Michael Flanakin's Web Log

I doubt you'd get tons of email if you ask on the list, you may just get the developers to answer the question though.

Have you tried the udpappender? If you use that, you can use Chainsaw to view the events from log4net.

Here's the link to Chainsaw:
http://logging.apache.org/log4j/docs/chainsaw.html

Scott

I have and still use log4net and even have it working with the ADONetAppender. Please feel free to join the users-list since that is where you can get all your questions answered. The authors support the list and can give you advice on what you may or may not be doing. When you post, make sure you include your config file and how you are initializing the log4net system (code vs attributes]

Hope to see you there. log4net is really powerful.

One thing that I have found that will frustrate you beyond belief if you don't know about it is the assembly level attribute needed for log4net's DomConfiguration component to read the app.config.

log4net watches the app.config file for updates, therefore to have it all work you must add this attribute to your assemblyinfo.cs file:

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

Then if you get something simple like UDPAppender working, you now at least log4net is setup correctly in your application.

I am currently implementing the ADONetAppender for the first time, and have not found it too troublesome. One thing that I have noticed is that the records seem to be transactional. My table doesn't get updated until I close the application (which subsequentially closes the database connection).

I stumbled upon this blog looking for an answer on how to get it to update live.

I will update if I find the answer.

Joe.
email@josephdecarlo.com

Found the answer to my problem... The ADONetAppender is a buffered appender. Because of this, it does not write to the database until the amount of log entries exceeds the buffer size set in the <param name="BufferSize" value="100"/> entry of the app.config.


Just another note on getting log4net working, try using the consoleappender as it requires no other applications to see the results (just a thought)

Joe.

You seriously helped me cut through the chaff. I was having a heck of a time with the log4net documentation, but your samples worked for me!

Thanks!

thanks a lot man. these 6 steps is all i was looking for.

Hi,
I tried adding the [assembly: log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator(Watch=true)] to the assebly and using the log4net reference , however an error is throw stating it is not an attribute of the assembly , how do i resolve this??

RE: How can I fix this?

I am a little confused on your app.config implementation's purpose. You specify that the root should have the LogFileAppender and you also specify a unique logger, but it also just uses the same appender. What's the purpose of your logger?

At any rate, I think the root of your error is that the logger element is declared above your appender definition. I have never seen it this way, so my guess is, that is what is causing your exception.

However, I would also consider removing the logger element all together as it has no impact with your current configuration. The only time you need to specify logger elements is if you have specific ILog's that need to log differently than the rest of the application.

It is also important not to confuse a logger element's bindings. It is bound to an ILog instance that has the name as the logger's name attribute value. Most people instantiate an ILog by using the GetLogger(typeof(classname)). However, you can also just put a string in there. The Logger element in the app.config is bound to an instance of an ILog not a class. (FYI).

RE: DOMConfigurator Attribute problem.

Your syntax appears to be correct. Where are you adding this assembly attribute? You should be adding it to the AssemblyInfo.cs file.

We should form a "I survived log4net" group :)....

Here how I've added my assembly item. I did NOT add it to the AssemblyInfo.cs directly. My app is a console app and this is added to the file that has the main method.

This is the VERY first line in the file.
[assembly:log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator(ConfigFile="Logging", ConfigFileExtension="config",Watch=false)]

My log4net config file is called Logging.config as is located in the same folder as the executable... (in this case in the bin\debug folder)

One thing that caught me was the levels. To test, write ALL levels to the appender like so.

log.Info("Info");
log.Debug("Debug");
log.Warn("Warn");
log.Fatal("Fatal");
log.Error("Error");

If one shows up, you've at least got the framework working.

By the way, this was the ONLY way I was able to the the file to load..

And why we're all venting... Whats up with the zero documentation on the Conversion patterns???

<quote>
And why we're all venting... Whats up with the zero documentation on the Conversion patterns???
</quote>

No Joke - But I did find this
http://logging.apache.org/log4j/docs/api/org/apache/log4j/PatternLayout.html

%d - Date/Time
%t - Thread Name
%p - Priority
%c - Category or Type that reported the object
%x - Content you logged NDC style
%m - Application Info?
%n - New Line

How do you create Log4Net appender yourself? I need to create one for ETW (Event Tracing for Windows) and there doesn't seem to any information on it in the docs.
Anybody tried to create such appender before, by the way?

yah I cant get it to work in the AssemblyInfo.cs file either. Complains that its not an attribute class. Glad the worthless examples ive read explain it really well. Ive tried to copy the source for for nAnt wich uses log4net but nAnt doesnt build using visual studio ... so I cant really go by what it does. Anyone else got any ideas? If log4net is suppose to be simplar to use then the Microsoft logging access block, that has got to really suck....

