Retrieving MessageObject property values for logging...

[Matthew Braid]

Hi

Does a mechanism exist through which I can access the contents of the 
MessageObject (within the LoggingEvent) via the layout patterns?

For example, in my project I'm logging classes MyLogEvent to log4net rather 
than strings. I intended reusing existing appenders (such as the 
AdoNetAppender) to log these rather than write my own but can't see a way of 
accessing my specific object's properties.

Looking at the source (v1.2.10) I couldn't see anything within the 
PatternLayout that would cover this scenario, so I've added a new 
log4net.Layout.Pattern.MessageObjectPatternConverter (modelled on the 
PropertyPatternConverter) and wired it into the PatterLayout invoked as 
%object{<object property>}.

Does anyone have any views on the desirability or practicality of such a 
feature? If there's interest I'm more that happy to contribute the code and 
unit tests, otherwise I'll investigate other routes.

Thanks
Matt.