CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershellnlogpowershell-7.0
craig
craig

Reputation: 26262

Use a relative path in an NLog configuration file for a FileTarget

I'm using NLog with a PowerShell script, where messages are logged to a file in a directory that is relative to the script.

I'd like to be able to specify a relative path in the Xml configuration file, but this syntax doesn't work:

<target name="logfile" xsi:type="File" fileName="./Logs/${logger}/${logger}.${date:format=yyyyMMdd}.${date:format=HHmmss}.log" createDirs="true" layout="${machinename}|${environment-user}|${logger}|${date:format=yyyy-MM-dd HH\:mm\:ss}|${level:uppercase=true}|${message}"/>

Currently, I'm doing this:

$ScriptName = (Get-Item $PSCommandPath).Basename
$Here = Split-Path -Parent $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path

# create logger
$Logger = [NLog.LogManager]::GetLogger($ScriptName)

# load Xml configuration file (in the same directory as script)
$Configuration = [NLog.Config.XmlLoggingConfiguration]::new("$Here/$ScriptName.NLog.config")    
[NLog.LogManager]::Configuration = $Configuration

# reconfigure the file target
$target = $Configuration.FindTargetByName("logfile")
$target.FileName = "$Here/Logs/$ScriptName/$ScriptName.$( (get-date).tostring('yyyyMMdd.HHmmss') ).log"
[NLog.LogManager]::ReconfigExistingLoggers()

Is there a way to use a relative path in the Xml configuration file?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1587

Answers (2)

Rolf Kristensen
Rolf Kristensen

Reputation: 19877

Alternative you can make use of NLog-Config-Variables:

<nlog>
    <variable name="ScriptDirectory" value="${currentdir}" />

    <targets>
       <target name="logfile" xsi:type="File" fileName="${var:ScriptDirectory}/Logs/${logger}/${logger}.${date:format=yyyyMMdd}.${date:format=HHmmss}.log" />
    </targets>

    <rules>
       <logger name="*" minLevel="Debug" writeTo="logfile" />
    </rules>
</nlog>

And then just assign the

NLog.LogManager.Configuration.Variables["ScriptDirectory"] = absolutePath;

Then you will not need to adjust current-directory, that might have unwanted side-effects.

Upvotes: 2

Rolf Kristensen
Rolf Kristensen

Reputation: 19877

By default the NLog FileTarget will use the AppDomain.BaseDirectory as "root", and all relative-paths are relative to this "root".

I guess for PowerShell-scripts then AppDomain.BaseDirectory will be the PowerShell-Executable-Directory, and not the current directory as expected.

I think you will get the expected directory by using ${currentdir}:

<target name="logfile" xsi:type="File" fileName="${currentdir:cached=true}/Logs/${logger}/${logger}.${date:format=yyyyMMdd}.${date:format=HHmmss}.log" />

Alternative you can just write to ConsoleTarget and then use the default command-prompt logic to pipe the output from the powershell-stdout to the wanted filename.

Upvotes: 1

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