Log4Net can't locate logfile anywhere

Question

I have followed many different guides on how to configure the log4net, it is up and running but i can't find a log file anywhere ...

This is how my configuration look like:

Web.Config

<section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
<log4net debug="true">
    <appender name="RollingLogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
        <file value="C:\\temp\\Log.txt" />
        <appendToFile value="true" />
        <rollingStyle value="Size" />
        <maxSizeRollBackups value="10" />
        <maximumFileSize value="10MB" />
        <staticLogFileName value="true" />
        <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
            <conversionPattern value="%-5p %d %5rms %-22.22c{1} %-18.18M - %m%n" />
        </layout>
    </appender>
    <root>
        <level value="DEBUG" />
        <appender-ref ref="RollingLogFileAppender" />
    </root>
</log4net>

Global.asax:

XmlConfigurator.Configure(new FileInfo(Server.MapPath("~/Web.config")));
//XmlConfigurator.Configure();

StartUp.cs

//[assembly: XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "Web.config", Watch = true)]
[assembly: XmlConfigurator(Watch = true)]

Declaration

readonly log4net.ILog logger = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);

Logging

 BasicConfigurator.Configure();
 logger.Info("Info logging ...");
 logger.Error("Homepage loading test logging ...");

Where my file value is: <file value="C:\\temp\\Log.txt" />

I have tried several paths, and commented out what above but no success.

What am i doing wrong?

UPDATE: As suggested by John H i have tried configuring and calling the logger in the Application_Start method and tried several alternative configs with it but with no luck. Here are 2 screenshots of some debugging info:

Main properties:

Below are the Logger properties:

What am i doing wrong?

Answer 1

OK so i got it to work following this tutorial: log4net-guide-dotnet-logging

• I have created a log4net.config file with content as showed in tutorial.
• used [assembly: XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "log4net.config", Watch = true)]

Called it like this:

ILog logger = LogManager.GetLogger(MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);
        logger.Info("Application started.");

• file is created and content logged as well. I am gonna compare the config files content and see if the difference is in there and go gradually comparing everything till i have found what caused it not to work.

Thank you for helping me! Kind regards

Answer 2

From your screenshots, we can see that your logger is not being initialised with your configuration, because IsDebug is false. One thing I notice from your screenshot, is you're trying to pass the path to Web.config directly to the Configure() method. I realise that may be an attempt to solve the problem, so you may have already tried my next suggestion, but calling Configure() in the manner you currently have won't work because Web.config is not published to your bin\debug folder. It will called Web.projectname.config. Calling

XmlConfigurator.Configure()

with no parameters, will automatically resolve the correct configuration file in your output directory. I'm guessing you've tried that, but if that still doesn't work, try this as well:

using log4net;

protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // Initialising configuration before requesting a logger.
    XmlConfigurator.Configure();

    // Requesting a logger only after the configuration has been initialised.
    var logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Global));
    logger.Info("Application started.");
}

I'm not sure it will make any difference, but your configuration looks fine to me.

But by inspecting the IsDebug property on the logger, you'll at least be able to tell if the configuration has even been read.

Edit: One other thing, make sure the application will have the permissions to write to the file. From the documentation:

The RollingFileAppender extends the FileAppender and has the same behavior when opening the log file. The appender will first try to open the file for writing when ActivateOptions() is called. This will typically be during configuration. If the file cannot be opened for writing the appender will attempt to open the file again each time a message is logged to the appender. If the file cannot be opened for writing when a message is logged then the message will be discarded by this appender.