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.Net Logging

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  • K Kevin Marois

    Agreed. I just threw that in there for illustrative purposes

    If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

    H Offline
    H Offline
    Howard Hoffman 0
    wrote on last edited by
    #37

    IMO there are at least 2 advantages to those frameworks: - Separating the decision of what to log from the decision of "where" to place the log - Allowing you to change your mind post installation (via a watched external config file) Been using both web systems for almost 20 years. I've been continually glad for the ability to diagnose problems in the field in a straightforward way using mechanisms that are publicly documented and widely understood. Countless real bugs have been quickly identified and resolved thanks to this instrumentation.

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • K Kevin Marois

      So I'm looking at NLog and Log4net. Why in the world does logging need to be so blasted complicated??? Now I'm sure some of you would say "Log4Net or NLog isn't complicated", but at the most basicl level, what's wrong with this:

      public class Logger
      {
      public static string LogFile { get; set; }

      static Logger()
      {
      	if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(LogFile))
      	{
      		var path = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
      		LogFile = string.Format("{0}\\\\MyLogFile.txt", path);
      	}
      }
      
      public static void Info(string message)
      {
      	using (var sr = new StreamWriter(LogFile, true))
      	{
      		sr.WriteLine(message);
      	}
      }
      

      }

      I've never understood why [This Much](https://csharp.today/log4net-tutorial-great-library-for-logging/) is needed just to write to a silly log file. Seems to me that these "tools" are just a solution looking for a problem. IMHO, WAY WAY WAY over-engineered.

      If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

      J Offline
      J Offline
      JackPeacock
      wrote on last edited by
      #38

      What happens when you start the second instance of the program? What happens when you run it as a service? How do you look at the log remotely, while the program is running locally? Windows already has event logging that work well, using WMI. Remotely accessible, fits in with enterprise operations management frameworks, no file droppings in local directories, no need to reinvent the wheel. Log4Net et al. are solutions that fit problems when logging expands to larger enterprise systems. Silly log files quickly break down when complexity increases.

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • K Kevin Marois

        So I'm looking at NLog and Log4net. Why in the world does logging need to be so blasted complicated??? Now I'm sure some of you would say "Log4Net or NLog isn't complicated", but at the most basicl level, what's wrong with this:

        public class Logger
        {
        public static string LogFile { get; set; }

        static Logger()
        {
        	if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(LogFile))
        	{
        		var path = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
        		LogFile = string.Format("{0}\\\\MyLogFile.txt", path);
        	}
        }
        
        public static void Info(string message)
        {
        	using (var sr = new StreamWriter(LogFile, true))
        	{
        		sr.WriteLine(message);
        	}
        }
        

        }

        I've never understood why [This Much](https://csharp.today/log4net-tutorial-great-library-for-logging/) is needed just to write to a silly log file. Seems to me that these "tools" are just a solution looking for a problem. IMHO, WAY WAY WAY over-engineered.

        If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

        M Offline
        M Offline
        Michael Shoemaker
        wrote on last edited by
        #39

        I AGREE 10,000% !!!! Excellent post! I did pretty much exactly what you did.. I looked at those logger and went "WTF.. this is WAY overcomplicated so I wrote something MUCH simpler very similar to yours.

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • J Jeremy Falcon

          Nish Nishant wrote:

          That said, some of these logging frameworks kept adding features and now are unnecessarily complex, and may have reached a saturation point of over-engineering.

          Adobe is doing the same thing with Photoshop now. I hope it doesn't get worse, that's been one of my favorite apps for so many years. If it goes to crap it'll be a sad, sad day for computerland. :((

          Jeremy Falcon

          P Offline
          P Offline
          PIEBALDconsult
          wrote on last edited by
          #40

          I still use PhotoShop 7 (2002) -- it has never suddenly changed how it works. Nor has Office 2003.

          J E 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • K Kevin Marois

            So I'm looking at NLog and Log4net. Why in the world does logging need to be so blasted complicated??? Now I'm sure some of you would say "Log4Net or NLog isn't complicated", but at the most basicl level, what's wrong with this:

            public class Logger
            {
            public static string LogFile { get; set; }

            static Logger()
            {
            	if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(LogFile))
            	{
            		var path = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
            		LogFile = string.Format("{0}\\\\MyLogFile.txt", path);
            	}
            }
            
            public static void Info(string message)
            {
            	using (var sr = new StreamWriter(LogFile, true))
            	{
            		sr.WriteLine(message);
            	}
            }
            

            }

            I've never understood why [This Much](https://csharp.today/log4net-tutorial-great-library-for-logging/) is needed just to write to a silly log file. Seems to me that these "tools" are just a solution looking for a problem. IMHO, WAY WAY WAY over-engineered.

            If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

            S Offline
            S Offline
            ScottM1
            wrote on last edited by
            #41

            I used Log4Net a while back but I thought at the time that it seemed to be overkill for what I wanted it to do. Glad I'm not the only one.

