How to use/ setup log4net

For a few times I needed to add log4Net to projects I have been working on and occasionally I forget how to configure log4net in my project or website.

So, I’m writing it down and hope it can help others as well :)

 

1- Add reference to log4net

2- Create log4net.config.xml file under App_Data/Configuration/log4net directory. (or any directory you would like)

3- log4net.config.xml file should look like this – make sure to update the  logging level

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

<log4net>

    <appender name="XMLFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">

        <file value="e:\\temp\\log4net\\BLOND_MOBILE\\root.xml"/>

        <appendToFile value="true"/>

        <rollingStyle value="Size"/>

        <maxSizeRollBackups value="-1"/>

        <maximumFileSize value="5MB"/>

        <countDirection value="1"/>

        <locationinfo value="false"/>

        <layout type="log4net.Layout.XmlLayout">

            <param name="Prefix" value=""/>

            <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d [%t] %-5p %c [%x] - %m%n"/>

        </layout>

    </appender>

    <appender name="LogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender,log4net">

        <file value="e:\\temp\\log4net\\BLOND_MOBILE\\root.txt"/>

        <appendToFile value="true"/>

        <rollingStyle value="Size"/>

        <maxSizeRollBackups value="-1"/>

        <maximumFileSize value="5MB"/>

        <countDirection value="1"/>

        <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout,log4net">

            <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d [%t] %-5p %c [%x] - %m%n"/>

        </layout>

    </appender>

    <appender name="BLOND_MOBILEFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender,log4net">

        <file value="e:\\temp\\log4net\\BLOND_MOBILE\\BLOND_MOBILE.txt"/>

        <appendToFile value="true"/>

        <rollingStyle value="Size"/>

        <maxSizeRollBackups value="-1"/>

        <maximumFileSize value="5MB"/>

        <countDirection value="1"/>

        <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout,log4net">

            <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d [%t] %-5p %c [%x] - %m%n"/>

        </layout>

    </appender>

  <appender name="APIAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender,log4net">

   <file value="e:\\temp\\log4net\\BLOND_MOBILE\\API.txt"/>

  <appendToFile value="true"/>

  <rollingStyle value="Size"/>

  <maxSizeRollBackups value="-1"/>

  <maximumFileSize value="5MB"/>

  <countDirection value="1"/>

  <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout, log4net">

    <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d [%t] %-5p %c [%x] - %m%n"/>

  </layout>

  </appender>

    <logger name="BLOND_MOBILE">

        <level value="DEBUG"/>

        <appender-ref ref="BLOND_MOBILEFileAppender"/>

    </logger>

  <logger name="API">

    <level value="ERROR"/>

    <appender-ref ref="APIAppender"/>

  </logger>

    <root>

        <level value="DEBUG"/>

        <appender-ref ref="LogFileAppender"/>

<appender-ref ref="RemoteSyslogAppender"/>

    </root>

</log4net>

 

4- Define log4net config location in the web.config (or any other place if its not a web app). Do this by adding this line to the web config

 

<add key="log4netConfigFilePath" value="~/App_Data/Configuration/log4net/log4net.config.xml"/>

5- Create a new file in your project of type global.asax. inside the Application_Start method add the below lines:

//log4net config

System.IO.FileInfo log4netConfig = new System.IO.FileInfo(Server.MapPath(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["log4netConfigFilePath"]));

log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.ConfigureAndWatch(log4netConfig);

6 – Get an instance of the logger, by passign teh logger name. which you defined in the log4net config file

private static readonly ILog logger = LogManager.GetLogger("BLOND_MOBILE");

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