Looks like my problem might be I was trying to use the non-beta version 1.1.1.1 instead of the 1.2 which all of the examples im guessing have been using. Looking at the dates of the builds, it seems like they may have quit working on log4net?

Problem #1 - [assembly: log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator(Watch=true)] did not work using log4net 1.1.1.1 .. works with 1.2 beta 8 though.
2nd problem I was having , sort of still am, is that its trying to look for my config file in the compile directory, which doesnt get put there when you compile. Looks like I need to figure that one out yet

If you're using Visual Studio, name your config file App.config and it will automatically be copied into the compile directory (and renamed to Whatever.exe.config) for you.

Michael, I've also had some troubles with the ADONetAppender, but after changing the configuration, it all works fine.

Most important is to put BufferSize to "1" to see results in the database after a single Log (<bufferSize value="1" />).

Also, please check your connectionstring again (you won't notice when it's wrong, because the ADONetAppender just will quit silently).

Finally, the @thread, @log_level, @logger and @message parameters seem to use the wrong conversionPatterns.

Please use these paramters in your config:

<parameter>
<parameterName value="@log_date" />
<dbType value="DateTime" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.RawTimeStampLayout" />
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@thread" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="255" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%t" />
</layout>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@log_level" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="50" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%p" />
</layout>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@logger" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="255" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%c" />
</layout>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@message" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="4000" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%m" />
</layout>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@exception" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="2000" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.ExceptionLayout" />
</parameter>

hello,

I want to use the DataAppender of log4net to save log-information in a
Database of my Smart Device Application.

My dataTable looks as follows:

Date nvarchar 50
UserName nvarchar 50
ClassName nvarchar 50
Method nvarchar 50
Description nvarchar 50
Parameters nvarchar 200
rowguid uniqueidentifier 16

My app.exe.config file looks as follows:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

<!-- .NET application configuration file

The .NET Compact Framework does not support application configuration
files,
but log4net supports using configuration files with similar names and
structure,
to store the log4net configuration.
-->

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

<appender name="ADONetAppender_SqlServer"
type="log4net.Appender.ADONetAppender" >
<param name="ConnectionType"
value="System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection, System.Data, Version=1.0.3300.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" />
<param name="ConnectionString" value="workstation
id=ACHATSCHITZ;packet size=4096;user id=sa;pwd=sa;data
source=achatschitz;persist security info=False;initial catalog=HelpDesk" />
<commandText value="INSERT INTO Instrumentation
([Date],[UserName],[ClassName],[Method],[Description],[Parameters]) VALUES
(@log_date, @thread, @log_level, @logger, @message, @exception)" />
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@log_date" />
<dbType value="DateTime" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.RawTimeStampLayout" />
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@thread" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="50" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%t" />
</layout>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@log_level" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="50" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%p" />
</layout>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@logger" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="50" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%c" />
</layout>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@message" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="50" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%m" />
</layout>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterName value="@exception" />
<dbType value="String" />
<size value="200" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.ExceptionLayout" />
</parameter>
</appender>
<root>
<level value="DEBUG" />
<appender-ref ref="ADONetAppender" />
</root>

</log4net>

</configuration>

And in my application I wrote the following code:

protected static readonly ILog log = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Login));
log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure();

and in the method where I want to log information I add the following:

log.Debug("The program got here!");
LogManager.Shutdown();

But when I execute my application and invoke this method, nothing happens.
Does anybody know what went wrong or what I have forgotten??:(

thx

robert

It took me two days to get logging set up properly. What a pain. The documentaion is a complete joke as you say. I never did get the [assembly: log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator... stuff to work. Wish I had found the above examples before I started. Why is it that almost every .Net code sample is of the 'hello world' variety? Aaaargh!

If you are having trouble using log4net in an ASP.NET application, I have posted a tutorial that may help...
<a href="http://tom.gilki.org/programming/net/120604/">log4net Tutorial: Using log4net in an ASP.NET Application</a>

For those who have the logging framework working, please post more tutorials!

Cheers!

I wish there was a preview button! Click this link instead...
http://tom.gilki.org/programming/net/120604/

Can anyone please describe the configurationsetting when using log4net and ChainSaw V2?

