Configuring log4net to write on a database

Question

I am trying to configure log4net to log in the database, it is already configured to write in a file, but when I change the appender to the database it doesn't do anything. The connection to the database is ok because if I change the password I can see an entry in the eventviewer saying the password is wrong. Here it is my app.config:

 <log4net>   
    <appender name="ConsoleAppender" type="log4net.Appender.ConsoleAppender">
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%date{ABSOLUTE} [%thread] %level %logger - %message%newlineExtra Info: %property{testProperty}%newline%exception"/>
      </layout>
      <filter type="log4net.Filter.LevelRangeFilter">
        <levelMin value="INFO"/>
        <levelMax value="FATAL"/>
      </filter>
    </appender>    
    <securitycontext type="log4net.Util.WindowsSecurityContext">
      <credentials value="Process">
      </credentials>
    </securitycontext>
    <appender name="AdoNetAppender" type="log4net.Appender.AdoNetAppender">
      <bufferSize value="100" />
      <connectionType value="System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection, System.Data, Version=1.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" />
      <connectionString value="data source=PCKMA0348\SQLEXPRESS;initial catalog=dbServicesLog;User ID='rb';Password='Test1234';multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
      <commandText value="INSERT INTO Log ([Date],[Thread],[Level],[Logger],[Message],[Exception]) VALUES (@log_date, @thread, @log_level, @logger, @message, @exception)" />
      <parameter>
        <parameterName value="@log_date" />
        <dbType value="DateTime" />
        <layout type="log4net.Layout.RawTimeStampLayout" />
      </parameter>
      <parameter>
        <parameterName value="@thread" />
        <dbType value="String" />
        <size value="255" />
        <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
          <conversionPattern value="%thread" />
        </layout>
      </parameter>
      <parameter>
        <parameterName value="@log_level" />
        <dbType value="String" />
        <size value="50" />
        <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
          <conversionPattern value="%level" />
        </layout>
      </parameter>
      <parameter>
        <parameterName value="@logger" />
        <dbType value="String" />
        <size value="255" />
        <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
          <conversionPattern value="%logger" />
        </layout>
      </parameter>
      <parameter>
        <parameterName value="@message" />
        <dbType value="String" />
        <size value="2000" />
        <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
          <conversionPattern value="%message" />
        </layout>
      </parameter>
      <parameter>
        <parameterName value="@exception" />
        <dbType value="String" />
        <size value="1000" />
        <layout type="log4net.Layout.ExceptionLayout" />
      </parameter>
    </appender>
    <appender name="RollingFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
      <file value="mylogfile.txt" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <rollingStyle value="Size" />
      <maxSizeRollBackups value="5" />
      <maximumFileSize value="10MB" />
      <staticLogFileName value="true" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %level %logger - %message%newline" />
      </layout>
    </appender>
    <root>
      <level value="FATAL"/>
      <appender-ref ref="AdoNetAppender"/>
    </root>
    <logger name="Log4NetTest.OtherClass">
      <level value="DEBUG"/>
      <appender-ref ref="AdoNetAppender"/>
    </logger>
  </log4net>

Any guess? Do I need to create the database and the table manually or it will be automatically created?

Answer 1

You need to create the database and the Log table yourself.

If you want to diagnose possible issues with log4net, you can create a diagnostic trace by adding this to your .config file:

<system.diagnostics>
  <trace autoflush="true">
    <listeners>
      <add
        name="textWriterTraceListener"
        type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener"
        initializeData="C:\whatever\your\path\is\log4net.txt" />
    </listeners>
  </trace>
</system.diagnostics>

and adding the debug switch:

<appSettings>
  <add key="log4net.Internal.Debug" value="true"/>
</appSettings>