Can you configure log4net in code instead of using a config file?

Question

I understand why log4net uses app.config files for setting up logging - so you can easily change how information is logged without needing to recompile your cod

Answer 1

Alternatively you could create a custom attribute that inherits from log4net.Config.ConfiguratorAttribute and hard-code you configuration there:

using log4net.Appender;
using log4net.Config;
using log4net.Core;
using log4net.Layout;
using log4net.Repository;
using log4net.Repository.Hierarchy;
using System;
using System.Reflection;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly)]
    public class MyConfiguratorAttribute : ConfiguratorAttribute
    {
        public MyConfiguratorAttribute()
            : base(0)
        {
        }

        public override void Configure(Assembly sourceAssembly, ILoggerRepository targetRepository)
        {
            var hierarchy = (Hierarchy)targetRepository;
            var patternLayout = new PatternLayout();
            patternLayout.ConversionPattern = "%date [%thread] %-5level %logger - %message%newline";
            patternLayout.ActivateOptions();

            var roller = new RollingFileAppender();
            roller.AppendToFile = false;
            roller.File = @"Logs\EventLog.txt";
            roller.Layout = patternLayout;
            roller.MaxSizeRollBackups = 5;
            roller.MaximumFileSize = "1GB";
            roller.RollingStyle = RollingFileAppender.RollingMode.Size;
            roller.StaticLogFileName = true;
            roller.ActivateOptions();
            hierarchy.Root.AddAppender(roller);

            hierarchy.Root.Level = Level.Info;
            hierarchy.Configured = true;
        }
    }
}

Then add the following to a .cs file:

[assembly: ConsoleApplication1.MyConfigurator]