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log4net help

Hi all,

I am trying to use the log4net to create logs for my application. I want to append debug messages and errors to both the console and a rolling log file.

Now I am having issues getting it set up. I am working from the tutorial here

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/140911/log-net-Tutorial

I have copied the .dll to my bin directory of my web application.

I have the following code in my web.config;

  <configSections>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
  </configSections>

  <log4net>

    <appender name="ConsoleAppender" type="log4net.Appender.ConsoleAppender">
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%date{ABSOLUTE} [%thread] %level %logger - %message%newlineExtra" />
      </layout>
      <filter type="log4net.Filter.LevelRangeFilter">
        <levelMin value="INFO" />
        <levelMax value="FATAL" />
      </filter>
    </appender>

    <appender name="RollingFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
      <file value="~/Logs/errorlogfile.txt" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <rollingStyle value="Size" />
      <maxSizeRollBackups value="5" />
      <maximumFileSize value="10MB" />
      <staticLogFileName value="true" />
      <lockingModel type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender+MinimalLock" />
      <filter type="log4net.Filter.StringMatchFilter">
        <stringToMatch value="debug" />
      </filter>
      <filter type="log4net.Filter.StringMatchFilter">
        <stringToMatch value="error" />
      </filter>
      <filter type="log4net.Filter.DenyAllFilter" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %level %logger - %message%newline%exception" />
      </layout>
    </appender>

    <root>
      <level value="INFO" />
      <appender-ref ref="RollingFileAppender" />
      <appender-ref ref="ConsoleAppender" />
    </root>
  </log4net>

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I then have an extended usercontrol class, which I add the following line (to save me adding to every ascx file).

public static readonly log4net.ILog log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger

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Now when I try to log a bit of info, i.e.;

log.Info("Info logging");

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the file is not being created.

Could someone please advise me on what I am doing wrong here?

kaufmed

Did you get completely through the tutorial? There is one additional line that needs to be included in your application:

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(Watch = true)]

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This needs to be included outside of any namespace. The AssemblyInfo.cs file might be a good place to put it.

Also, I don't know if it was just a copy/paste error, but your variable declaration doesn't match what the tutorial says. You are missing a bit:

private static readonly log4net.ILog log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger
    (System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);

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flynny

ASKER

Sorry I forgot to put add this to my question. Yes I has added the following to my AssemblyInfo.cs file in the root of my project;

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(Watch = true)]

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Also the reason I change from Private to public was because i have extended the usercontrol class to add the variable in and i got an error on accessing the log variable due to protection levels??

kaufmed

I'm sorry, I did not notice the change in access modifier, but that should be inconsequential. What I was referring to, however, was the bit inside of the parentheses.

When I put all of those elements together, the code worked for me:

flynny

ASKER

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Not that it should make a difference but I am working witha web application.

Just to put all the infor together currently;

I have the following in my web.config

<configSections>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
  </configSections>

  <log4net>

    <appender name="ConsoleAppender" type="log4net.Appender.ConsoleAppender">
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%date{ABSOLUTE} [%thread] %level %logger - %message%newlineExtra" />
      </layout>
      <filter type="log4net.Filter.LevelRangeFilter">
        <levelMin value="INFO" />
        <levelMax value="FATAL" />
      </filter>
    </appender>

    <appender name="RollingFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
      <file value="~/Logs/errorlogfile.txt" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <rollingStyle value="Size" />
      <maxSizeRollBackups value="5" />
      <maximumFileSize value="10MB" />
      <staticLogFileName value="true" />
      <lockingModel type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender+MinimalLock" />
      <filter type="log4net.Filter.StringMatchFilter">
        <stringToMatch value="debug" />
      </filter>
      <filter type="log4net.Filter.StringMatchFilter">
        <stringToMatch value="error" />
      </filter>
      <filter type="log4net.Filter.DenyAllFilter" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %level %logger - %message%newline%exception" />
      </layout>
    </appender>

    <root>
      <level value="INFO" />
      <appender-ref ref="RollingFileAppender" />
      <appender-ref ref="ConsoleAppender" />
    </root>
  </log4net>

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then i have the following in my AssemblyInfo.cs

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(Watch = true)]

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I also have now (fromgoogling) added the following to my global.asax file;

    void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) 
    {
        log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure();
        
        // Code that runs on application startup
        log.Info("Debug: Starting Application");
        log.Debug("Debug: Starting Appplication");
    }

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however the above messages are not being outputted to either output window or the text file??

Am I doing something wrong here? (there are no errors being thrown either).

flynny

ASKER

ok I have managed to get a bit further now.

There seemed to be an issue with the file location (probably the ~)

<file value="~/Logs/errorlogfile.txt" />

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changing this to

<file value="errorlogfile.txt" />

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is now creating the log file in the root of the web application.

However, the initial .Info, .Debug and .Error calls are not adding to the file? BUT an error is being thrown in the application and the 'This is my error' log is being added to the file.

any ideas why this is happening? as I would like to add debug message through the application to track progress?

   private static readonly log4net.ILog log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger
        (System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);

    void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) 
    {
        log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure();
        
        // Code that runs on application startup
        log.Info("Debug: Starting Application");
        log.Debug("Debug: Starting Application");
        log.Error("Debug: Starting Application");
    }
    
    void Application_End(object sender, EventArgs e) 
    {
        //  Code that runs on application shutdown

    }
        
    void Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e) 
    { 
        // Code that runs when an unhandled error occurs
        log.Error("This is my error", Server.GetLastError());
    }

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

kaufmed

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flynny

ASKER

Kaufmed,

first of all many thanks for your time on this. It was indeed the filters that were preventing the logging.

It appears the filters are case sensitive, so whilst I was ftrying to catch the filter 'debug' in the web.config I was sending 'Debug' in themessage and so it was ignoring it.

Many thanks for all your time and help.

One last question. Is it possible and where would I add a global

private static readonly log4net.ILog log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger
(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);

so that i could just call log.info, log.error from any .cs page?

kaufmed

Well, you made it static, so if you also make it public it will be accessible from any page. The only caveat is that you have to prefix the variable name with the containing class name. It probably would not make sense to leave it within any particular page, so I would suggest moving it to Global.asax. Then you simply would call it as:

Global.log.Error("some error");

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...because Global is the class defined within Global.asax. If you don't have a Global.asax, simply add a new item to your project. It will be called "Global application class" in the list of items.

flynny

ASKER

thank you for your excellent support.