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How-To Q&A: I have set up my Web service for tracing, but I can’t find my trace logs.
A reader sets up a Web service for tracing, but can't find the trace logs, despite the lack of any error message.
A reader asks: I have set up my Web service for tracing, and I receive no error. But I can’t find my trace logs. My configuration file is:
<system.diagnostics>
<sources>
<source name="System.ServiceModel"
switchValue="Verbose, ActivityTracing"
propagateActivity="true">
<listeners>
<add name="MyServiceListener" />
</listeners>
</source>
...
</sources>
<sharedListeners>
<add name="MyServiceListener"
type="System.Diagnostics.XmlWriterTraceListener"
initializeData="c:\logs\ServerTraces.svclog" />
...
</sharedListeners>
</system.diagnostics>
Neither the logs directory nor the service log file exist after I run my application. Can you see what is wrong with my configuration?
Kathleen Answers: The problem is actually not in the configuration. The trace will not create the directory, and will not give an error that the trace file cannot be written to disk. This results in a silent failure. Create the directory and rerun your application and you should find your trace logs.
About the Author
Kathleen is a consultant, author, trainer and speaker. She’s been a Microsoft MVP for 10 years and is an active member of the INETA Speaker’s Bureau where she receives high marks for her talks. She wrote "Code Generation in Microsoft .NET" (Apress) and often speaks at industry conferences and local user groups around the U.S. Kathleen is the founder and principal of GenDotNet and continues to research code generation and metadata as well as leveraging new technologies springing forth in .NET 3.5. Her passion is helping programmers be smarter in how they develop and consume the range of new technologies, but at the end of the day, she’s a coder writing applications just like you. Reach her at [email protected].