NLog: custom installer program

Question

I am tasked with writing ac# forms app to:

• show a DDL of available websites to install NLog into (based on our internal criteria)
• install the required files to support NLog I have working sites (that I did NOT write) with NLog functioning that I used as a base to start from. There is some connection/interaction under-the-hood between the Global.asax and App_Code/LogManager.vb to direct errors into NLog. I didn't write that part, so I think that could be where the problem is because I don't know how they interact...

This is meant for our Implementation Engineers to use as a deploy tool.

(NOTE: THIS app is C#, but the target websites will always be VB as is our ecosystem)

Files being copied:

• bin/NLog.dll
• bin/NLog.Extended.dll
• Global.asax
• NLog.config
• App_Code/LogManager.vb

In our Global.asax, we are capturing errors like this:

Sub Application_Error(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    ' Code that runs when an unhandled error occurs
    Dim lastException As Exception = Server.GetLastError()
    HandleError(lastException)       
End Sub
 Public Shared Sub HandleError(ex As Exception)
    'Honor the config setting for whether we should do the logging. 

    Dim hostId As String = ""

    If HttpContext.Current IsNot Nothing AndAlso HttpContext.Current.Request IsNot Nothing Then
        hostId = " (" + HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Host + ")"
    End If

    If ex Is Nothing Then
        'OrElse request.Url.Host.ToLower = "localhost" Then
        Return
    End If

    If ShouldLogError(ex) Then
        Dim LogManager As New LogManager()

        LogManager.Logger.LogError("Global Exception",ex)

    End If
End Sub

Protected Shared Function ShouldLogError(ex As Exception) As Boolean
    If TypeOf ex Is System.Web.HttpRequestValidationException Then
        Return False
    End If

    If TypeOf ex Is HttpException Then
        Dim exHttp As HttpException = DirectCast(ex, HttpException)
        Select Case exHttp.GetHttpCode()
            Case 404
                'File Not Found
                Return False
        End Select
    End If

    If TypeOf ex Is System.IO.FileNotFoundException Then
        Return False
    End If

    If TypeOf ex.InnerException Is System.IO.FileNotFoundException Then
        Return False
    End If

    If TypeOf ex Is System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException OrElse TypeOf ex Is System.FormatException OrElse (TypeOf ex Is HttpException AndAlso ex.Message.Contains("Invalid viewstate.")) OrElse TypeOf ex Is System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException Then
        If HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.AbsolutePath.EndsWith("ScriptResource.axd", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) OrElse HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.AbsolutePath.EndsWith("WebResource.axd", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) Then
            Return False
        End If
    End If

    Return True
End Function

in LogManager.vb:

Public Class LogManager

Private _Logger As ILogger

Public Sub New()

End Sub

Public ReadOnly Property Logger As ILogger
    Get
        If _Logger Is Nothing Then
            _Logger = New LoggerFactory().CreateLoggerNlog("Website")
        End If

        Return _Logger

    End Get
End Property
End Class

and the NLog.config:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<extensions>
  <add assembly="OURDOMAINlibrary"/>
  <!--<add assembly="NLog.Extended"/>-->
</extensions>
<targets async="false">
  <target xsi:type="Console" name="debugConsole" layout="${VnEventId:brackets=true} ${uppercase:${level}} ${LoggerFriendly} ${message} "/>
</targets>
<targets async="true">
  <target xsi:type="File" name="debugFile" createDirs="true" fileName="c:/Vendornet/Log/${iis-site-name}}/${iis-site-name}_${shortdate}.log" layout="${longdate} ${VnEventId:brackets=true} ${uppercase:${level}} ${LoggerFriendly} ${message}"/>
  <!-- Alter the smtpServer and to attributes only. For information regarding the ${FatalEmail} tag, see 
                 the documentation provided with this project
        -->
  <target name="mail" xsi:type="Mail" html="true" replaceNewlineWithBrTagInHtml="true" smtpServer="OURDOMAIN" smtpAuthentication="None" to="${FatalEmail:DL-OURDOMAIN-ImpDev@OURDOMAIN.com;me@OURDOMAIN.com}" from="${machinename}@OURDOMAIN.com" subject="${iis-site-name} - ${processname} has FAILED on ${machinename}." body="${message}"/>
  <!-- The Webservice Target Below should not be modified except for the url attribute. To disable this target
             set the minlevel in the Rules section to Off. Otherwise set it to Trace or higher
        -->
  <target type="WebService" name="vnLogApi" url="http://OURDOMAIN/api/log" protocol="HttpPost" encoding="UTF-8">
    <parameter name="time_stamp" type="System.String" layout="${date}"/>
    <parameter name="level" type="System.String" layout="${level}"/>
    <parameter name="logger" type="System.String" layout="${logger}"/>
    <parameter name="userName" type="System.String" layout="${identity}"/>
    <parameter name="url" type="System.String" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=Url}"/>
    <parameter name="machineName" type="System.String" layout="${machinename}"/>
    <parameter name="sessionId" type="System.String" layout="${aspnet-sessionid}"/>
    <parameter name="threadId" type="System.String" layout="${threadid}"/>
    <parameter name="referrer" type="System.String" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=HTTP_REFERER}"/>
    <parameter name="userAgent" type="System.String" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=HTTP_USER_AGENT}"/>
    <parameter name="code" type="System.String" layout="${CUSTOMEventId}"/>
    <parameter name="message" type="System.String" layout="${message}"/>
    <parameter name="version" type="System.String" layout=""/>
    <parameter name="exception" type="System.String" layout="${exception}"/>
    <parameter name="stackTrace" type="System.String" layout="${stacktrace}"/>
    <parameter name="clientName" type="System.String" layout="${iis-site-name}"/>
    <parameter name="fileName" type="System.String" layout="${iis-site-name} ${date}"/>
  </target>
</targets>
<rules>
  <logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="debugConsole"/>
  <logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="debugFile"/>
  <!-- SET TO Trace or Higher Once LogAPI is available for this server -->
  <logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="vnLogApi"/>
  <!-- THIS LINE SHOULD NOT BE MODIFIED -->
  <logger name="*" minlevel="Fatal" writeTo="mail"/>
</rules>

