Simple way to perform error logging?
I wouldn't dig too much on external libraries since your logging needs are simple.
.NET Framework already ships with this feature in the namespace System.Diagnostics, you could write all the logging you need there by simply calling methods under the Trace class:
Trace.TraceInformation("Your Information");
Trace.TraceError("Your Error");
Trace.TraceWarning("Your Warning");
And then configure all the trace listeners that fit your needs on your app.config file:
<configuration>
// other config
<system.diagnostics>
<trace autoflush="true" indentsize="4">
<listeners>
<add name="consoleListener" type="System.Diagnostics.ConsoleTraceListener"/>
<add name="textWriterListener" type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener" initializeData="YourLogFile.txt"/>
<add name="eventLogListener" type="System.Diagnostics.EventLogTraceListener" initializeData="YourEventLogSource" />
<remove name="Default"/>
</listeners>
</trace>
</system.diagnostics>
// other config
</configuration>
or if you prefer, you can also configure your listeners in your application, without depending on a config file:
Trace.Listeners.Add(new TextWriterTraceListener("MyTextFile.log"));
Remember to set the Trace.AutoFlush property to true, for the Text log to work properly.
You could use SimpleLog.
It's a simple, but robust and powerful one-class logging solution, easy to understand, easy to integrate and easy to use. No need to spend days for setting up and customize log4Net, with that class, you're done in minutes.
Though it currently logs to a file, it should be easily customizable to log to a database.
http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/585796/Simple-Log
An optimal solution, in my opinion, would be to use NLog: http://nlog-project.org/
Just install the config package from NuGet: http://www.nuget.org/packages/NLog.Config/ and you will end up with the library and a pre-configured file logger...
Then in your code you just need:
// A logger member field:
private readonly Logger logger = LogManager.GetCurrentClassLogger(); // creates a logger using the class name
// use it:
logger.Info(...);
logger.Error(...);
// and also:
logger.ErrorException("text", ex); // which will log the stack trace.
In the config file you get, you need to uncomment the sections that you need:
<nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<!--
See http://nlog-project.org/wiki/Configuration_file
for information on customizing logging rules and outputs.
-->
<targets>
<!-- add your targets here -->
<!-- UNCOMMENT THIS!
<target xsi:type="File" name="f" fileName="${basedir}/logs/${shortdate}.log"
layout="${longdate} ${uppercase:${level}} ${message}" />
-->
</targets>
<rules>
<!-- add your logging rules here -->
<!-- UNCOMMENT THIS!
<logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="f" />
-->
</rules>
</nlog>
Edit the properties of the nlog.config file to
Copy to Output Directory: Copy always
Well log4net works like a brick. It may be a bit hard to configure, but its worth it. It also allows you to configure file locking of those log files etc.
