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<document>

  <properties>
    <author email="nicko at apache dot org">Nicko Cadell</author>
    <title>Apache log4net Manual: Introduction</title>
  </properties>

  <meta name="keywords" content="log4net manual, log4net" />

  <body>
    <section id="main" name="Apache log4net&#x2122; Manual - Introduction">
      <section id="overview" name="Overview">
        <p>
          This document is based on <i>Short introduction to log4j</i> by <i>Ceki G&#252;lc&#252;</i>.
        </p>
        <p>
          The log4net framework is based on Apache log4j&#x2122;, see <a href="http://logging.apache.org/log4j/">
            http://logging.apache.org/log4j/
          </a> for more information on log4j.
          The log4net framework, source code, binaries, documentation, examples and related
          materials are published under the terms of the
          <a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0">Apache License, Version 2.0</a>,
          a copy of which has been included with this distribution in the LICENSE.txt file.
        </p>
        <p>
          This document is an introduction to the log4net API, its unique features and
          design rationale. Log4net is an open source project based on the work of many
          authors. It allows the developer to control which log statements are output
          with arbitrary granularity. It is fully configurable at runtime using external
          configuration files.
        </p>
        <p>
          Almost every large application includes its own logging or tracing API.
          Inserting log statements into code is a low-tech method for debugging it. It
          may also be the only way because debuggers are not always available or
          applicable. This is usually the case for multithreaded applications and
          distributed applications at large.
        </p>
        <p>
          Once an application has been deployed it may not be possible to utilize
          development and debugging tools. An administrator can use effective logging
          systems to diagnose and fix many configuration issues.
        </p>
        <p>
          Experience indicates that logging is an important component of the development
          cycle. It offers several advantages. It provides precise <i>context</i> about the
          execution of the application. Once inserted into the code, the generation of
          logging output requires no human intervention. Moreover, log output can be
          saved in persistent medium to be studied at a later time. In addition to its
          use in the development cycle, a sufficiently rich logging package can also be
          viewed as an auditing tool.
        </p>
        <p>
          Logging does have its drawbacks. It can slow down an application. If too
          verbose, it can cause scrolling blindness. To alleviate these concerns, log4net
          is designed to be reliable, fast and extensible. Since logging is rarely the
          main focus of an application, the log4net API strives to be simple to
          understand and to use.
        </p>
      </section>

      <section id="frameworks" name="Frameworks">
        <p>
          Log4net is available for several frameworks. For each supported framework an
          assembly targeting that framework is built:
        </p>
        <ul>
          <li>.NET Standard 2.0 via .NET 8.0</li>
          <li>Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2</li>
        </ul>
        <p>
          Not all frameworks are created equal and some features have been excluded from
          some of the builds. See the <a href="../framework-support.html">Framework Support</a>
          document for more information.
        </p>
      </section>

      <section id="loggers" name="Loggers and Appenders">
        <p>
          Log4net has three main components: <i>loggers</i>, <i>appenders</i> and <i>layouts</i>.
          These three types of components work together to enable developers to log
          messages according to message type and level, and to control at runtime how
          these messages are formatted and where they are reported. These components are
          helped by <i>filters</i> that control the actions of the appender and
          <i>object renderers</i> that turn objects into strings.
        </p>

