how to customize tracelistener file location

Question

Hello.

I'm using the app.config to create a log file for my application. Is there a way to customize it, so I set the path to a specific location?

I want to place the log file in the user's application data folder. My app.config looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
	<startup/>
  <system.diagnostics>
    <trace autoflush="true" indentsize="4">
      <listeners>
        <add name="myListener" type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener" initializeData="${USERPROFILE}\Application Data\MyApp\MyApp.log" />
        <remove name="Default" />
      </listeners>
    </trace>
  </system.diagnostics>
</configuration>

But it doesn't work. Can you give me an idea of how to do this? Is it even possible?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I am not sure whether we can use environment variables in App.config file.   So if your log file is under %userprofile%, then I suggest  you to create such a trace listener programmatically instead of using app.config file.

string logFilePath = Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables("%userprofile%") + @"\AppData\MyApp\MyApp.log";
FileStream hlogFile = new FileStream(logFilePath, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write);
TextWriterTraceListener myListener = new TextWriterTraceListener(hlogFile);
Trace.Listeners.Add(myListener);
Trace.WriteLine("Sample Log");

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Please mark this post as answer if it solved your problem. Happy Programming!

Answer 2

Thank you so much. Exactly what I needed!