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I am trying to debug some problems in a native C++ COM DLL I have created and would like to launch the Visual Studio (2008) debugger from this. This dll is called by another dll that I was given, so basically my code plugs into another application through this. Anyway, in the past I had used C# to create this dll and was able to use the System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Break() method. Is there anything similar to this that can be used? I saw a few posts about DebugBreak and __debugbreak but this did not seem to work, it just appeared to stop my code from executing beyond that statement.

EDT: I followed the advice of paulsm4 below and found that the breakpoints did not work, it would tell me: "The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No Symbols have been loaded for this document"

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Ideally, you'll have the project source for your COM/ActiveX .dll.

If that's the case, just set a break point in your .dll code, run your program in the debugger ... and that's it.

Please note the distinction between "managed code" (e.g. a C#/.net .exe or .dll) and "native code" (like your COM/ActiveX .dll). To debug "native code" under MSVS2008, you'll need to specify "mixed mode":

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/kbaht4dh%28v=vs.90%29.aspx

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Thanks for the information. I will give it a try. I have the source code for the COM .dll but nothing else. I am new to using the visual studio debugger so I have a big dumb question here, how do I run the program in the debugger. when I have used it for executables I have written I just start debugging, but I do not know how to start this other application through it.
Ok, I think I figure that part out by adding it to the debugger command path for my project. I will give it a try.
I just realized this might be more complicated than I thought. When debugging I found that the DLL that calls my DLL is not started by the application, but by a service that is started by the application. Do I somehow need to make the debugger aware of this?
You can attach to a running process with the debugger: MSVC, open your .dll project, Select "Debug" > "Attach to Process" > browse to your running process.
I tried attaching the service but my breakpoint still was not available. Still not clear to me why as the error appears to be pretty generic.

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