        <section id="hierarchy" name="Logger hierarchy">
          <p>
            The first and foremost advantage of any logging API over plain
            <span class="code">System.Console.WriteLine</span>
            resides in its ability to disable certain log statements while allowing others
            to print unhindered. This capability assumes that the logging space, that is,
            the space of all possible logging statements, is categorized according to some
            developer-chosen criteria.
          </p>
          <p>
            Loggers are named entities. Logger names are case-sensitive and they follow the
            following hierarchical naming rule:
          </p>
          <dl class="rule">
            <dt>Named Hierarchy</dt>
            <dd>
              <p>
                A logger is said to be an <i>ancestor</i> of another logger if its name
                followed by a dot is a prefix of the <i>descendant</i> logger name. A logger is
                said to be a <i>parent</i> of a <i>child</i> logger if there are no ancestors
                between itself and the descendant logger.
              </p>
              <p>
                The hierarchy works very much in the same way as the namespace and class
                hierarchy in .NET. This is very convenient as we shall soon see.
              </p>
            </dd>
          </dl>
          <p>
            For example, the logger named
            <span class="code">"Foo.Bar"</span>
            is a parent of the logger named
            <span class="code">"Foo.Bar.Baz"</span>. Similarly,
            <span class="code">"System"</span>
            is a parent of
            <span class="code">"System.Text"</span>
            and an ancestor of
            <span class="code">"System.Text.StringBuilder"</span>. This naming scheme
            should be familiar to most developers.
          </p>
          <p>
            The <i>root</i> logger resides at the top of the logger hierarchy. It is exceptional
            in three ways:
          </p>
          <ol>
            <li>
              It always exists
            </li>
            <li>
              It cannot be retrieved by name
            </li>
            <li>
              It always has an assigned level
            </li>
          </ol>
          <p>
            Loggers are retrieved using the static method from the
            <span class="code">log4net.LogManager</span>
            class. The
            <span class="code">GetLogger</span>
            methods take the name of the desired logger as a parameter. They are listed
            below:
          </p>
          <source language="C#">
            <![CDATA[
namespace log4net
{
    public class LogManager
    {
        public static ILog GetLogger(string name);
        public static ILog GetLogger(Type type);
    }
}]]>
          </source>
          <p>
            The
            <span class="code">GetLogger</span>
            methods that takes a
            <span class="code">Type</span>
            parameter uses the fully qualified type name as the name of the logger to
            retrieve.
          </p>
          <p>
            These
            <span class="code">GetLogger</span>
            methods return an
            <span class="code">ILog</span>
            interface. That is the representation of the <i>Logger</i> passed back to the
            developer. The
            <span class="code">ILog</span>
            interface is defined below:
          </p>
          <source language="C#">
            <![CDATA[
namespace log4net
{
    public interface ILog
    {
        /* Test if a level is enabled for logging */
        bool IsDebugEnabled { get; }
        bool IsInfoEnabled { get; }
        bool IsWarnEnabled { get; }
        bool IsErrorEnabled { get; }
        bool IsFatalEnabled { get; }

        /* Log a message object */
        void Debug(object message);
        void Info(object message);
        void Warn(object message);
        void Error(object message);
        void Fatal(object message);

        /* Log a message object and exception */
        void Debug(object message, Exception t);
        void Info(object message, Exception t);
        void Warn(object message, Exception t);
        void Error(object message, Exception t);
        void Fatal(object message, Exception t);

        /* Log a message string using the System.String.Format syntax */
        void DebugFormat(string format, params object[] args);
        void InfoFormat(string format, params object[] args);
        void WarnFormat(string format, params object[] args);
        void ErrorFormat(string format, params object[] args);
        void FatalFormat(string format, params object[] args);

