.NET Framework 4.8

LogInformant supports .NET Framework 4.8 through three popular logging libraries: Serilog, NLog, and log4net. All three work the same way — install a NuGet package, add a few lines of config, done. Pick the library your project already uses.

Which library should I use? If your project already uses one, stick with it. Starting fresh? Serilog is the easiest to set up in code.

Option A — Serilog

1 Install NuGet packages
powershell — Package Manager Console 
Install-Package Serilog
Install-Package Serilog.Sinks.PeriodicBatching
Install-Package LogInformant.Serilog.DotNetFramework
2 Bootstrap in Global.asax.cs

Add one block to Application_Start. This sets up the logger for your entire app:

csharp — Global.asax.cs 
using Serilog;
using System.Configuration;

protected void Application_Start()
{
    Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
        .MinimumLevel.Information()
        .WriteTo.Console()
        .WriteTo.LogInformant(
            apiUrl: "https://app.loginformant.com",
            apiKey: ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["LogInformant:ApiKey"])
        .CreateLogger();

    Log.Information("Application starting up");

    AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
    RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
}
3 Add the API key to web.config
xml — web.config 
<configuration>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="LogInformant:ApiKey" value="YOUR-API-KEY-HERE" />
  </appSettings>
</configuration>
4 Log messages in your controllers

In .NET Framework MVC, you can use ILogger<T> if you have a DI container (e.g., Autofac, Ninject), or use the static Log class directly:

csharp — Option 1: Static Log (no DI needed) 
using Serilog;

public class OrderController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult PlaceOrder(int id)
    {
        Log.Information("Order {OrderId} placed", id);
        try
        {
            // your logic
            return RedirectToAction("Success");
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Log.Error(ex, "Failed to place order {OrderId}", id);
            return View("Error");
        }
    }
}
csharp — Option 2: ILogger<T> via constructor injection 
public class OrderController : Controller
{
    private readonly ILogger<OrderController> _logger;

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

    public ActionResult PlaceOrder(int id)
    {
        _logger.LogInformation("Order {OrderId} placed", id);
        // ...
    }
}
The static Log.Information(...) approach works perfectly well in .NET Framework apps — the global logger picks it up and forwards it to all configured sinks, including LogInformant.

Configure Serilog via app.config / web.config

If you prefer config-file-based setup (handy if you want ops teams to change log levels without redeploying), install Serilog.Settings.AppSettings:

powershell 
Install-Package Serilog.Settings.AppSettings
xml — web.config (appSettings section) 
<add key="serilog:minimum-level" value="Information" />
<add key="serilog:using:LogInformant" value="LogInformant.Serilog.DotNetFramework" />
<add key="serilog:write-to:LogInformant.apiUrl" value="https://app.loginformant.com" />
<add key="serilog:write-to:LogInformant.apiKey" value="YOUR-API-KEY-HERE" />
csharp — Global.asax.cs (reads all settings from config) 
Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
    .ReadFrom.AppSettings()
    .CreateLogger();

Option B — NLog

1 Install NuGet packages
powershell — Package Manager Console 
Install-Package NLog
Install-Package LogInformant.NLog
2 Configure nlog.config

Add or update nlog.config at the root of your project:

xml — nlog.config 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

  <extensions>
    <add assembly="LogInformant.NLog"/>
  </extensions>

  <targets>
    <target xsi:type="LogInformant"
            name="loginformant"
            apiUrl="https://app.loginformant.com"
            apiKey="YOUR-API-KEY-HERE" />
  </targets>

  <rules>
    <logger name="*" minlevel="Info" writeTo="loginformant" />
  </rules>

</nlog>
3 Log in your code
csharp 
using NLog;

public class OrderController : Controller
{
    private static readonly ILogger Logger = LogManager.GetCurrentClassLogger();

    public ActionResult PlaceOrder(int id)
    {
        Logger.Info("Order {0} placed", id);
        try
        {
            // your logic
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Logger.Error(ex, "Failed to place order {0}", id);
        }
        return View();
    }
}

Option C — log4net

1 Install NuGet packages
powershell — Package Manager Console 
Install-Package log4net
Install-Package LogInformant.Log4Net
2 Configure log4net.config
xml — log4net.config 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<log4net>

  <appender name="LogInformant" type="LogInformant.Log4Net.LogInformantAppender">
    <ApiUrl value="https://app.loginformant.com" />
    <ApiKey value="YOUR-API-KEY-HERE" />
    <BatchSize value="50" />
    <FlushIntervalMs value="2000" />
  </appender>

  <root>
    <level value="INFO" />
    <appender-ref ref="LogInformant" />
  </root>

</log4net>
3 Register in Global.asax.cs
csharp — Global.asax.cs 
using log4net;
using log4net.Config;

protected void Application_Start()
{
    // Tell log4net to read your config file
    XmlConfigurator.Configure(new FileInfo(Server.MapPath("~/log4net.config")));

    // ... rest of your startup
}
4 Log in your code
csharp 
using log4net;

public class OrderController : Controller
{
    private static readonly ILog Logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(OrderController));

    public ActionResult PlaceOrder(int id)
    {
        Logger.InfoFormat("Order {0} placed", id);
        try
        {
            // your logic
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Logger.Error("Failed to place order " + id, ex);
        }
        return View();
    }
}

Log level mapping

SerilogNLoglog4netLogInformant
VerboseTraceDEBUGDebug
DebugDebugDEBUGDebug
InformationInfoINFOInformation
WarningWarnWARNWarning
ErrorErrorERRORError
FatalFatalFATALFatal