Log4net creating custom levels

log4netlogging

I know its possible to use the built in levels with log4net
INFO, WARN, ERROR and FATAL messages

Is it possible to create new ones?

Best Answer

This can be done with an extension method as outlined here: http://rageshkrishna.com/2011/01/21/AddingCustomLogLevelsToLog4net.aspx

Adding some extension methods makes it dead simple to start using the new log levels:

public static class SecurityExtensions
{
   static readonly log4net.Core.Level authLevel = new log4net.Core.Level(50000, "Auth");

   public static void Auth(this ILog log, string message)
   {
      log.Logger.Log(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType,
          authLevel, message, null);
   }

   public static void AuthFormat(this ILog log, string message, params object[] args)
   {
      string formattedMessage = string.Format(message, args);
      log.Logger.Log(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType,
          authLevel, formattedMessage, null);
   }

}

And that’s it – now I can start using my new “Auth” logging level on any instance of ILog like this:

SecurityLogger.AuthFormat("User logged in with id {0} from IP address {1}", id, Request.UserHostAddress);