        /* Log a message string using the System.String.Format syntax */
        void DebugFormat(IFormatProvider provider, string format, params object[] args);
        void InfoFormat(IFormatProvider provider, string format, params object[] args);
        void WarnFormat(IFormatProvider provider, string format, params object[] args);
        void ErrorFormat(IFormatProvider provider, string format, params object[] args);
        void FatalFormat(IFormatProvider provider, string format, params object[] args);
    }
}]]>
          </source>
          <p>
            Loggers <i>may</i> be assigned levels. Levels are instances of the
            <span class="code">log4net.Core.Level</span>
            class. The following levels are defined in order of increasing priority:
          </p>
          <ul>
            <li>
              <span class="code">ALL</span>
            </li>
            <li>
              <span class="code">DEBUG</span>
            </li>
            <li>
              <span class="code">INFO</span>
            </li>
            <li>
              <span class="code">WARN</span>
            </li>
            <li>
              <span class="code">ERROR</span>
            </li>
            <li>
              <span class="code">FATAL</span>
            </li>
            <li>
              <span class="code">OFF</span>
            </li>
          </ul>
          <p>
            If a given logger is not assigned a level, then it inherits one from its
            closest ancestor with an assigned level. More formally:
          </p>
          <dl class="rule">
            <dt>Level Inheritance</dt>
            <dd>
              <p>
                The <i>inherited level</i> for a given logger <i>X</i>, is equal to the first
                non-null level in the logger hierarchy, starting at <i>X</i> and proceeding
                upwards in the hierarchy towards the <i>root</i> logger.
              </p>
            </dd>
          </dl>
          <p>
            To ensure that all loggers can eventually inherit a level, the <i>root</i> logger
            always has an assigned level. The default value for the <i>root</i> logger is
            <span class="code">DEBUG</span>.
          </p>
          <p>
            Below are four tables with various assigned level values and the resulting
            inherited levels according to the above rule.
          </p>
          <p> </p>
          <div class="table">
            <table>
              <tr>
                <th>Logger name</th>
                <th>Assigned level</th>
                <th>Inherited level</th>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>
                  <i>root</i>
                </td>
                <td>Proot</td>
                <td>Proot</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X</td>
                <td>none</td>
                <td>Proot</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X.Y</td>
                <td>none</td>
                <td>Proot</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X.Y.Z</td>
                <td>none</td>
                <td>Proot</td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
          <p>
            In <i>Example 1</i> above, only the <i>root</i> logger is assigned a level. This level
            value,
            <span class="code">Proot</span>, is inherited by the other loggers
            <span class="code">X</span>,
            <span class="code">X.Y</span>
            and
            <span class="code">X.Y.Z</span>.
          </p>
          <p> </p>
          <div class="table">
            <table>
              <tr>
                <th>Logger name</th>
                <th>Assigned level</th>
                <th>Inherited level</th>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>
                  <i>root</i>
                </td>
                <td>Proot</td>
                <td>Proot</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X</td>
                <td>Px</td>
                <td>Px</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X.Y</td>
                <td>Pxy</td>
                <td>Pxy</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X.Y.Z</td>
                <td>Pxyz</td>
                <td>Pxyz</td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
          <p>
            In <i>Example 2</i> above, all loggers have an assigned level value. There is
            no need for level inheritance.
          </p>
          <p> </p>
          <div class="table">
            <table>
              <tr>
                <th>Logger name</th>
                <th>Assigned level</th>
                <th>Inherited level</th>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>
                  <i>root</i>
                </td>
                <td>Proot</td>
                <td>Proot</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X</td>
                <td>Px</td>
                <td>Px</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X.Y</td>
                <td>none</td>
                <td>Px</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X.Y.Z</td>
                <td>Pxyz</td>
                <td>Pxyz</td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
          <p>
            In <i>Example 3</i> above, the loggers
            <i>root</i>,
            <span class="code">X</span>
            and
            <span class="code">X.Y.Z</span>
            are assigned the levels
            <span class="code">Proot</span>,
            <span class="code">Px</span>
            and
            <span class="code">Pxyz</span>
            respectively. The logger
            <span class="code">X.Y</span>
            inherits its level value from its parent
            <span class="code">X</span>.
          </p>
          <p> </p>
          <div class="table">
            <table>
              <tr>
                <th>Logger name</th>
                <th>Assigned level</th>
                <th>Inherited level</th>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>
                  <i>root</i>
                </td>
                <td>Proot</td>
                <td>Proot</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X</td>
                <td>Px</td>
                <td>Px</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X.Y</td>
                <td>none</td>
                <td>Px</td>
              </tr>
              <tr align="left">
                <td>X.Y.Z</td>
                <td>none</td>
                <td>Px</td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
          <p>
            In <i>Example 4</i> above, the loggers <i>root</i> and
            <span class="code">X</span>
            and are assigned the levels
            <span class="code">Proot</span>
            and
            <span class="code">Px</span>
            respectively. The loggers
            <span class="code">X.Y</span>
            and
            <span class="code">X.Y.Z</span>
            inherits their level value from their nearest parent
            <span class="code">X</span>
            having an assigned level.
          </p>
          <p>
            Logging requests are made by invoking one of the printing methods of a logger
            instance (through the <span class="code">log4net.ILog</span>). These printing methods are
            <span class="code">Debug</span>,
            <span class="code">Info</span>,
            <span class="code">Warn</span>,
            <span class="code">Error</span>, and
            <span class="code">Fatal</span>.
          </p>
          <p>
            By definition, the printing method determines the level of a logging request.
            For example, if
            <span class="code">log</span>
            is a logger instance, then the statement
            <span class="code">log.Info("..")</span>
            is a logging request of level <span class="code">INFO</span>.
          </p>
          <p>
            A logging request is said to be <i>enabled</i> if its level is higher than or
            equal to the level of its logger. Otherwise, the request is said to be <i>disabled</i>.
            A logger without an assigned level will inherit one from the hierarchy. This
            rule is summarized below.
          </p>
          <dl class="rule">
            <dt>Basic Selection Rule</dt>
            <dd>
              <p>
                A log request of level <i>L</i> in a logger with (either assigned or inherited,
                whichever is appropriate) level <i>K</i>, is enabled if <i>L &gt;= K</i>.
              </p>
            </dd>
          </dl>
          <p>
            This rule is at the heart of log4net. It assumes that levels are ordered. For
            the standard levels, we have
            <span class="code">DEBUG &lt; INFO &lt; WARN &lt; ERROR &lt; FATAL</span>.
          </p>
          <p>
            Calling the
            <span class="code">log4net.LogManager.GetLogger</span>
            method with the same name will always return a reference to the exact same
            logger object.
          </p>
          <p>
            For example, in:
          </p>
          <source language="C#">
            <![CDATA[
ILog x = LogManager.GetLogger("wombat");
ILog y = LogManager.GetLogger("wombat");]]>
          </source>
          <p>
            <span class="code">x</span>
            and
            <span class="code">y</span>
            refer to <i>exactly</i> the same logger object.
          </p>
          <p>
            Thus, it is possible to configure a logger and then to retrieve the same
            instance somewhere else in the code without passing around references. In
            fundamental contradiction to biological parenthood, where parents always
            precede their children, log4net loggers can be created and configured in any
            order. In particular, a "parent" logger will find and link to its descendants
            even if it is instantiated after them.
          </p>
          <p>
            Configuration of the log4net environment is typically done at application
            initialization. The preferred way is by reading a configuration file. This
            approach will be discussed shortly.
          </p>
          <p>
            Log4net makes it easy to name loggers by <i>software component</i>. This can be
            accomplished by statically instantiating a logger in each class, with the
            logger name equal to the fully qualified name of the class. This is a useful
            and straightforward method of defining loggers. As the log output bears the
            name of the generating logger, this naming strategy makes it easy to identify
            the origin of a log message. However, this is only one possible, albeit common,
            strategy for naming loggers. Log4net does not restrict the possible set of
            loggers. The developer is free to name the loggers as desired.
          </p>
          <p>
            Nevertheless, naming loggers after the class where they are located seems to be
            the best strategy known so far. It is simple an obvious to the developers where
            each log message came from. Most importantly it leverages the design of the
            application to produce the design of the logger hierarchy. Hopefully some
            thought has gone into the design of the application.
          </p>
        </section>

