Logging to elmah.io from CoreWCF

elmah.io supports CoreWCF using our integration with Microsoft.Extensions.Logging. Start by installing the Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging NuGet package:

Install-Package Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging

dotnet add package Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging

<PackageReference Include="Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging" Version="5.*" />

paket add Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging

Configure logging as part of the configuration (typically in the Program.cs file):

builder.Logging.AddElmahIo(options =>
{
    options.ApiKey = "API_KEY";
    options.LogId = new Guid("LOG_ID");
});

Replace API_KEY with your API key (Where is my API key?) and LOG_ID with the id of the log (Where is my log ID?) where you want messages logged.

CoreWCF will now send all messages logged from your application to elmah.io. CoreWCF doesn't log uncaught exceptions happening in WCF services to Microsoft.Extensions.Logging as you'd expect if coming from ASP.NET Core. To do this, you will need to add a custom error logger by including the following class:

public class ElmahIoErrorHandler : IErrorHandler
{
    private readonly ILogger<ElmahIoErrorHandler> logger;

    public ElmahIoErrorHandler(ILogger<ElmahIoErrorHandler> logger)
    {
        this.logger = logger;
    }

    public bool HandleError(Exception error) => false;

    public void ProvideFault(Exception error, MessageVersion version, ref Message fault)
    {
        if (error == null) return;

        logger.LogError(error, error.Message);
    }
}

The ElmahIoErrorHandler class will be called by CoreWCF when exceptions are thrown and log to the configure ILogger. To invoke the error handler, add the following service behavior:

public class ElmahIoErrorBehavior : IServiceBehavior
{
    private readonly ILogger<ElmahIoErrorHandler> logger;

    public ElmahIoErrorBehavior(ILogger<ElmahIoErrorHandler> logger)
    {
        this.logger = logger;
    }

    public void Validate(ServiceDescription description, ServiceHostBase serviceHostBase)
    {
    }

    public void AddBindingParameters(ServiceDescription description, ServiceHostBase serviceHostBase, System.Collections.ObjectModel.Collection<ServiceEndpoint> endpoints, BindingParameterCollection parameters)
    {
    }

    public void ApplyDispatchBehavior(ServiceDescription description, ServiceHostBase serviceHostBase)
    {
        var errorHandler = (IErrorHandler)Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(ElmahIoErrorHandler), logger);

        foreach (ChannelDispatcherBase channelDispatcherBase in serviceHostBase.ChannelDispatchers)
        {
            ChannelDispatcher channelDispatcher = channelDispatcherBase as ChannelDispatcher;
            channelDispatcher.ErrorHandlers.Add(errorHandler);
        }
    }
}

The service behavior will look up the ElmahIoErrorHandler and register it with CoreWCF. The code above is hardcoded to work with the elmah.io error handler only. If you have multiple error handlers, you will need to register all of them.

Finally, register the service behavior in the Program.cs file:

builder.Services.AddSingleton<IServiceBehavior, ElmahIoErrorBehavior>();

Uncaught errors will now be logged to elmah.io.

All of the settings from Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging not mentioned on this page work with CoreWCF. Check out Logging to elmah.io from Microsoft.Extensions.Logging for details.

This article was brought to you by the elmah.io team. elmah.io is the best error management system for .NET web applications. We monitor your website, alert you when errors start happening, and help you fix errors fast.

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