Logging and Troubleshooting

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This content is no longer actively maintained. It is provided as is, for anyone who may still be using these technologies, with no warranties or claims of accuracy with regard to the most recent product version or service release.

The Group Chat API provides built in logging capabilities. Basic information about messages and events that are processed by the Group Chat API are published to a log file. If present, the Group Chat API will use a customized logging configuration. The log configuration loads according to the following rules:

  1. The app.config file (or the web.config file in case of a web application) for your program

    Check for a <log4mgc> configuration section

  2. A standalone app.Log.config file

    Check the executable directory of your program for file with the specified naming convention, containing an XML document which describes the <log4mgc> configuration.

  3. If no configuration is found

    Logging is written to %userprofile%\tracing\app.log using the default values.

  4. For logging in a web application, the path to the configuration file is specified when the GroupChatEndpoint is instantiated.

The following XML example shows Group Chat API logging values.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<log4mgc>
  <file value="ApplicationName.log" />
  <maximumFileSize value="20" />
  <!-- in MB, 2047 max-->
  <maxSizeRollBackups value="10" />
  <filemode value="append"/>
  <level value="ALL" />
</log4mgc>

The following table describes how Group Chat logging is customized.

Value

Description

<maximumFileSize>

Size in MB of log file before a rolling backup is created, and a new log file is opened.

Recommended value: 20

<maxSizeRollBackups>

Number of rolling backup files to keep.

Recommended value: 10

<filemode>

A System.IO.FileMode value which defines how log files should be opened.

Recommended value: append

<level>

A log level which is one of the following (in decreasing order of verbosity)ALL, DEV, TRACE, DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL, FATAL, SYSTEM, NONE

Recommended value: INFO.

When ALL is specified, the specified log file will be created in the “%userprofile%\tracing” directory.

When the value is to NONE, no logging is recorded, but a zero-length logging file of the specified name will be created.

To disable logging without creating a logging file, add an <AppSettings> element to the app.config or web.config file, as follows:

<AppSettings>
   <add key=”DisableLogging” value=”true”/>
</AppsSettings>

An application must be restarted for the new setting to take place.