        <section id="appenders" name="Appenders">
          <p>
            The ability to selectively enable or disable logging requests based on their
            logger is only part of the picture. Log4net allows logging requests to print to
            multiple destinations. In log4net speak, an output destination is called an <i>appender</i>.
            Appenders must implement the <span class="code">log4net.Appenders.IAppender</span>
            interface.
          </p>
          <p>
            The following appenders are defined in the log4net package:
          </p>
          <div class="table">
            <table>
              <tr>
                <th>Type</th>
                <th>Description</th>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.AdoNetAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to a database using either prepared statements or stored
                  procedures.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.AnsiColorTerminalAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes color highlighted logging events to a an ANSI terminal window.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.AspNetTraceAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to the ASP trace context. These can then be rendered at
                  the end of the ASP page or on the ASP trace page.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.BufferingForwardingAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Buffers logging events before forwarding them to child appenders.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.ColoredConsoleAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to the application's Console. The events may go to either
                  the standard our stream or the standard error stream. The events may have configurable
                  text and background colors defined for each level.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.ConsoleAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to the application's Console. The events may go to either
                  the standard our stream or the standard error stream.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.DebugAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to the .NET debug system.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.EventLogAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to the Windows Event Log.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.FileAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to a file in the file system.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.ForwardingAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Forwards logging events to child appenders.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.LocalSyslogAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to the local syslog service (UNIX only).
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.MemoryAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Stores logging events in an in memory buffer.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.OutputDebugStringAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to the debugger. If the application has no
                  debugger, the system debugger displays the string. If the application has no
                  debugger and the system debugger is not active, the message is ignored.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.RemoteSyslogAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to a remote syslog service using UDP networking.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to a file in the file system. The RollingFileAppender can
                  be configured to log to multiple files based upon date or file size
                  constraints.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.SmtpAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Sends logging events to an email address.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.SmtpPickupDirAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes SMTP messages as files into a pickup directory.
                  These files can then be read and sent by an SMTP agent
                  such as the IIS SMTP agent.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.TelnetAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Clients connect via Telnet to receive logging events.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.TraceAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Writes logging events to the .NET trace system.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Appender.UdpAppender</td>
                <td>
                  Sends logging events as connectionless UDP datagrams to a remote host or a
                  multicast group using a UdpClient.
                </td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
          <p>
            More than one appender can be attached to a logger.
          </p>
          <p>
            <strong>
              Each enabled logging request for a given logger will be forwarded to all
              the appenders in that logger as well as the appenders higher in the hierarchy.
            </strong>
            In other words, appenders are inherited additively from the logger hierarchy.
            For example, if a console appender is added to the <i>root</i> logger, then all
            enabled logging requests will at least print on the console. If in addition a
            file appender is added to a logger, say <i>X</i>, then enabled logging requests
            for <i>X</i> and <i>X</i>'s children will print on a file <i>and</i> on the
            console. It is possible to override this default behavior so that appender
            accumulation is no longer additive by setting the additivity flag on the logger
            to
            <span class="code">false</span>.
          </p>
          <p>
            The rules governing appender additivity are summarized below.
          </p>
          <dl class="rule">
            <dt>Appender Additivity</dt>
            <dd>
              <p>
                The output of a log statement of logger <i>X</i> will go to all the appenders
                in <i>X</i> and its ancestors. This is the meaning of the term "appender
                additivity".
              </p>
              <p>
                However, if an ancestor of logger <i>X</i>, say <i>Y</i>, has the additivity
                flag set to
                <span class="code">false</span>, then <i>X</i>'s output will be directed to all
                the appenders in <i>X</i> and it's ancestors up to and including <i>Y</i> but
                not the appenders in any of the ancestors of <i>Y</i>.
              </p>
              <p>
                Loggers have their additivity flag set to
                <span class="code">true</span>
                by default.
              </p>
            </dd>
          </dl>
          <p>
            The table below shows an example:
          </p>
          <div class="table">
            <table>
              <tr>
                <th>Logger Name</th>
                <th>Added Appenders</th>
                <th>Additivity Flag</th>
                <th>Output Targets</th>
                <th>Comment</th>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>
                  <i>root</i>
                </td>
                <td>A1</td>
                <td>not applicable</td>
                <td>A1</td>
                <td>
                  There is no default appender attached to <i>root</i>.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>x</td>
                <td>A-x1, A-x2</td>
                <td>true</td>
                <td>A1, A-x1, A-x2</td>
                <td>
                  Appenders of "x" and <i>root</i>.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>x.y</td>
                <td>none</td>
                <td>true</td>
                <td>A1, A-x1, A-x2</td>
                <td>
                  Appenders of "x" and <i>root</i>.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>x.y.z</td>
                <td>A-xyz1</td>
                <td>true</td>
                <td>A1, A-x1, A-x2, A-xyz1</td>
                <td>
                  Appenders in "x.y.z", "x" and <i>root</i>.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>security</td>
                <td>A-sec</td>
                <td>
                  <span class="code">false</span>
                </td>
                <td>A-sec</td>
                <td>
                  No appender accumulation since the additivity flag is set to
                  <span class="code">false</span>.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>security.access</td>
                <td>none</td>
                <td>true</td>
                <td>A-sec</td>
                <td>
                  Only appenders of "security" because the additivity flag in "security" is set
                  to
                  <span class="code">false</span>.
                </td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
        </section>

