log4Net in Windows Forms App does not write log file

Question

I have a Windows Forms App, and I am trying to implement log4net so that I can write some logs. However I cannot seem to get it to work.

My implementation is as follows :-

log4Net.config :-

<configuration>
<!-- Register a section handler for the log4net section -->
    <configSections>
        <section name="log4net" type="System.Configuration.IgnoreSectionHandler" requirePermission="false" />
    </configSections>
    <appSettings>
        <!-- To enable internal log4net logging specify the following appSettings key -->
        <add key="log4net.Internal.Debug" value="true"/> 
    </appSettings>
    <!-- This section contains the log4net configuration settings -->
    <log4net>
        <!-- Define some output appenders -->
        <appender name="RollingLogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
            <file value="C:\Johann\Log\rolling-log.txt" />
            <appendToFile value="true" />
            <maxSizeRollBackups value="10" />
            <maximumFileSize value="100" />
            <rollingStyle value="Size" />
            <staticLogFileName value="true" />
            <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
                <header value="[Header]&#13;&#10;" />
                <footer value="[Footer]&#13;&#10;" />
                <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] - %message%newline" />
            </layout>
        </appender>
        <appender name="LogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
            <file value="C:\Johann\Log\log-file.txt" />
            <appendToFile value="true" />
            <!-- An alternate output encoding can be specified -->
            <!-- <encoding value="unicodeFFFE" /> -->
            <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
                <header value="[Header]&#13;&#10;" />
                <footer value="[Footer]&#13;&#10;" />
                <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] &lt;%property{auth}&gt; - %message%newline" />
            </layout>
        </appender>

        <!-- Setup the root category, add the appenders and set the default level -->
        <root>
            <level value="ALL" />
            <appender-ref ref="LogFileAppender" />
            <appender-ref ref="RollingLogFileAppender" />
        </root>
    </log4net>
</configuration>

and in my .cs

using log4net;

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(Watch = true)]
[assembly: log4net.Config.Repository()]

public partial class Form1 : Form
{

    public static readonly ILog log = LogManager.GetLogger("NotifMailer");


    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

        //CreateFolder();

        log4net.Config.BasicConfigurator.Configure();

        if (log.IsErrorEnabled)
        {
            try
            {
                log.Error("Page Load failed : ");
            }
            catch (Exception exc)
            {
                string exception = exc.Message;
            }
        }

        if (log.IsDebugEnabled)
        {
            try
            {
                log.Debug("Application loaded successfully.");
            }
            catch (Exception exc)
            {
                string exception = exc.Message;
            }
        }
    }
}

As you can see from this code, I did a small test to create a file and folder through code " //CreateFolder(); " and that works, so its not an issue with permissions.

What I am doing wrong?

Thanks for your help and time

UPDATE

Log4Net.config :-

<configuration>
    <configSections>
            <section name="log4net" type="System.Configuration.IgnoreSectionHandler" requirePermission="false" />
    </configSections>
    <log4net>
        <appender name="RollingLogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
            <file value="C:\Johann\Log\rolling-log.txt" />
            <appendToFile value="true" />
            <maxSizeRollBackups value="10" />
            <maximumFileSize value="100" />
            <rollingStyle value="Size" />
            <staticLogFileName value="true" />
            <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
                <header value="[Header]&#13;&#10;" />
                <footer value="[Footer]&#13;&#10;" />
                <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] - %message%newline" />
            </layout>
        </appender>
        <appender name="LogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
            <file value="C:\Johann\Log\log-file.txt" />
            <appendToFile value="true" />
            <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
                <header value="[Header]&#13;&#10;" />
                <footer value="[Footer]&#13;&#10;" />
                <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] &lt;%property{auth}&gt; - %message%newline" />
            </layout>
        </appender>

        <root>
            <level value="ALL" />
            <appender-ref ref="LogFileAppender" />
            <appender-ref ref="RollingLogFileAppender" />
        </root>
    </log4net>
</configuration>

App.Config :-

<appSettings>
    <add key="log4net-config-file" value="Log4Net.config"/>
</appSettings>

Assembly.cs :-

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "Log4Net.config", Watch = true)] 

Form1.cs :-

private static readonly ILog log = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Form1));

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

    //log4net.Config.BasicConfigurator.Configure();

    XmlConfigurator.Configure(new FileInfo(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["log4net-config-file"]));

    log.Error("Page Load failed : ");
    log.Debug("Application loaded successfully.");

}

Still no luck though

Solution 1

I don't normally wire up log4net using the assembly attribute

If you are using a configuration file external to the app/web.confg your root element should be:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<log4net>
    <appender name="RollingLogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
      <file value="C:\Johann\Log\rolling-log.txt" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <maxSizeRollBackups value="10" />
      <maximumFileSize value="100" />
      <rollingStyle value="Size" />
      <staticLogFileName value="true" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <header value="[Header]&#13;&#10;" />
        <footer value="[Footer]&#13;&#10;" />
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] - %message%newline" />
      </layout>
    </appender>
    <appender name="LogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
      <file value="C:\Johann\Log\log-file.txt" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <header value="[Header]&#13;&#10;" />
        <footer value="[Footer]&#13;&#10;" />
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] &lt;%property{auth}&gt; - %message%newline" />
      </layout>
    </appender>

    <root>
      <level value="ALL" />
      <appender-ref ref="LogFileAppender" />
      <appender-ref ref="RollingLogFileAppender" />
    </root>
</log4net>

According to the docs:

If neither of the ConfigFile or ConfigFileExtension properties are specified, the application configuration file (e.g. TestApp.exe.config) will be used as the log4net configuration file.

So you will either need to do:

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile="log4net.config",Watch=true)]

Or rename the log4net.config to YourApp.exe.log4net and set the assembly attribute to:

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFileExtension="log4net",Watch=true)]

Or remove the attribute all together and use the XmlConfigurator:

XmlConfigurator.ConfigureAndWatch("log4net.config");

http://logging.apache.org/log4net/release/manual/configuration.html

Solution 2

found my problem.

I should have done

XmlConfigurator.Configure();

inside Program.cs, since it has to run that piece of code before doing the initialize of the logger

private static readonly ILog log = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Form1));