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • K Kevin Marois

              So I'm looking at NLog and Log4net. Why in the world does logging need to be so blasted complicated??? Now I'm sure some of you would say "Log4Net or NLog isn't complicated", but at the most basicl level, what's wrong with this:

              public class Logger
              {
              public static string LogFile { get; set; }

              static Logger()
              {
              	if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(LogFile))
              	{
              		var path = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
              		LogFile = string.Format("{0}\\\\MyLogFile.txt", path);
              	}
              }
              
              public static void Info(string message)
              {
              	using (var sr = new StreamWriter(LogFile, true))
              	{
              		sr.WriteLine(message);
              	}
              }
              

              }

              I've never understood why [This Much](https://csharp.today/log4net-tutorial-great-library-for-logging/) is needed just to write to a silly log file. Seems to me that these "tools" are just a solution looking for a problem. IMHO, WAY WAY WAY over-engineered.

              If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

              R Offline
              R Offline
              ranman22
              wrote on last edited by
              #42

              Funny co-incidence! I _just_ got done dealing with existing log4net code that wasn't set up to work with multiple threaded entities (the way it was being used in our project) ...so my choices were to: 1) learn the overly complex log4net API and add add even more external dependencies to our several DLLs that were using it 2) write about 30 lines of code to create a thread safe generic logging API that did the same thing ...I saved a bunch of time and removed an external dependency by going with option 2 :)

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • K Kevin Marois

                So I'm looking at NLog and Log4net. Why in the world does logging need to be so blasted complicated??? Now I'm sure some of you would say "Log4Net or NLog isn't complicated", but at the most basicl level, what's wrong with this:

                public class Logger
                {
                public static string LogFile { get; set; }

                static Logger()
                {
                	if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(LogFile))
                	{
                		var path = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
                		LogFile = string.Format("{0}\\\\MyLogFile.txt", path);
                	}
                }
                
                public static void Info(string message)
                {
                	using (var sr = new StreamWriter(LogFile, true))
                	{
                		sr.WriteLine(message);
                	}
                }
                

                }

                I've never understood why [This Much](https://csharp.today/log4net-tutorial-great-library-for-logging/) is needed just to write to a silly log file. Seems to me that these "tools" are just a solution looking for a problem. IMHO, WAY WAY WAY over-engineered.

                If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

                J Offline
                J Offline
                James Curran
                wrote on last edited by
                #43

                The problem really isn't with the logger, but with the documentation (and I'm including article here on CodePRoject in that). For log4net (and for most other loggers, and most add-in libraries in general for that matter), there are: - things you do every time you want to log something. - things you do once for every class which logs something. - things you do once for each application which logs something. - things you do once in your lifetime. To understand how you use the logger, they should be explained in that order -- the thing you do the most taught first and with the most text. However, most go with a chronologic order -- exactly the reverse -- so you are bogged down with pages & pages of "configuration" documentation --- which in a real application will result one line of code.

                Truth, James

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • P PIEBALDconsult

                  I still use PhotoShop 7 (2002) -- it has never suddenly changed how it works. Nor has Office 2003.

                  J Offline
                  J Offline
                  Jeremy Falcon
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #44

                  Oh snap. :-D

                  Jeremy Falcon

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • D den2k88

                    Same old argument. If the existing wheels don't fit your needs you create the right wheels. A developer who doesn't do as much isn't worth a dime - baceause creating tools is precisely programmers' work.

                    CALL APOGEE, SAY AARDWOLF GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver "Go ahead, make my day"

                    M Offline
                    M Offline
                    Middle Manager
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #45

                    Totally agree. Nothing wrong with using 3rd party code or frameworks but no one shoudl be afraid to roll up their sleeves and make it themselves if the need fits.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • K Kevin Marois

                      So I'm looking at NLog and Log4net. Why in the world does logging need to be so blasted complicated??? Now I'm sure some of you would say "Log4Net or NLog isn't complicated", but at the most basicl level, what's wrong with this:

                      public class Logger
                      {
                      public static string LogFile { get; set; }

                      static Logger()
                      {
                      	if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(LogFile))
                      	{
                      		var path = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
                      		LogFile = string.Format("{0}\\\\MyLogFile.txt", path);
                      	}
                      }
                      
                      public static void Info(string message)
                      {
                      	using (var sr = new StreamWriter(LogFile, true))
                      	{
                      		sr.WriteLine(message);
                      	}
                      }
                      

                      }

                      I've never understood why [This Much](https://csharp.today/log4net-tutorial-great-library-for-logging/) is needed just to write to a silly log file. Seems to me that these "tools" are just a solution looking for a problem. IMHO, WAY WAY WAY over-engineered.

