CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#arraysstring.format
Gordon Bell
Gordon Bell

Reputation: 13633

Logging Method with String.Format Capability

I have general purpose Log method that writes entries to Log File, Event Log, etc.

public static void Log(string logEntry)
{
    // Write DateTime and logEntry to Log File, Event Log, etc.
}

I created overload to provide String.Format() functionality using the following:

public static void Log(params object[] logEntry)
{
    // Purpose: Overload Log method to provide String.Format() functionality
    //          with first parameter being Format string.
    // Example: Log("[{0:yyyy-MM-dd}] Name: {1}, Value: {2:#,##0.00}", DateTime.Now, "Blah, Blah, Blah", 12345.67890)

    string formatString = logEntry[0].ToString();

    object[] values = new object[logEntry.Length - 1];

    for (int i = 1; i < logEntry.Length; i++)
    {
        values[i - 1] = logEntry[i];
    }

    Log(String.Format(formatString, values));
}

This works okay, but is there a better way to reference remaining array items to pass to the String.Format() function? Or better way to remove element 0 from the array?

I know I could also just use Log(String.Format(..., but am providing this for more formal purposes.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3347

Answers (2)

Sam Axe
Sam Axe

Reputation: 33738

I'd match the parameters to String.Format().

public static void Log(string logEntry)
{
    Log(logEntry, null);
}

public static void Log(string logEntry, params object[] values)
{
   // Do whatever extra processing you need here.
   Log(String.Format(logEntry, values));
}

Upvotes: 3

Danny Varod
Danny Varod

Reputation: 18068

You could use

public void Log(string message, params object[] args)

or better yet, use an existing framework e.g. NLog or Log4Net, which have APIs like

public void Log(LogLevel level, string message, param object[] args)

and

public void Log(LogLevel level, Exception exception, string message, param object[] args)

Upvotes: 6

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