        <section id="filters" name="Filters">
          <p>
            Appenders can filter the events that are delivered to them. The filters can be
            specified in the configuration to allow fine control of the events that are
            logged through different appenders.
          </p>
          <p>
            The simplest form of control is to specify a
            <span class="code">Threshold</span>
            on the appender. This works by logging only the events that have a level that
            is greater than or equal to the threshold.
          </p>
          <p>
            More complex and custom event filtering can be done using the filter chain
            defined on each appender. Filters must implement the
            <span class="code">log4net.Filter.IFilter</span> interface.
          </p>
          <p>
            The following filters are defined in the log4net package:
          </p>
          <div class="table">
            <table>
              <tr>
                <th>Type</th>
                <th>Description</th>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Filter.DenyAllFilter</td>
                <td>
                  Drops all logging events.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Filter.LevelMatchFilter</td>
                <td>
                  An exact match to the event's level.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Filter.LevelRangeFilter</td>
                <td>
                  Matches against a range of levels.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Filter.LoggerMatchFilter</td>
                <td>
                  Matches against a the start of the logger name.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Filter.PropertyFilter</td>
                <td>
                  Matches a substring from a specific property value.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Filter.StringMatchFilter</td>
                <td>
                  Matches a substring from the event's message.
                </td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
          <p>
            The filters can be configured to either accept or reject the event based upon
            the match.
          </p>
        </section>

