SSIS: Debugging a Script Component

I was mistakenly assumed that we can debug a script component. As in, putting breakpoints and inspect the value of the variables at run time. But no, in SSIS we can not debug a script component. We can debug a script task, but not a script component. A script task is a control flow item, whereas a script component is a workflow item.

Because in the past I have debugged a script task, I thought we could debug a script component. So I put break points on the code in my script component and then execute the workflow task. Alas, the workflow did not stop at the breakpoint. It carries on. I thought my Visual Studio 2008 installation is not right, i.e. it did not integrate with SQL Server BIDS. So I tried on my laptop which only had SQL Server 2008 installed. I created a workflow with a script component and ran it and I got the same thing: SSIS did not stop at the break points inside the script component.

Then I read in MSDN that we can’t debug a script component: link. Because we can’t set breakpoints and inspect the variables, it suggests 4 methods:

1. Message box (MessageBox.Show)
2. Raise warning and error events
3. Log messages
4. Use a data viewer to see the output

In the end I did the debugging using the combination of:

1. Message box
2. Write to a text file (using SteamWriter)
3. Set a package variable