http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/Log4net_Tutorial.aspx
There was one problem I found while fiddling with the project. When an error was logged, I needed to find and open the log file to view the error. What I needed was realtime output of the errors on the console. Tim, in his article shows how to log to the Output window using a ConsoleAppender, but he does not discuss how to view the errors in a console window for easy and obvious reading (nor does the log4net docs tell you how to do this - not that I found anyway).
I knew that there was a way to redirect output from the Output window (Output/Trace/Debug Window) to the System.Console. So I had to dust off a book from my bookshelf to come up with the an extremely simple way to provide realtime errors in your console applications. The code boils down to 2 lines shown here:
TextWriterTraceListener myWriter = new TextWriterTraceListener(System.Console.Out); Debug.Listeners.Add(myWriter);
To make those lines work with log4net, it is required that you set up your app.config with a TraceAppender as follows:
<log4net> <root> <level value="DEBUG"/> <appender-ref ref="TraceAppender"/> </root> <appender name="TraceAppender" type="log4net.Appender.TraceAppender"> <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout"> <conversionPattern value="%-5level %logger - %message%newline" /> </layout> </appender> </log4net>
That's all there is to getting realtime logging info in you console apps without the need to open log files or query your IDE. I find it useful for testing libraries that will eventually be included in a windows service.
Below is some sample code.
public class TestWritingLogToConsole { private static readonly log4net.ILog log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType); public TestWritingLogToConsole() { log.Info("You should see this text in a System.Console window."); } } public class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { TextWriterTraceListener myWriter = new TextWriterTraceListener(System.Console.Out); Debug.Listeners.Add(myWriter); System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine("Trace Started."); TestWritingLogToConsole test = new TestWritingLogToConsole();
Console.WriteLine("End Program!"); Console.Read(); } }