        <section id="layouts" name="Layouts">
          <p>
            More often than not, users wish to customize not only the output destination
            but also the output format. This is accomplished by associating a <i>layout</i>
            with an appender. The layout is responsible for formatting the logging request
            according to the user's wishes, whereas an appender takes care of sending the
            formatted output to its destination. The
            <span class="code">PatternLayout</span>, part of the standard log4net
            distribution, lets the user specify the output format according to conversion
            patterns similar to the C language
            <span class="code">printf</span>
            function.
          </p>
          <p>
            For example, the PatternLayout with the conversion pattern
            <span class="code">"%timestamp [%thread] %-5level %logger - %message%newline"</span>
            will output something akin to:
          </p>
          <source language="text">
            <![CDATA[
176 [main] INFO  Com.Foo.Bar - Located nearest gas station.]]>
          </source>
          <p>
            The first field is the number of milliseconds elapsed since the start of the
            program. The second field is the thread making the log request. The third field
            is the level of the log statement. The fourth field is the name of the logger
            associated with the log request. The text after the '-' is the message of the
            statement.
          </p>
          <p>
            The following layouts are included in the log4net package:
          </p>
          <div class="table">
            <table>
              <tr>
                <th>Type</th>
                <th>Description</th>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Layout.ExceptionLayout</td>
                <td>
                  Renders the exception text from the logging
                  event.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Layout.PatternLayout</td>
                <td>
                  Formats the logging event according to a flexible
                  set of formatting flags.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Layout.RawTimeStampLayout</td>
                <td>
                  Extracts the timestamp from the logging event.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Layout.RawUtcTimeStampLayout</td>
                <td>
                  Extracts the timestamp from the logging event in Universal Time.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Layout.SimpleLayout</td>
                <td>
                  Formats the logging event very simply:
                  <span class="code">[level] - [message]</span>
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Layout.XmlLayout</td>
                <td>
                  Formats the logging event as an XML element.
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td>log4net.Layout.XmlLayoutSchemaLog4j</td>
                <td>
                  Formats the logging event as an XML element that
                  complies with the log4j event dtd.
                </td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
        </section>

        <section id="renderers" name="Object Renderers">
          <p>
            Just as importantly, log4net will render the content of the log message
            according to user specified criteria. For example, if you frequently need to
            log
            <span class="code">Oranges</span>, an object type used in your current project,
            then you can register an
            <span class="code">OrangeRenderer</span>
            that will be invoked whenever an orange needs to be logged.
          </p>
          <p>
            Object rendering follows the class hierarchy. For example, assuming oranges are
            fruits, if you register an
            <span class="code">FruitRenderer</span>, all fruits including oranges will be
            rendered by the
            <span class="code">FruitRenderer</span>, unless of course you registered an
            orange specific
            <span class="code">OrangeRenderer</span>.
          </p>
          <p>
            Object renderers have to implement the
            <span class="code">log4net.ObjectRenderer.IObjectRenderer</span>
            interface.
          </p>
          <p>
            Please note that ObjectRenderers are not used by the <span class="code">DebugFormat</span>,
            <span class="code">InfoFormat</span>, <span class="code">WarnFormat</span>,
            <span class="code">ErrorFormat</span> and <span class="code">FatalFormat</span> methods.
          </p>
        </section>

      </section>

    </section>
  </body>
</document>
