I would like to implement logging in my application, but would rather not use any outside frameworks like log4net.
So I would like to do something like DOS's echo to a file. What is the most effective way to do it?
Is there a way to log unhandled exceptions logged without using an outside framework?
This question is related to
c#
.net
winforms
performance
logging
You can write directly to an event log. Check the following links:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307024
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.eventlog.aspx
And here's the sample from MSDN:
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Threading;
class MySample{
public static void Main(){
// Create the source, if it does not already exist.
if(!EventLog.SourceExists("MySource"))
{
//An event log source should not be created and immediately used.
//There is a latency time to enable the source, it should be created
//prior to executing the application that uses the source.
//Execute this sample a second time to use the new source.
EventLog.CreateEventSource("MySource", "MyNewLog");
Console.WriteLine("CreatedEventSource");
Console.WriteLine("Exiting, execute the application a second time to use the source.");
// The source is created. Exit the application to allow it to be registered.
return;
}
// Create an EventLog instance and assign its source.
EventLog myLog = new EventLog();
myLog.Source = "MySource";
// Write an informational entry to the event log.
myLog.WriteEntry("Writing to event log.");
}
}
If you want your own custom Error Logging you can easily write your own code. I'll give you a snippet from one of my projects.
public void SaveLogFile(object method, Exception exception)
{
string location = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData) + @"\FolderName\";
try
{
//Opens a new file stream which allows asynchronous reading and writing
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(new FileStream(location + @"log.txt", FileMode.Append, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.ReadWrite)))
{
//Writes the method name with the exception and writes the exception underneath
sw.WriteLine(String.Format("{0} ({1}) - Method: {2}", DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString(), DateTime.Now.ToShortTimeString(), method.ToString()));
sw.WriteLine(exception.ToString()); sw.WriteLine("");
}
}
catch (IOException)
{
if (!File.Exists(location + @"log.txt"))
{
File.Create(location + @"log.txt");
}
}
}
Then to actually write to the error log just write (q
being the caught exception)
SaveLogFile(MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod(), `q`);
If you are looking for a real simple way to log, you can use this one liner. If the file doesn't exist, it's created.
System.IO.File.AppendAllText(@"c:\log.txt", "mymsg\n");
If you want to stay close to .NET check out Enterprise Library Logging Application Block. Look here. Or for a quickstart tutorial check this. I have used the Validation application Block from the Enterprise Library and it really suits my needs and is very easy to "inherit" (install it and refrence it!) in your project.
I would rather not use any outside frameworks like log4j.net.
Why? Log4net would probably address most of your requirements. For example check this class: RollingFileAppender.
Log4net is well documented and there are thousand of resources and use cases on the web.
I used to write my own error logging until I discovered ELMAH. I've never been able to get the emailing part down quite as perfectly as ELMAH does.
Source: Stackoverflow.com