What actually happens when you Stop Debugging? - asp.net

Question

I have 2 ASP.NET applications. 1 is in VB, 1 is in C#.
When the user logins with certain credentials in the VB app should be re-routed to the C# app. Likewise, certain credentials for the C# app gets re-routed to the VB app, and vice versa.
VB -> C# works. This functionality was written by a third party. (The C# application is essentially just a rewrite of our VB app, but more modern. However, the entire package isn't being rewritten).
I've tried to reverse the code so that the C# app will call a stored procedure in the DB to create a token, redirect the browser to the VB app which calls a procedure to get that token and set some Session variables.
I don't have it quite working right, one of the major issues is that that the Browser simply does not navigate off the C# login page to the VB page. If I run Profiler on the DB however, I can see that "load token" stored procedure being called. That must mean that the code is getting executed, but the browser isn't redirecting correctly, right?
More importantly, and the reason I'm posting this question however is I don't understand what's actually happening when I stop debugging my app. I set a break point immediately following the call to create that token in the DB. So I run my application, log in, trigger the break point and I can see the good data in the DB. If I immediately Stop Debugging, the load token procedure still gets called. How!?
Here's the code;
In my LoginController:
public ActionResult ValidateUser(objLogin)
{
var ds = LoginData.ValidateUser(objLogin);
string url = "someUrl/" + ds.Tables["Key"].Rows[0][0].ToString();
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Response.Redirect(url, true);
return Json(objLogin, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
That redirect points to the landing page in the VB application, which parses out the key from the URL and passes that as a parameter to another DB SP... However, the browser never navigates off my login page regardless if I stop debugging or not.
Frankly, I'm not entirely sure what the return statement does; if I try to step into it it just continues on as if I hit "Play". Application resumes control and just chills at the login page. It's part of the third-party rewrite. The VB app was very old, pretty unstructured. New C# rewrite uses MVC. I'm familiar with the principles but I'm not an expert on it, especially not in .NET.
And in LoginData
public DataSet ValidateUser(Login objLogin)
{
DataSet dsData;
using (SqlCommand sqlCommand = new SqlCommand("Validate_User_Main")
{
// execute this procedure; assign results to dsData
}
string authKey = GetAuthKey(dsData.userId);
DataTable dtTemp = new DataTable("key"); //putting break point here after the key gets created but before the redirect is called in LoginController.ValidateUser
dtTemp.Columns.Add("Key");
DataDrow drTemp = dtTemp.NewRow();
drTemp[0] = authkey;
dtTemp.Rows.Add(drTemp);
dsData.Tables.Add(dtTemp);
return dsData;
}
Edit: If I close my browser window while still waiting on my breakpoint, then stop debugging that "load token" call isn't utilized. If I simply Stop Debugging but leave my browser open, it gets called. So it must be redirecting "behind the scenes", right? I don't understand...

Answer 1

When you stop debugging the debugger is detached. This simply means that it stops tracking the running code. The code keeps running, as you have seen, but know you can't set breakpoints, watch variable etc.