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With NodeJS in VSCode all console.log logs have a clickable link which takes you to the source code line where the log was generated:
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How can we achieve the same result with csharp?
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The goal should be that each log entry is clickable to take one to the source code location.

2

Answers


  1. Chosen as BEST ANSWER

    To help clarify @Aaron's answer and provide an example which works on https://dotnetfiddle.net/:

    using System.IO;
    using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
    using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
    using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console;
    using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions;
    
    namespace MyProject;
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            using ILoggerFactory loggerFactory = LoggerFactory.Create(builder =>
            {
                builder.AddConsole(options =>
                {
                    options.FormatterName = "lineLogger";
                }).AddConsoleFormatter<CustomFormatter, ConsoleFormatterOptions>();
            });
            var _logger = loggerFactory.CreateLogger<Program>();
            _logger.LogWithLocation("Test Log");
        }
    }
    
    public class CustomFormatter : ConsoleFormatter
    {
        public CustomFormatter() : base("lineLogger")
        {
        }
    
        public override void Write<TState>(in LogEntry<TState> logEntry, IExternalScopeProvider scopeProvider, TextWriter textWriter)
        {
            textWriter.WriteLine($"{logEntry.Formatter(logEntry.State, logEntry.Exception)}");
        }
    }
    
    public static class LoggerExtensions
    {
        public static void LogWithLocation(this ILogger logger, string message, [CallerFilePath] string filePath = "", [CallerLineNumber] int lineNumber = 0)
        {
            logger.LogInformation($"{message} ({filePath}:{lineNumber})");
        }
    }
    

    Obviously on dotnetfiddle.net there are no filenames so the output is something like:

    Test Log (:20)
    

    But typically you would have the filename:

    Test Log (C:tempProgram.cs:20)
    

  2. I did some googling and didnt find a standard solution for that. Since I do not know how familiar you are with C#, I created the following example to demonstrate the wanted behaviour.
    First you want to use the ILoggerFactory to implement a custom logging instance.
    Then we will need a custom Log extension method which outputs the filepath including the filenumber. Visual Studio Code will then catch the link making it clickable.

    using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
    using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
    using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console;
    using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions;
    
    using ILoggerFactory loggerFactory = LoggerFactory.Create(builder =>
            {
                builder.AddConsole(options =>
                {
                    options.FormatterName = "lineLogger";
                })
                .AddConsoleFormatter<CustomFormatter, ConsoleFormatterOptions>();
            });
    
    var _logger = loggerFactory.CreateLogger<Program>();
    _logger.LogWithLocation("Test Log");
    
    public class CustomFormatter : ConsoleFormatter
    {
        public CustomFormatter() : base("lineLogger") { }
        public override void Write<TState>(in LogEntry<TState> logEntry, IExternalScopeProvider scopeProvider, TextWriter textWriter)
        {
            textWriter.WriteLine($"{logEntry.Formatter(logEntry.State, logEntry.Exception)}");
        }
    }
    public static class LoggerExtensions
    {
        public static void LogWithLocation(this ILogger logger, string message, [CallerFilePath] string filePath = "", [CallerLineNumber] int lineNumber = 0)
        {
            logger.LogInformation($"{message} ({filePath}:{lineNumber})");
        }
    }
    

    as a side note, I got an error saying that ILoggerFactory contains no definition for AddConsole. I found this answer 'ILoggerFactory' does not contain a definition for 'AddConsole'
    So simply add the package like this:

    dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console
    

    You will also need the Microsoft.Extensions.Logging + Abstractions packages.
    I also created a fiddle to show you how it works with the classical top level statements here https://dotnetfiddle.net/q680Vj

    edit: I changed the implementation to an extension method of the ILoggerFactory which makes the method reusable across every instance of an ILogger instance. Also included using statements.

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