SQL Server Management Studio allows debugging of SQL (breakpoints and stepping through the SQL). It is possible to step in to a stored proc being called and to see a call stack. However I cannot determine how to set a breakpoint on a stored proc that will be called from those statements, that is, I can set a breakpoint on the top level SQL statements that I run that call on to sub-procs, but any breakpoints in the sub-procs are not hit.
UPDATE:
When debugging the 'breakpoints' view shows a warning symbol against the problematic breakpoints with a tooltip text of 'The breakpoint will not currently be hit. Unable to bind SQL breakpoint at this time. Object containing the breakpoint not loaded'.
If however I step into a stored proc with the debugger and place breakpoints on the view that it has opened then the breakpoints are bound correctly. So my question is, how do I get to to a view that allows me to bind breakpoints to stored procs correctly? It seems that right clicking on a stored proc and selecting 'Modify' gets you to a view that is not bound to the debugger.
Best Answer
It is because you need to create the breakpoint using the database name and object id rather than setting a breakpoint in a random SQL file which is what you get by choosing modify.
See:
https://sqlserverfunctions.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/setting-breakpoints-in-ssms/
Ed