I've no Problems configuring a file- or Consoleappender or even an UDPAppender.

But if i want to view the log with chainsaw i am not able to manage this. The only thing I did is installing chainsaw on my Machine (WebStart). And now what?

Thank you for your time.

I am using log4net 1.1 and am having a really hard time getting it to work with a C# Windows service.

Here is the code I put in the Main:

StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter("c:\\tmp\\log4net.log");

writer.AutoFlush = true;

Console.SetOut(writer);

log4net.helpers.LogLog.SetInternalDebugging(true);

log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.ConfigureAndWatch(new System.IO.FileInfo("log4net.config"));

_logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Service));

_logger.Debug("Running service.");

I don't get the log4net debug output or the logged message.

If I put the very same code into a console application I see both the log4net debug output and the logged message. Has anyone used log4net in a Windows service? Are there any special considerations.

Thanks for you time.

Gerald

Finally everything is working here too!
AssemblyInfo.cs has:

// Configure log4net using the .config file
[assembly: log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator(Watch=true)]

Be sure not only to have the latest log4net.dll as reference, but also the log4net.xml too! Worked for me.

My appender is similar to the above mentioned, but the instance I use is:

private static readonly log4net.ILog log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger("Class Name");

So that the class name appears in the log file... Very useful.

Happy loggin'!

I tried using it in a WebApp.
Works, but not fine...
When using FileAppender with: <param name="AppendToFile" value="false" /> it is working the first time only. After that no logging is done.
Secondly, I have to call: log4net.LogManager.Shutdown(); because I want to use the file as an attachment in an email. If you do not force shutdown, the file is locked and cannot be attached.
Maybe there is way to configure at runtime to use a text file log{date}{time}. So every time the application loads, it creates a new log file.
Any ideas, comments, suggestions?
Reinout

I've just written a weblog entry "4 Tips for using Log4NET's ADONetAppender in ASP.NET" that might help you implementing the ADONetAppender:

http://weblogs.asp.net/dr.netjes/archive/2005/02/16/374780.aspx

Please help.

Please,please help!!!

I cannot use log4net from inside a dll. For everything i did, even the programatically loading of the configuration file, nothing worked.

If used in an Windows or Console application, where the main application makes a call to another application built as an dll that uses log4net, it works.
The main application has nothing to do with log4net, as the called one does all the logging.

But if my program (Office Shared Add-In) uses that dll (which uses log4net for logging ) , it doesn't log anything.

It took me a hole day to give it up....

I follow all the steps, but no log file. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong place?

Can someone send me a example to use log4net in Windows Service?

log4net is really not that bad. But I agree that quite some documentation is missing. What's stopping us.

Let's write it down. See on the conversion patern

http://bizknowledge.blogspot.com/2005/03/instrumentation-logging.html

People, People!!!!
It is free!!!! How can you compain on something you get for free???

Don't wanna use - dont use - but respect tons of work people gave for F#$^# free in order to help you a little bit with the logs.

Wanna get the super-druper documentation? Why not order it from one of the log4net developers for money...
Realy...

For a Windows Service and a FileAppender use the following...
public class MyService : System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase
{
private static ILog logger;

public MyService()
{
// This call is required by the Windows.Forms Component Designer.
InitializeComponent();

Environment.CurrentDirectory = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(MyService));
DOMConfigurator.Configure(new FileInfo(@"d:\MyService\log4net.config"));

Is it possible to direct log output to different appenders by level?

I get mine up and running in 10 minutes, if you read the documentation and look at the example config. You should be fine.

By the way, if you think log4net is Crap4Crap, you might want to change your blog to Michael Flanakin's Web Crap :(

For those having trouble getting ADONetAppender in Log4Net working, check the following:

1) Make sure that the value of dbType is set to a valid dbType enumeration for the database provider (as opposed to the the native type insde the database). Many people set it to “VARCHAR” or “CHAR”, when in actually it should be “String”.

