Would someone please explain or point me to a website that shows step-by-step how to set up my VS 2008 development environment so I can debug a DNN module that is located in a different project?

I recently acquired the source code for a DNN module. The code is provided as a separate Visual Studio project; that is, a .dnn file that places the source into the DesktopModules folder is not provided. The developer keeps trying to explain that the code can be debugged outside of a DNN project: "Once you downloaded the source code, there is a solution file, and you can open it using MS VS2008, you do not need to add it to an existing project." Running the solution produces an error dialog box ("Assembly '...xxx.dll' doesn't contain any UserControl types.") because it a class library and the controls do not reside anywhere.

Despite 3 solid days of experimentation, I am simply not getting it because I am unfamiliar with module development outside of a DNN project. I think I just have a brain-freeze or something.

Any help you can provide to save me additional hours of frustration would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time.

What is meant by editing the solution file to match my environment?

Manually coping the files to the DNN project has been a significant part of the experimentation and I have had limited success with the effort.

The developer makes it sound like this can be easily accomplished outside of a DNN project. Does anyone know how to debug a DNN module that is in a project separate from the DNN project?

Thanks!

Here's the way I normally do it.
a) Open up the source version of DotNetNuke (whatever version you're using).
b) Navigate to wherever the project file for your custom module resides and add it as an existing project within VS 2008
c) Click on the properties of your custom module project and go to the build tab - change the location of the dll it creates to point to the website\bin folder (for dotNetNuke).
d) Make sure you're setup for debug (ie modify web.config if neccessary) and choose debug option from your build choices.
e) Run a build and make sure you get .pdb files in your website\bin folder (especially for your module).
f) fire up your website.
g) from within your VS 2008 - attach to the w3wp.exe process  or aspnet_wp.exe
h) Put a break point in your module and you should be able to hit the break point..


Note that some of these steps might be different in your case... If you don't have a source version of DotNetNuke, I'd recommend opening the solution file for your module in VS 2008 and make sure you follow steps "c" and later...

Sanjay