You can debug *SOME* events at design time in visual studio. The trick is to set devenv.exe as the debug program which will start a new version of visual studio where you can debug at design time.
I have had success with this when debugging controls when they are dropped onto a windows form but have not been able to debug the constructor or load events of the form itself, for example.
The article is here :http://www.fawcette.com/vsm/2003_01/online/hottips/lasker/page2.aspx
Note the part at the bottom of the page where it describes how to change the settings of your project to enable debugging at design time.
Now, this point may be moot because I don't know if you will be able to debug this particular event but its worth a try. In particular, you should make sure that your config file (app.config or web.config) is setup correctly so the MM.NET addin can find your connection string at design time. Also, make sure the particular business objects that you are using on this page can be instantiated in a simple test harness outside of visual studio.
>I'm not brand new to .NET or VS.NET, so I'm familiar with debugging of an app, but not things that would happen in the Dev environment, can you shed some light there?
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>Thanks,
>Carter