RE: Using log4net.Util.PatternString in a PatternLayout

[Roy Chastain]

Ron,
Thanks for the suggested code.  It has opened a lot of doors.  I am
thinking of creating a DynamicPatternLayout that would always reformat
the string and then building the HeaderFooter class off of that.  My
thinking is that the DynamicPatternLayout might be a good general
purpose class that others might like to use.  I would be willing to
'give it back' but I have no idea about how to go about creating the
patch file and the test files etc.  Can you point me to where that
information is?

Thanks

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Roy Chastain



-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Grabowski [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 21:35
To: Log4NET User
Subject: Re: Using log4net.Util.PatternString in a PatternLayout

The PatternString used for the Header and Footer is converted to a
string at configuration time using the internal PatternStringConverter
class. You can easily write your own PatternLayout:

public class HeaderFooterPatternStringLayout : PatternLayout {
    private PatternString headerPatternString;
    private PatternString footerPatternString;

    public override string Header
    {
        get
        {
            return headerPatternString.Format();
        }
        set
        {
            base.Header = value;
            headerPatternString = new PatternString(base.Header);
        }
    }

    public override string Footer
    {
        get
        {
            return footerPatternString.Format();
        }
        set
        {
            base.Footer = value;
            footerPatternString = new PatternString(base.Footer);
        }
    }
}

<layout type="Company.Logging.HeaderFooterPatternStringLayout,
Company.Logging">  <header value="..." />  <footer value="..." />
<conversionPattern value="..." /> </layout>

Since you're already going through the trouble of writing a custom
PatternLayout I'd go all in and provide default values:

public class DefaultHeaderFooterPatternStringLayout : PatternLayout {
    public const string DEFAULT_HEADER_PATTERN = "%newline**** Trace
Opened    Local: %date{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff}    UTC:
%utcdate{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} ****%newline";
    public const string DEFAULT_FOOTER_PATTERN = "****Trace Closed
%date{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} ****%newline";
    public const string DEFAULT_CONVERSION_PATTERN = "%d{dd
HH:mm:ss.fff} [%4t] %P{instance}::%M - %m%n";

    private PatternString headerPatternString;
    private PatternString footerPatternString;

    public DefaultHeaderFooterPatternStringLayout() :
base(DEFAULT_CONVERSION_PATTERN)
    {
        headerPatternString = new PatternString(DEFAULT_HEADER_PATTERN);
        footerPatternString = new PatternString(DEFAULT_FOOTER_PATTERN);
    }

    public override string Header
    {
        get 
        { 
            return headerPatternString.Format(); 
        } 
        set 
        { 
            base.Header = value;
            headerPatternString = new PatternString(base.Header);
        }
    }

    public override string Footer
    {
        get
        {
            return footerPatternString.Format();
        }
        set 
        { 
            base.Footer = value;
            footerPatternString = new PatternString(base.Footer);
        }
    }
}

so your layout is just:

<layout type="Company.Logging.DefaultHeaderFooterPatternStringLayout,
Company.Logging" />

I can't think of a good reason why the the Header and Footer properties
aren't PatternStrings that are calculated at run-time instead of once at
configuration time.

----- Original Message ----
From: Roy Chastain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: log4net-user@logging.apache.org
Sent: Wednesday, May 7, 2008 8:34:34 AM
Subject: Using log4net.Util.PatternString in a PatternLayout

I have the following layout defined for a RollingFileAppender  (log4Net
1.2.10)

<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
  <param name="Header" type="log4net.Util.PatternString"
value="%newline**** Trace Opened     Local: %date{yyyy-MM-dd
HH:mm:ss.fff}     UTC: %utcdate{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} ****%newline"
/>
  <param name="Footer" type="log4net.Util.PatternString" value="****
Trace Closed %date{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} ****%newline" />
  <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d{dd HH:mm:ss.fff} [%4t]
%P{instance}::%M - %m%n" /> </layout>

The idea is to place the current date and time in the header and footer
of each log file as it rolls over.  Instead each header and footer
receives the same date/time.  (The date/time is the date/time the
original file was opened.)

This action is certainly not what was expected, and I do not believe a
useful implementation.

Can someone say that the result is has expected and, if so, please give
some pointers on how to implement a 'current date/time' for the headers
and footers?

Thanks

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Roy Chastain