How do I configure log4net from an arbitrary data structure?
I'm used to working in Python, but my current project is in C#/.NET and uses log4net for logging. Out of the box, log4net uses an XML file for configuration. I dislike XML and want to use something else -- possibly JSON or YAML.
In Python I would do this by loading a dictionary with certain keys from whatever external file I feel like (typically json or yaml), and passing it to logging.dictConfig, like this:
# logging.yaml
root:
level: INFO
handlers: [file]
handlers:
file:
filename: /var/log/appname/appname.log
...more...
# appname.py
with open('/etc/appname/logging.yaml') as f:
cfg_dict = yaml.load(f.read())
logging.config.dictConfig(cfg_dict)
Note how the file-loading step is orthogonal to the logging-configuration step; this example uses a yaml file, but it could just as easily have been json.
How would I do the equivalent for log4net? My assumption is that, internally, log4net loads its XML file into some data structure (maybe not a dict, but some equivalent of cfg_dict above) and then passes that structure to whatever code manages the configuration (the equivalent of dictConfig above).
If I know what "that structure" is, and what function expects to receive it, then I can separate the two steps and build it myself from whatever file format I want. If that's not possible (or not simple), is there an alternative logging library that does support this?
1 answer
My assumption is that, internally, log4net loads its XML file into some data structure (maybe not a dict, but some equivalent of cfg_dict above) and then passes that structure to whatever code manages the configuration (the equivalent of dictConfig above).
What's idiomatic in duck-typed Python is not always idiomatic in statically typed C#. Using untyped Dictionary in C# is not really considered good style in code which postdates System.Collections.Generic, and using dictionaries which mixed value types was never really good style.
So, yes, log4net loads its XML file into a data structure, but that data structure is System.Xml.Linq.XElement. If you construct your own XElement then you can pass it to XmlConfigurator.Configure.
Newtonsoft's JSON.Net has some support for parsing a JSON file into an XElement, but I couldn't tell you how straightforward it is to write suitable JSON.
Serilog seems to have built-in support for JSON configuration.
1 comment
Thanks. Not quite the answer I wanted, but exactly what I asked for.
3 comments
It is not clear what the exact problem is here. This shows that it is possible to read the configuration from a file. Indeed this is a structured file (XML), not an "arbitrary data structure". Do you mean something like an YAML configuration file? Providing an actual example would help understand the actual issue. — Alexei 18 days ago
YAML is my favored format, yes, but an ideal solution would be file-format-agnostic. E.g. python's dictconfig doesn't care what kind of file (if any) your input dict came from, as long as it has the right keys. — ajv 18 days ago
Edited for clarity and I'll add an example in a moment. — ajv 18 days ago