Implementing Serilog in ASP.NET Core Web API: A Step-by-Step Guide

Category > ASP.NET || Published on : Tuesday, March 7, 2023 || Views: 329 || Serilog ASP.NET Core Logging Structured Logging Web API .NET


Learn how to implement Serilog, an open-source logging library, in your ASP.NET Core Web API to provide structured logging capabilities. This article covers the installation and configuration of Serilog, as well as using it to log messages in your web API.

Introduction:

Serilog is an open-source logging library for .NET applications that provides structured logging capabilities. ASP.NET Core is a popular web framework that allows developers to build modern web applications. In this article, we will discuss how to implement Serilog in an ASP.NET Core Web API. We will cover the basics of Serilog, how to install and configure it, and how to use it to log messages in your ASP.NET Core Web API.

Keywords: Serilog, ASP.NET Core Web API, logging library, structured logging, modern web applications

Step 1: Install Serilog

The first step in implementing Serilog in your ASP.NET Core Web API is to install the Serilog package. You can do this using the NuGet Package Manager or by running the following command in the Package Manager Console:

Install-Package Serilog.AspNetCore

Once you have installed the package, you can configure Serilog in your ASP.NET Core Web API.

Step 2: Configure Serilog

To configure Serilog in your ASP.NET Core Web API, you need to add the following code to your Startup.cs file:

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)
{
    // ...

    Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
        .WriteTo.Console()
        .CreateLogger();

    app.UseSerilogRequestLogging();

    // ...
}

In the above code, we first initialize the Serilog logger by creating a new instance of the LoggerConfiguration class. We then configure Serilog to write log messages to the console by calling the WriteTo.Console() method. Finally, we call the CreateLogger() method to create the logger instance.

We also call the app.UseSerilogRequestLogging() method, which adds middleware to the request pipeline that logs information about each request and response.

Step 3: Use Serilog to log messages

Once you have configured Serilog in your ASP.NET Core Web API, you can use it to log messages. To do this, you can use the ILogger interface provided by Serilog. You can inject the ILogger interface into your controllers or other components using the built-in dependency injection system in ASP.NET Core.

For example, to log an informational message, you can use the following code in your controller:

private readonly ILogger<MyController> _logger;

public MyController(ILogger<MyController> logger)
{
    _logger = logger;
}

public IActionResult Index()
{
    _logger.LogInformation("Hello, world!");
    return View();
}

In the above code, we inject the ILogger<MyController> interface into our controller's constructor. We can then use the _logger instance to log an informational message using the LogInformation() method.

Conclusion:

In this article, we have discussed how to implement Serilog in an ASP.NET Core Web API. We have covered the basics of Serilog, how to install and configure it, and how to use it to log messages in your ASP.NET Core Web API. By following these steps, you can start using Serilog to provide structured logging capabilities in your ASP.NET Core Web API.