breakpoint not working on Xamarin PCL but working fine on .Android

Question

Hello I have been trying to debug an Android project on mac os that was built with Xamarin Forms but have been unable to hit a single breakpoint in the Portable Class Library.

After deployment I get hollow type debugger.

Hollow breakpoint image

But its working fine on .Android and .IOS

Here is a list of everything I have tried so far:

• Deleting the bin and obj folders then clean and rebuild Setting the
• Android build property "Link Behavior" to "Don't Link" Unselecting Strip
• native debugging symbols Removed all symbols on path to debug file
• Fresh installation of Xamarin
• fresh cloning
• changing Debug information to "Symbol only"

Can you please suggest any answer that can help me in this ?

Answer 1

This issue was introduced in a recent visual studio update and should be fixed soon

Visual studio for Mac

While I wait for the new visual studio update I manage to fix this by enabling Fast Assembly Deployment located at: Android Project Options -> Android build https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Debugging-of-Xamarin-application-on-Andr/10001903

Visual studio for Windows

Try enabling Use Fast Deployment check this thread: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/breakpoint-not-hit-debugging-xamarin-android-proje/1561025

Answer 2

According to the screenshot you provided, it seems on Windows Visual Studio.

The hollow red circle in your screenshot means disable a breakpoint without deleting it. It shows the breakpoint, but it would not work in debug.

You could click the black circle in the screenshot to enable breakpoint.

For more details, you could refer to the MS docs. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/debugger/using-breakpoints?view=vs-2022