AzureTraceListeners

Introduction

A simple set of Azure trace listeners for Table Storage, Queue Storage and Azure SQL - useful when Diagnostics is not available (ie when using the Azure Websites functionality) or when only simple logging is desired.

Installation

In the Nuget Package Console:

Install-Package AzureTraceListeners

Configuration

See below for specific examples.

ApplicationName can be any value you wish to group trace logs on.

ConnectionString should be:

a storage client string for Tables and Queues ie:

DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=ACCOUNTNAME;AccountKey=ACCOUNTKEY or useDevelopmentStorage=true

an ADO.NET connection string for Azure SQL ie:

Server=tcp:dbserver.database.windows.net,1433;Database=dbname;User ID=dbuser@dbserver;Password=dbpassword;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;

Table/Queue name defaults to TraceLogs - it can be customised as per the usual rules for Azure Table and Queue names.

Setting up the AzureTableTraceListener

Trace.Listeners.Add(new AzureTableTraceListener(applicationName, connectionString, tableName));

Setting up the AzureQueueTraceListener

Trace.Listeners.Add(new AzureQueueTraceListener(applicationName, connectionString, queueName));

Setting up the AzureSqlTraceListener

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[TraceLogs] (
    [Id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [ApplicationName] [nvarchar](max) NOT NULL,
    [Category] [nvarchar](max) NULL,
    [Timestamp] [datetime2](7) NOT NULL,
    [Message] [nvarchar](max) NOT NULL,
    CONSTRAINT [PK_TraceLogs] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED 
    (
        [Id] ASC
    )
)

Trace.Listeners.Add(new AzureSqlTraceListener(applicationName, connectionString, tableName));

Logging

After adding any desired listeners, trace messages from your code will be automatically logged:

Trace.WriteLine("Testing logging!");

You can optionally specify a standard trace category:

Trace.WriteLine("Testing an error...", "Error");

More advanced trace functionality (stack traces, etc) is not supported in this release.

Contributions

If you'd like to leave feedback or contributions, please contact me on Twitter @mdaviesnet or send a pull request.

Roadmap

• Improved documentation
• Splitting the listeners such that if you only need the Azure SQL listener, you don't need to include the table storage reference?
• As part of the above, remove the Azure SQL / Queue listeners' use of TableServiceEntity
• Add Transient Fault Handling to the Azure SQL listener
• Add retry logic if a trace message cannot be logged?
• Ability to customise/extend the fields to be logged
• Add more advanced trace functionality support