2) Also, be sure that your conversionPattern values are valid. You can test them in one of the other Trace appenders prior to dropping them into the ADONetAppender

3) ADONetAppender will crash out silently if not configured correctly, so don’t be afraid to lift up the hood. You can enable internal debugging by following the instructions in the Log4Net docs at /doc/manual/faq.html#internalDebug . If you are using Log4Net in an ASP.NET application, you can also set up Trace commands to write out to your browser. To do so, add the Log4Net project to your solution, then open up the

log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.DOMHierarchyConfigurator.cs

Add “using System.Web;” to the top of the file, and then drop in trace calls at appropriate steps like this:

“HttpContext.Current.Trace.Warn("[Step Name]", “meaning full trace note");”

The primary functions of interest are:
protected IAppender FindAppenderByReference
protected IAppender ParseAppender
protected void ParseChildrenOfLoggerElement
protected void ParseChildrenOfLoggerElement
protected void SetParamete

When you are done, you should be able to see where Log4Net is dropping out. Don’t forget to remove the reference and trace events after you are done.

I hope this helps. As I am sure you know, Log4Net is a port of a very successful and mature Java framework that has successfully endured, and benefited as a direct result of, critical assessment by the development community. Open source software is usually thin on documentation and rarely has a step-by-step or one button click installer. Being forced to develop an understanding of a tool prior to using it can be frustrating for those who are used to Microsoft’s auto-installers and snap-in administration panels. I’m not knocking MS, they have hands down the best tool interfaces, installer’s, and documentation that money can motivate people to produce (perhaps even too much documentation). My point is that if Log4Net was a commercial piece of software, you would be justified in complaining about the lack of documentation or how difficult it is to configure it. However, Log4Net is Open Source, so your words of frustration could/should potentially be the seed of motivation to contribute to the community effort. You take the time to share your frustration with the audience of your blog, which is certainly your prerogative. However I propose that your readers would benefit more from the knowledge you gained during your experience. If you were inclined, you could even join the community effort and spend some time writing better or just reorganizing the Log4Net docs.

Log4Net is a very good thing, but i have unexpected problem with my own Appender.

I tried to configure it in runtime, because my Appender is a subclass of ADONetAppender, and I have got ConnectionString only in runtime.

MyDbAppender app = new MyDbAppender(connectonString);
log4net.Config.BasicConfigurator.Configure(app);

log = LogManager.GetLogger(this.GetType());
log.Info("Ok");

But this code has no effect! My Appender didn't "registered" in log4net Repository, and there was no log ounput in application at all. There where no exception during configuration.

I cannot find solution of this problem!

I found solution: I had to call ActivateOptions method directly.

It has been a while since you posted this. Have things improved? I also had problems configuring log4net, but I was placing the configuration into web.config for ASP.NET 2.0 Beta 1. It was not working and it was not telling me why. So finally I created a separate log4net.xml file and referenced it as a regular value in web.config. When I loaded that independently it was much easier to troubleshoot. And it does seem now the documentation is much more complete.

I actually haven't used it since my first problems. I do have plans on using it again, tho. I am hoping documentation is more complete. I think most of the problems were around that area.

Thanks for the tip!

I have used this Attribute and it works fine for APP.COnfig file [assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(Watch=true)]
Suppose i change config file as MYApp.Log4net this attribute does nt work.
[assembly: log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator(ConfigFileExtension="log4net",Watch=true)]

How do i Trace Level for only two verbose
ex: DEBUG,TRACE in this tag.
<level value="DEBUG,TRACE" />
i need to log only two levels here.

How to log using programitically log4net.
actually i dont need Config file itself as some one can meddle with this settings.

log4net talks about herichachay logging .
i want to log all class /module wise in separate log files. can i do this , how?

how can i use log4Net inside an assembly
from an asp.net application

trying to use log4net for windows forms, but unable to configure...
my config file name: "log.exe.log4net"
app is: log.exe
and using:[assembly: log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator(ConfigFileExtension="log4net", Watch=true)]
in assemblyinfo.cs
----------------------------------
in my form1 class: private static readonly ILog logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Form1));


config file is: "log.exe.log4net" having
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<log4net debug="true">
<appender name="FileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
<param name="File" value="log-file.txt" />
<param name="AppendToFile" value="true" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d [%t] %-5p %c [%x] - %m%n" />
</layout>
</appender>

now please tell me what i'm missing....
Thanks for ur reply..

Can anyone tell how to log to a new file for each day using log4net??

Hi, I have 2 questions:

1. The same question that Maria posted: How can I make a new file for each day? I am actually using this configuration:

<appender name="RollingFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
<file value="C:\\TEMP_log\\test.log" />
<appendToFile value="true"/>
<rollingStyle value="Size"/>
<maxSizeRollBackups value="10" />
<maximumFileSize value="1000KB" />
<staticLogFileName value="true" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="[%d] %-5p : %m%n" />
</layout>
</appender>

2. Where do you recommend me to put this code:
log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure();
I actually put this code in the global.asax.cs:
protected void Application_Start(Object sender, EventArgs e)
{
log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure();
}

Is this correct? Any sugestions?

