Clean And Simple Way To Log Entire Contents/Properties Of C# Objects

        /// <summary>
        /// Objects to XML.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="output">The output.</param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public static string ObjectToXml(object output)
        {
            string objectAsXmlString;

            System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer xs = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(output.GetType());
            using (System.IO.StringWriter sw = new System.IO.StringWriter())
            {
                try
                {
                    xs.Serialize(sw, output);
                    objectAsXmlString = sw.ToString();
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    objectAsXmlString = ex.ToString();
                }
            }

            return objectAsXmlString;
        }

How To Easily Add Log4Net To Your .NET Project

1. Download Log4Net binaries –>  http://logging.apache.org/log4net/download_log4net.cgi
2. Add Reference to Log4Net.dll in your project
3. Create new “Logs” folder and ensure Web App/Site has Write privileges to this directory
4. Add the following to Global.asmx

    
       /// <summary>
       /// Gets the application log4net log instance.
       /// </summary>
       /// <value>The log.</value>
       public ILog log
       {
           get { return LogManager.GetLogger("AppLogger"); }
       }
   
       void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) 
       {
           // Code that runs on application startup
           log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure();        
   
       }
       
   

5. Add Log4Net config section and declaration into web.config/app.config

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
   <configuration>
     <configSections>
       <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net"/>
     </configSections>
     <appSettings>   
     </appSettings>
     <log4net>
       <appender name="LogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
         <file value="Logs/application.log"/>
         <appendToFile value="true"/>
         <rollingStyle value="Composite"/>
         <datePattern value="yyyyMMdd"/>
         <maxSizeRollBackups value="10"/>
         <maximumFileSize value="5MB"/>
         <lockingModel type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender+MinimalLock"/>
         <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
           <conversionPattern value="%n DATE: %date{MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss} %n THREAD: [%thread] %n LEVEL: %-5level %n USER ID: %identity %n CLASS: %type{1} %n METHOD: %M %n LOCATION: %location %n MESSAGE: %message %n "/>
         </layout>
       </appender>
       <root>
         <level value="DEBUG"/>
         <appender-ref ref="LogFileAppender"/>
       </root>
     </log4net>
   </configuration>
   

6. Add private static readonly property referencing ILog

     class Program
       {       
           /// <summary>
           /// Logging
           /// </summary>
           //private readonly ILog Logger = DecisionLogManager.GetLogger(typeof(UC4Request));    
         private static readonly log4net.ILog log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);
   

7. Call Error method to log error

    
               catch (Exception ex)
               {
                   // Log to local log file
                   log.Error("Error", ex);
               }
   

8. You can also call other methods (Info) to output debug information

    
            log.Info(responseOutput +
                            Environment.NewLine +
                            Base.HelperFunctions.ObjectToString(keywordClientReply, DisplayMode.HTML)
                            );