exexthost.exe, a different process.

So, for example, our debug option for media browser says:

• Start external program: C:\Windows\ehome\ehshell.exe
• Command line arguments: /entrypoint:{CE32C570-4BEC-4aeb-AD1D-CF47B91DE0B2}{FC9ABCCC-36CB-47ac-8BAB-03E8EF5F6F22}

This configuration forces media center to launch our media browser plugin on start-up.

But… it only attaches to ehshell.exe forcing us a second, very annoying step which involves hunting down ehexthost.exe in the process list and attaching to it. It’s such a waste of time.

So … I wrote a little visual studio macro to take care of this shoddy work flow:

Public Sub CompileRunAndAttachToEhExtHost()

   DTE.Solution.SolutionBuild.Build(True)
   DTE.Solution.SolutionBuild.Debug()

   Dim trd As System.Threading.Thread = _
      New System.Threading.Thread(AddressOf AttachToEhExtHost)
   trd.Start()

End Sub

Public Sub AttachToEhExtHost()
   Dim i As Integer = 0
   Do Until i = 50
       i = i + 1
       Try

         For Each proc In DTE.Debugger.LocalProcesses
            If (proc.Name.IndexOf("ehexthost.exe") <> -1) Then
                proc.Attach()
                Exit Sub
            End If
         Next
       Catch e As Exception
         ' dont care - stuff may be busy 
       End Try
       Threading.Thread.Sleep(100)
   Loop
End Sub

To install it:

• Tools→Macros→Macros IDE…
• Expand MyMacros
• Paste the code into your macro file

Next, bind your macro to a shortcut key

• Tools→Options→Keyboard
• Click on “Press shortcut keys:”
• Press the shortcut you want (I use CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-A)
• Start a search in the “show commands containing… ” box. Search for “CompileRunAndAttachToEhExtHost”
• Click Assign

Your done …

Now to Compile→Launch and Debug your media center plugin all you need to do is click CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-A