Thanks for your time.

Rogelio -
Yes,You have to put the code in Application_start.
Any reply for ur first question.I'm looking for its solution for the past one week.But what i need is i need separate log file for each day,irrespective of the size of the file.You have written like write to a new code when the file exceeds a particular limit isnt?
Correct me if i am wrong...

How to solve RollingFileAppender issues? In my web server, log4net stops creating new files after it reaches its rolling file size limit. Please help/advise.

Has anyone had any issues where Log4Net just stops logging out of the blue? When this happens, I have to perform a server reboot. I've tried recycling IIS5, but that doesn't start up the logging again.

Hi all

My problem is i can't debug log4net. I am using an AdoNETAppender on two servers. On the first it works, on the second, it doesn't. So I am trying to debug log4net to understand where's my problem. I went on the working server and modified the INSERT query so that it fails (I wrote "FOOINSERT" instead of INSERT). Then I specified debug="true" in the log4net configuration. The logging fails but on the console i have no note about this. Just a lot of lines like this one:
log4net: DOMConfigurator: Setting Property [Layout] to object [log4net.Layout.PatternLayout]

and ending with

log4net: DOMConfigurator: Hierarchy Threshold []

Why can't i see any error log ?

Could You please send any answer also to il_wentu@excite.com ?

Thanks for Your help.

for me logging is working but getting error message as:
"System.Configuration.ConfigurationException: Could not create log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler,log4net, Version=1.2.9.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"

can anyone help me on this

For those of your working on ASP.net applications and struggling to get anything to show you must put the
log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure();
line in the application_start method of global.asax

This is because due to limitations of .net framework the application start event is not obtainable from anywhere other than this location (HttpModules can't react to it).

This is also why if you create a dll with logging and use it in another application you cannot get logging to work, there is no configuration called from the application importing the DLL. You would need to reference log4net in the calling application for the DLL you're using to activate logging.

I hope this helps someone.

Does anybody know how to log to different files??. I am using RollingFileAppender, but I would like to log to log1.txt all Info and log2.txt all Error, but what I get is that all log info is written to both files.
Thanks

There is a very good example in
http://www.dotnetspace.com/articles/general-articles/using-log4net---very-quick-start.html

I hope it can help you all.

Hi Dion,

thanks a lot for the hint regarding buffersize set to 1. That's exactly what i was looking for!

The 5840 Dorothy Baker blog

I was going nuts on trying to figure out how to get the rollingfileappender working in a c# windows service. Added the entry to the assembly was just the trick!

Thanks for the info

Hi All,

Its really nice to read so many messages on log4net. But I couldnt find solution for the problem I am facing while using ADONetAppender to log into Database.

I am using stored procedure to make an entry in database table. It was working fine when used Insert query. Though searched many topics regarding this issue could not find solution.

Let me give my code

AdoNetAppender sqlAppender = new AdoNetAppender();
sqlAppender.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure ;
sqlAppender.ConnectionType = "System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection, System.Data,Version=1.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089";

sqlAppender.ConnectionString = connString;
tried with both the below stmts but neither of them worked.
//sqlAppender.CommandText = "exec [dbo].[stp_ErrorLogs] @Level, @UserRACFID, @File, @Method, @Exception, @log_date";
sqlAppender.CommandText = "stp_ErrorLogs";

but when used insert worked well. Please suggest me wat might be the issue and a solution for this.
Thanks in advance.

I found

http://www.dotnetspace.com/articles/general-articles/using-log4net---very-quick-start.html

to be extremely helpful and concise. There were a few things I found missing though. I am doing a WCF Web service and found that adding the assembly attribute did nothing, I had to add:

log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure();

to Global.asax.Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e).
Also, the user who is assumed when the web service executes needs permissions to write to the directory where the log file lives, in the example from the link above: log (example was log/log.txt).

Hello,

I've created an event tracing system for .net applications that integrates via the System.Diagnostics.Trace mechanism, has a nice viewer and also has the ability to send logs to a sql server DB. http://home.traceylogger.com. Ran across this blog while trying to figure out how to integrate my system with log4net, given the frustration, I'm posting this.

Thanks