Dot Net Core LogViewer Control for WinForms, Wpf, and Avalonia using the ILogger Framework with Microsoft Logger, Serilog, NLog, and Log4Net in C# & VB on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux

WinForms, WPF, and Avalonia LogViewer controls for live viewing of ILogger entries with full colorization support, and more for C# and VB on Windows, MacOS and Linux using Microsoft Logger, Serilog, NLog, and Log4Net + Logging Demystified

Introduction

I was working on a solution that required a Viewer for Logger entries in the app itself for live viewing of what was happening behind the scene.

I wanted something prettier than the console output and something that could be added to a Winforms, WPF, or Avalonia application that felt part of the application, and possibly something that a user may need to view - ie: User Friendly, not the following:

The requirements for the LoggerViewer are:

• Defined as a control that could be added or injected via dependency injection
• Native for WinForms, WPF, and Avalonia applications
• Support multiple Operating Systems - Windows, MacOS, Linux
• Support multiple Logging Frameworks - Microsoft (default), Serilog, NLog, and Log4Net
• Support colorization (custom colors as a bonus)
• Dependency Injection (DI) and non-DI usage
• MVVM (Model View ViewModel design pattern) and non-MVVM usage
• History viewable in any list control, a ListView / DataGrid control
• Selectable auto-scrolling to keep the latest entry visible
• AppSettings.Json file support for configurable logging
• Capture framework API logging
• Work in parallel with other Loggers

We will be looking into Logging - how it works and look at the framework code that makes it work.

As we will be covering WPF, WinForms, and Avalonia project types, Microsoft, Serilog, and NLog loggers, and also using / not using Dependency Injection, this article will be a bit lengthy.

If you are not interested in how it all works, then see the animations in the Preview section below, download the code, and run the application(s) that are applicable to your use case in the language that you work in.

Preview

Before we get started, let's look at what we want to achieve. The WPF, WinForms, and Avalonia versions of the LogViewerControl look almost identical and work the same for both the C# & VB versions.

Here is a GIF with default colorization for the WinForms version in C#, using Dependency Injection and data-binding:

Here is a GIF with custom colorization for the WPF version, minimal implementation in VB, no Dependency injection, 3 lines of code:

Lastly, here is proof that you can develop an application for Mac OS using VB, yes Visual Basic, using the Avalonia Framework! Whilst VB is not supported out-of-the-box, as there are no included Application, Class, or Control library templates with the exception of a Github repository that is not complete, I will cover how to get VB to use the Avalonia framework for both application and control project types.

Note: The 3 animated GIFs may take a moment to load...

Contents

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• Introduction
  • Preview
  • Contents
  • Prerequisites
  • Solution Setup
    • Logging Flow
    • Application Architecture
    • Solution Architecture
  • How Does Logging Work?
    • Logger Internals
  • Custom Loggers
    • Shared Logging Data
      • Storage - LogDataStore and LogModel classes
      • Configuration - DataStoreLoggerConfiguration class and LogEntryColor class
    • Custom Microsoft Logger Implementation
      • Logger - DataStoreLogger class
      • Logger Provider - DataStoreLoggerProvider class
      • Registering Microsoft Loggers
      • Registration - ServicesExtension class
      • Dependency Injection
      • Manually (without Dependency Injection)
    • Custom Serilog Logger Implementation
      • Logger - DataStoreLoggerSink class
      • Configuring the Custom Sink - DataStoreLoggerSinkExtensions class
      • Registering Sinks (Loggers)
      • Dependency Injection
      • Manually (without Dependency Injection)
    • Custom NLog Target Logger Implementation
      • Logger - DataStoreLoggerTarget class
      • Configuring the Custom Target - ServicesExtension class
      • Registering Targets (Loggers)
      • Dependency Injection
      • Manually (without Dependency Injection)
    • Custom Apache Log4Net Appender Logger Implementation
      • Adding missing parts to Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Log4Net.AspNetCore
        • Adding EventID support
        • Adding Dependency Injection support for the Appender support
      • Logger - DataStoreLoggerAppender class
      • Configuring the Custom Appender - ServicesExtension class
      • Registering Appenders (Loggers)
      • Dependency Injection
      • Manually (without Dependency Injection)
    • Processing Log Entries
      • Dependency Injection
      • Manually (without Dependency Injection)
      • Listening for new Entries
      • Manual Handling of the CollectionChanged events
  • LogViewerControl Implementation
    • DispatcherHelper Class
      • WinForms Implementation
      • WPF Implementation
    • Common code - LogViewer.Core project
      • LoggerExtensions class
    • ViewModel: LogViewerControlViewModel Class
    • WinForms - LogViewerControl
      • Code Behind
    • WPF - LogViewerControl
      • Code-behind
      • User Interface
    • Avalonia - LogViewerControl
      • Code-behind
      • User Interface
  • Using the LogViewControl
    • WinForms - Dependency Injection
      • Registration - ServicesExtension class
      • MainForm Code-Behind
      • Registration - Bootstrapper class
      • Usage
    • WinForms - Manually (without Dependency Injection)
      • MainForm Code-Behind
    • WPF - Dependency Injection
      • Registration - ServicesExtension class
      • MainWindow - LogViewerControl Host
      • MainViewModel class
      • Registration - App (C#) / Application (VB) class
      • Usage
    • WPF - Manually (without Dependency Injection)
      • MainWindow XAML - LogViewerControl Host
      • MainWindow Code-behind
    • Avalonia - Dependency Injection
      • Registration - ServicesExtension class
      • MainWindow - LogViewerControl Host
      • MainViewModel class
      • Registration - App (C#) / Application (VB) class
      • Usage
    • Avalonia - Manually (without Dependency Injection)
      • MainWindow XAML - LogViewerControl Host
      • [MainWindow Code