                      If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

                      M Offline
                      M Offline
                      marcus obrien
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #46

                      I think its been mentioned before but this is ok if you have a single thread running. Any GUI based app with more than the main thread is going to be problematic. Loggin shouldn't be wasting time on the main thread running the program. You should wrap up a logging task, then fire it off onto another thread and forget about it. It can take ages (relatively) to open a file and append a log entry to it. And if you use locking (mutex) to make sure logging is thread safe, then all the threads wanting to log, end up waiting etc. Then there is the problem of multiple teams/modules writing to the log. It's nice to filter/partition log entries etc. Or use colour coding (then you need a log file reader !) So at home on my robotics projects (www.roboticsfordreamers.com) I use a simple - file open and writer - for simple projects (I always use small simple programs linked together with 0MQ anyway, so logging is always on a separate single thread !) I do agree though, that mostly this area is over-engineered, the people who look after these projects see them as in need of improving with additional functionality. What is nice, is when you have two approaches you can use in a software system. The super fast, lightweight, low functionality solution, and the complete bells and whistles solution. Maybe software (especially SDKs) should be developed in this way, then users can chose the trade off between functionality and speed.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • K Kevin Marois

                        So I'm looking at NLog and Log4net. Why in the world does logging need to be so blasted complicated??? Now I'm sure some of you would say "Log4Net or NLog isn't complicated", but at the most basicl level, what's wrong with this:

                        public class Logger
                        {
                        public static string LogFile { get; set; }

                        static Logger()
                        {
                        	if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(LogFile))
                        	{
                        		var path = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
                        		LogFile = string.Format("{0}\\\\MyLogFile.txt", path);
                        	}
                        }
                        
                        public static void Info(string message)
                        {
                        	using (var sr = new StreamWriter(LogFile, true))
                        	{
                        		sr.WriteLine(message);
                        	}
                        }
                        

                        }

                        I've never understood why [This Much](https://csharp.today/log4net-tutorial-great-library-for-logging/) is needed just to write to a silly log file. Seems to me that these "tools" are just a solution looking for a problem. IMHO, WAY WAY WAY over-engineered.

                        If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

                        O Offline
                        O Offline
                        obermd
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #47

                        My LogFile class is 160 lines of VB.Net code. I also have equivalents in VB6 and C++. This gives me a uniform LogFile class that supports automatic day rollover and log file names.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • K Kevin Marois

                          So I'm looking at NLog and Log4net. Why in the world does logging need to be so blasted complicated??? Now I'm sure some of you would say "Log4Net or NLog isn't complicated", but at the most basicl level, what's wrong with this:

                          public class Logger
                          {
                          public static string LogFile { get; set; }

                          static Logger()
                          {
                          	if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(LogFile))
                          	{
                          		var path = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
                          		LogFile = string.Format("{0}\\\\MyLogFile.txt", path);
                          	}
                          }
                          
                          public static void Info(string message)
                          {
                          	using (var sr = new StreamWriter(LogFile, true))
                          	{
                          		sr.WriteLine(message);
                          	}
                          }
                          

                          }

                          I've never understood why [This Much](https://csharp.today/log4net-tutorial-great-library-for-logging/) is needed just to write to a silly log file. Seems to me that these "tools" are just a solution looking for a problem. IMHO, WAY WAY WAY over-engineered.

                          If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

                          E Offline
                          E Offline
                          EbenRoux
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #48

                          I have a simple logging interface that I use: Shuttle.Core.Infrastructure/Shuttle.Core.Infrastructure/Logging at master · Shuttle/Shuttle.Core.Infrastructure · GitHub[^] I also have a Log4Net implementation: GitHub - Shuttle/Shuttle.Core.Log4Net: Log4Net ILog implementation.[^] I like Log4Net but with the logging abstracted away you can use anything from simple to advanced.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • P PIEBALDconsult

                            I still use PhotoShop 7 (2002) -- it has never suddenly changed how it works. Nor has Office 2003.

                            E Offline
                            E Offline
                            EbenRoux
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #49

                            I recently came across instructions showing one how to legally download Photoshop CS2 along with it's key :) I don't currently need anything more advanced than that. The short version is to create an account on the Adobe site, search for CS2 and download with key...

                            P 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • E EbenRoux

                              I recently came across instructions showing one how to legally download Photoshop CS2 along with it's key :) I don't currently need anything more advanced than that. The short version is to create an account on the Adobe site, search for CS2 and download with key...

                              P Offline
                              P Offline
                              PIEBALDconsult
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #50

                              7 has always done what I need. Now that I'm getting back into photography I might look for something newer.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • D den2k88

                                Same old argument. If the existing wheels don't fit your needs you create the right wheels. A developer who doesn't do as much isn't worth a dime - baceause creating tools is precisely programmers' work.

                                CALL APOGEE, SAY AARDWOLF GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver "Go ahead, make my day"

                                B Offline
                                B Offline
                                BinaryReason
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #51

                                Meh. I'm getting paid for solving problems using software. Logging is a problem that's been solved numerous times already, and there's a multitude of amazing frameworks to choose from. Spend a few minutes reading (and understanding) the documentation, instead of wasting time trying to write another one from scratch. Not only will you end up with a better solution, it will be cheaper as well.

                                1 Reply Last reply
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