What would a Log4Net Wrapper class look like?

Question

I have been looking for a logging framework for .net (c#) and decided to give log4net a go after reading up on a few question/answer threads here on stackoverflow. I see peo

Answer 1

My understanding is that a wrapper class for log4net would be a static class which takes care of initializing the logging object from app.config/web.config or by code (e.g. integration with NUnit).

Answer 2

What benefits are you planning on getting out of writing a wrapper for log4net. I'd recommend getting comfortable with the log4net classes first before writing a wrapper around them. cfeduke is right in his answer on how to write said wrapper, but unless you need to add actual functionality to his example a wrapper would only succeed in slowing the logging process down and adding complexity for future maintainers. This especially true when refactoring tools available in .Net make such changes super easy.

Answer 3

Alconja, I like your idea of using the stacktrace to jump back to the calling method. I was thinking of further encapsulating the calls, to not just retrieve the logger object, but to perform actually perform the logging. What I want is a static class that handles the logging, by abstracting from the specific implementation used. I.e.

LoggingService.LogError("my error message");

That way I only need to change the internals of the static class, if I later decide to user another logging system.

So I used your idea to get the calling object using the stack trace :

public static class LoggingService
{
    private static ILog GetLogger()
    {    
        var stack = new StackTrace();    
        var frame = stack.GetFrame(2);    
        return log4net.LogManager.GetLogger(frame.GetMethod().DeclaringType);
    }

    public static void LogError(string message)
    {
        ILog logger = GetLogger();
        if (logger.IsErrorEnabled)
            logger.Error(message);
    }
    ...
}

Does anybody see a problem with this approach?