Is there a to turn on/off the logging functionality in .net core specially the serilog(logging data into .txt file)

Question

I am using .net core 2.2 in a sample project and have implemented LoggerFactory and Serilog(for getting logs in .txt file) and they are working fine. But is there a way so that I can turn on logging and off it when I don't need it dynamically without actually doing any code changes and then deploying back into server.

I have made the necessary changes to start the logging functionality and its working pretty good but now I want my system to stop logging errors into the .txt file when I don't want it to log. Means, Is there a way to turn on/off logging functionality.

In Startup.cs, I have added this code to start the .txt logging:

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env, ILoggerFactory loggerFactory) {
    loggerFactory.AddFile("Logs/log-{Date}.txt");
}

In a controller named customer I have created an instance of the ILogger class.

private ILogger _logger;
public CustomersController(ILogger < CustomersController > logger) {
    _logger = logger;
}

And in this TimeTaken function I have used it to log the time taken for the DB call to fetch all customers.

public JsonResult TimeTaken() {
    _logger.LogInformation("Controller Called");
    Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch();
    sw.Start();
    var customers = new List < Customers > ();
    if (!_cache.TryGetValue("CustomersList", out customers)) {
        if (customers == null) {
            customers = _context.Customers.ToList();
        }
        var cacheEntryOptions = new MemoryCacheEntryOptions().SetSlidingExpiration(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
        _cache.Set("CustomersList", customers, cacheEntryOptions);
    }
    sw.Stop();
    var b = sw.ElapsedMilliseconds;
    _logger.LogInformation("Data execution took {0} miliseconds", b);
    return Json(b);
}

This codes are working fine just want to know if there is a way to turn on/off their functionality on my will. Like calling an api to stop the logging or anything??

Answer 1

Configuration file are used to change application settings without the need to rebuild the application.

Knowing that, here is the most basic way to achieve what you are looking for :

1. Set up a flag in your appSettings.json
2. Read the value of the flag from IConfiguration ( see how to do so )
3. Enable logging depending on the flag value (for instance with a if surrounding loggerFactory.AddFile("Logs/log-{Date}.txt");

Hope it helps.