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/140911/log4net-Tutorial
Create a class called Log.cs I am using Linq To SQl to save to the database
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System.Text;
public static partial class Log
{
/// <summary>
/// Saves the exception details to ErrorLogging db with Low Priority
/// </summary>
/// <param name="ex">The exception.</param>
public static void Save(this Exception ex)
{
Save(ex, ImpactLevel.Low, "");
}
/// <summary>
/// Saves the exception details to ErrorLogging db with specified ImpactLevel
/// </summary>
/// <param name="ex">The exception.</param>
/// <param name="impactLevel">The Impact level.</param>
public static void Save(this Exception ex, ImpactLevel impactLevel)
{
Save(ex, impactLevel,"");
}
/// <summary>
/// Saves the exception details to ErrorLogging db with specified ImpactLevel and user message
/// </summary>
/// <param name="ex">The exception</param>
/// <param name="impactLevel">The impact level.</param>
/// <param name="errorDescription">The error Description.</param>
public static void Save(this Exception ex, ImpactLevel impactLevel, string errorDescription)
{
using (var db = new ErrorLoggingDataContext())
{
Log log = new Log();
if (errorDescription != null && errorDescription != "")
{
log.ErrorShortDescription = errorDescription;
}
log.ExceptionType = ex.GetType().FullName;
var stackTrace = new StackTrace(ex, true);
var allFrames = stackTrace.GetFrames().ToList();
foreach (var frame in allFrames)
{
log.FileName = frame.GetFileName();
log.LineNumber = frame.GetFileLineNumber();
var method = frame.GetMethod();
log.MethodName = method.Name;
log.ClassName = frame.GetMethod().DeclaringType.ToString();
}
log.ImpactLevel = impactLevel.ToString();
try
{
log.ApplicationName = Assembly.GetCallingAssembly().GetName().Name;
}
catch
{
log.ApplicationName = "";
}
log.ErrorMessage = ex.Message;
log.StackTrace = ex.StackTrace;
if (ex.InnerException != null)
{
log.InnerException = ex.InnerException.ToString();
log.InnerExceptionMessage = ex.InnerException.Message;
}
log.IpAddress = ""; //get the ip address
if (System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsAttached)
{
log.IsProduction = false;
}
try
{
db.Logs.InsertOnSubmit(log);
db.SubmitChanges();
}
catch (Exception eex)
{
}
}
}
}
Create the following table
USE [database Name]
GO
/****** Object: Table [dbo].[Log] Script Date: 9/27/2016 11:52:32 AM ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
SET ANSI_PADDING ON
GO
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Log](
[LogId] [INT] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[ErrorDate] [DATETIME] NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Log_Date] DEFAULT (GETDATE()),
[ErrorShortDescription] [VARCHAR](1000) NULL,
[ExceptionType] [VARCHAR](255) NULL,
[FileName] [VARCHAR](1000) NULL,
[LineNumber] [INT] NULL,
[MethodName] [VARCHAR](255) NULL,
[ClassName] [VARCHAR](150) NULL,
[ImpactLevel] [VARCHAR](50) NOT NULL,
[ApplicationName] [VARCHAR](255) NULL,
[ErrorMessage] [VARCHAR](4000) NULL,
[StackTrace] [VARCHAR](MAX) NULL,
[InnerException] [VARCHAR](2000) NULL,
[InnerExceptionMessage] [VARCHAR](2000) NULL,
[IpAddress] [VARCHAR](150) NULL,
[IsProduction] [BIT] NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Log_IsProduction] DEFAULT ((1)),
[LastModified] [DATETIME] NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Log_LastModified] DEFAULT (GETDATE()),
CONSTRAINT [PK_Log] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[LogId] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY] TEXTIMAGE_ON [PRIMARY]
GO
SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO
EXEC sys.sp_addextendedproperty @name=N'MS_Description', @value=N'This table holds all the exceptions.
ErrorData = when error happened
,[ErrorShortDescription] == short desc about the error entered by the developers
,[FileName] = file where error happened full path
,[LineNumber] = line number where code failed
,[MethodName] = method name where exception happened
,[ClassName] = class where exception happened
,[ImpactLevel] = high, medium, low
,[ApplicationName] = name of the application where error came from
,[ErrorMessage] = exception error messge
,[StackTrace] = C# stack trace
,[InnerException] = inner exception of strack trace
,[InnerExceptionMessage] = inner message
,[IpAddress]
,[IsProduction]' , @level0type=N'SCHEMA',@level0name=N'dbo', @level1type=N'TABLE',@level1name=N'Log'
GO
Impact Level is basically Enum
public enum ImpactLevel
{
High = 0,
Medium = 1,
Low = 2,
}
You can use it as following
try
{
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
//this will save the exception details and mark exception as low priority
ex.Save();
}
try
{
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
//this will save the exception details with priority you define: High, Medium,Low
ex.Save(ImpactLevel.Medium);
}
try
{
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
//this will save the exception details with priority you define: High, Medium,Low
ex.Save(ImpactLevel.Medium, "You can enter an details you want here ");
}