So, even with the most stripped down NLog.config it is not outputting anything... tried a simple log file, webservice mail... nothing. I have tried several places to trip an error but naming a var wrong, missing a conn.open, etc, to no avail...

I have also tried bypassing the check for ' ShouldLogError() ' to ensure it fires but no go.

What other file or tweak is needed to get NLog working in this fashion?

Answer 1

There is a mistake in your config, there should be only one <targets> (with multiple <target> s in your case) . Also the <nlog> was not closed - but that was probably a copy-paste error.

It should be:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <extensions>
    <add assembly="OURDOMAINlibrary"/>
    <!--<add assembly="NLog.Extended"/>-->
  </extensions>
  <targets async="true">
    <target xsi:type="Console" name="debugConsole" layout="${VnEventId:brackets=true} ${uppercase:${level}} ${LoggerFriendly} ${message} "/>
    <target xsi:type="File" name="debugFile" createDirs="true" fileName="c:/Vendornet/Log/${iis-site-name}}/${iis-site-name}_${shortdate}.log" layout="${longdate} ${VnEventId:brackets=true} ${uppercase:${level}} ${LoggerFriendly} ${message}"/>
    <!-- Alter the smtpServer and to attributes only. For information regarding the ${FatalEmail} tag, see 
                 the documentation provided with this project
        -->
    <target name="mail" xsi:type="Mail" html="true" replaceNewlineWithBrTagInHtml="true" smtpServer="OURDOMAIN" smtpAuthentication="None" to="${FatalEmail:DL-OURDOMAIN-ImpDev@OURDOMAIN.com;me@OURDOMAIN.com}" from="${machinename}@OURDOMAIN.com" subject="${iis-site-name} - ${processname} has FAILED on ${machinename}." body="${message}"/>
    <!-- The Webservice Target Below should not be modified except for the url attribute. To disable this target
             set the minlevel in the Rules section to Off. Otherwise set it to Trace or higher
        -->
    <target type="WebService" name="vnLogApi" url="http://OURDOMAIN/api/log" protocol="HttpPost" encoding="UTF-8">
      <parameter name="time_stamp" type="System.String" layout="${date}"/>
      <parameter name="level" type="System.String" layout="${level}"/>
      <parameter name="logger" type="System.String" layout="${logger}"/>
      <parameter name="userName" type="System.String" layout="${identity}"/>
      <parameter name="url" type="System.String" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=Url}"/>
      <parameter name="machineName" type="System.String" layout="${machinename}"/>
      <parameter name="sessionId" type="System.String" layout="${aspnet-sessionid}"/>
      <parameter name="threadId" type="System.String" layout="${threadid}"/>
      <parameter name="referrer" type="System.String" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=HTTP_REFERER}"/>
      <parameter name="userAgent" type="System.String" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=HTTP_USER_AGENT}"/>
      <parameter name="code" type="System.String" layout="${CUSTOMEventId}"/>
      <parameter name="message" type="System.String" layout="${message}"/>
      <parameter name="version" type="System.String" layout=""/>
      <parameter name="exception" type="System.String" layout="${exception}"/>
      <parameter name="stackTrace" type="System.String" layout="${stacktrace}"/>
      <parameter name="clientName" type="System.String" layout="${iis-site-name}"/>
      <parameter name="fileName" type="System.String" layout="${iis-site-name} ${date}"/>
    </target>
  </targets>
  <rules>
    <logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="debugConsole"/>
    <logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="debugFile"/>
    <!-- SET TO Trace or Higher Once LogAPI is available for this server -->
    <logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="vnLogApi"/>
    <!-- THIS LINE SHOULD NOT BE MODIFIED -->
    <logger name="*" minlevel="Fatal" writeTo="mail"/>
  </rules>
</nlog>

Please keep in mind you can only with the async attribute all targets. If you need just one target async, you should use the async wrapper:

<targets>
   <target name="target2" xsi:type="AsyncWrapper">
     <target name ="target1" xsi:type="File"
                fileName="c:/temp/test.log" layout="${message}"
                keepFileOpen="true" />
   </target>
   <rules>
     <logger name="*" minlevel="Info" writeTo="target2"/>
   </rules>
</targets> 

See the AsyncWrapper target docs .

If you still experience problems, enable and check the internal log

Answer 2

Apparently the person before me wrote some of NLog into one of our custom dlls but not NLog.web, which is needed for some of the layouts like {iis-site-name}. Removing those fixed it: