How do I write logs from within Startup.cs?

Solution 1:

.Net Core 3.1

Unfortunately, for ASP.NET Core 3.0, the situation is again a bit different. The default templates use the HostBuilder (instead of the WebHostBuilder) which sets up a new generic host that can host several different applications, not limited to web applications. Part of this new host is also the removal of the second dependency injection container that previously existed for the web host. This ultimately means that you won’t be able to inject any dependencies apart from the IConfiguration into the Startup class. So you won’t be able to log during the ConfigureServices method. You can, however, inject the logger into the Configure method and log there:

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env, ILogger<Startup> logger)
{
    logger.LogInformation("Configure called");

    // …
}

If you absolutely need to log within ConfigureServices, then you can continue to use the WebHostBuilder which will create the legacy WebHost that can inject the logger into the Startup class. Note that it’s likely that the web host will be removed at some point in the future. So you should try to find a solution that works for you without having to log within ConfigureServices.

.NET Core 2.x

This has changed significantly with the release of ASP.NET Core 2.0. In ASP.NET Core 2.x, logging is created at the host builder. This means that logging is available through DI by default and can be injected into the Startup class:

public class Startup
{
    private readonly ILogger<Startup> _logger;

    public IConfiguration Configuration { get; }

    public Startup(ILogger<Startup> logger, IConfiguration configuration)
    {
        _logger = logger;
        Configuration = configuration;
    }

    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        _logger.LogInformation("ConfigureServices called");

        // …
    }

    public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
    {
        _logger.LogInformation("Configure called");

        // …
    }
}

Solution 2:

Option 1: Directly use log (e.g. Serilog) in startup-

public class Startup
{
    public Startup(IHostingEnvironment env)
    {
        Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
           .MinimumLevel.Debug()
           .WriteTo.RollingFile(Path.Combine(env.ContentRootPath, "Serilog-{Date}.txt"))
           .CreateLogger();

        Log.Information("Inside Startup ctor");
        ....
    }

    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        Log.Information("ConfigureServices");
        ....
    }

    public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env, ILoggerFactory loggerFactory)
    {
        Log.Information("Configure");
        ....
    }

Output:

To setup Serilog in asp.net-core application, check out the Serilog.AspNetCore package on GitHub.

Option2: Configure logging in program.cs like this-

var host = new WebHostBuilder()
            .UseKestrel()
            .ConfigureServices(s => {
                s.AddSingleton<IFormatter, LowercaseFormatter>();
            })
            .ConfigureLogging(f => f.AddConsole(LogLevel.Debug))
            .UseStartup<Startup>()
            .Build();

host.Run();

User loggerFactory in startup like this-

public class Startup
{
    ILogger _logger;
    IFormatter _formatter;
    public Startup(ILoggerFactory loggerFactory, IFormatter formatter)
    {
        _logger = loggerFactory.CreateLogger<Startup>();
        _formatter = formatter;
    }

    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        _logger.LogDebug($"Total Services Initially: {services.Count}");

        // register services
        //services.AddSingleton<IFoo, Foo>();
    }

    public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IFormatter formatter)
    {
        // note: can request IFormatter here as well as via constructor
        _logger.LogDebug("Configure() started...");
        app.Run(async (context) => await context.Response.WriteAsync(_formatter.Format("Hi!")));
        _logger.LogDebug("Configure() complete.");
    }
}

Complete details available on this link

Solution 3:

In .NET Core 3.1, you can create a logger directly using LogFactory.

var loggerFactory = LoggerFactory.Create(builder =>
{
     builder.AddConsole();                
});

ILogger logger = loggerFactory.CreateLogger<Startup>();
logger.LogInformation("Example log message");

Solution 4:

The official solution is currently to setup a local LoggerFactory like this:

    using var loggerFactory = LoggerFactory.Create(builder =>
    {
        builder.SetMinimumLevel(LogLevel.Information);
        builder.AddConsole();
        builder.AddEventSourceLogger();
    });
    var logger = loggerFactory.CreateLogger("Startup");
    logger.LogInformation("Hello World");

See also: https://github.com/dotnet/aspnetcore/issues/9337#issuecomment-539859667

Solution 5:

I use a solution avoiding 3rd party loggers implementing a "logger buffer" with ILogger interface.

public class LoggerBuffered : ILogger
{
    class Entry
    {
        public LogLevel _logLevel;
        public EventId  _eventId;
        public string   _message;
    }
    LogLevel            _minLogLevel;
    List<Entry>         _buffer;
    public LoggerBuffered(LogLevel minLogLevel)
    {
        _minLogLevel = minLogLevel;
        _buffer = new List<Entry>();
    }
    public IDisposable BeginScope<TState>(TState state)
    {
        return null;
    }

    public bool IsEnabled(LogLevel logLevel)
    {
        return logLevel >= _minLogLevel;
    }

    public void Log<TState>(LogLevel logLevel, EventId eventId, TState state, Exception exception, Func<TState, Exception, string> formatter)
    {
        if (IsEnabled(logLevel)) {
            var str = formatter(state, exception);
            _buffer.Add(new Entry { _logLevel = logLevel, _eventId = eventId, _message = str });
        }
    }
    public void CopyToLogger (ILogger logger)
    {
        foreach (var entry in _buffer)
        {
            logger.Log(entry._logLevel, entry._eventId, entry._message);
        }
        _buffer.Clear();
    }
}

Usage in startup.cs is easy, of course you get log output after call of Configure. But better than nothing. :

public class Startup
{
ILogger         _logger;

public Startup(IConfiguration configuration, IWebHostEnvironment env)
{
    _logger = new LoggerBuffered(LogLevel.Debug);
    _logger.LogInformation($"Create Startup {env.ApplicationName} - {env.EnvironmentName}");

}

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    _logger.LogInformation("ConfigureServices");
    services.AddControllersWithViews();
}

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env, ILogger<Startup> logger)
{
    (_logger as LoggerBuffered).CopyToLogger(logger);
    _logger = logger;   // Replace buffered by "real" logger
    _logger.LogInformation("Configure");

    if (env.IsDevelopment())