Quick Log4net setup

Published on 28 May 2010

Log4net has lots of options and different ways it could be configured - these are notes written to myself so that I can get it working quickly.

1. Download log4net

Download from here.

2. Drop DLL in Bin folder

In the download package, there are various DLLs, usually you'll want the .net 2.0 release version at:

incubating-log4net-1.2.10\\log4net-1.2.10\\bin\\net\\2.0\\release
```If you have an ASP.NET [Web Application Project](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa983474.aspx) (as opposed to an ASP.NET [Web Site](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms227432.aspx)) then you'll also need to add a reference to the DLL.  
  
3\. Add a Configurator line in the Global.asax  
  
There are various ways of telling Log4net to pick up its config. We're going to use the Xml Configurator that pulls config from a separate config file. Add this line of code to Application\_Start in the Global.asax:  

void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure();
}

  
The XmlConfigurator.Configure() call above, tells Log4net to look for a certain key in appSettings. The key gives the name of the config file. So we add the correct appSetting entry to web.config, like this:  
... ... ```5\. Add a logging.config file In the root folder (same folder as web.config), add the following logging.config file: ``` ```This has basic options for logging to a text file in the App\_Data folder (make sure you have an App\_Data folder). Its set to log everything, because during development thats what you'll want to do, right? 6\. Add logging statements One good pattern for this is to have a static logger for each page: ``` public partial class MyWebPage : System.Web.UI.Page { private static readonly ILog logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(MyWebPage)); protected void Page\_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { logger.Debug("page load"); } ... ``` So ... thats one way of doing it. There are, of course, millions of other ways.