serilog-generator

A simulation that generates simple log data through Serilog, ideal for testing sinks or log servers.

The goals are that:

We create higher-quality sinks and servers for Serilog by exercising them comprehensively
We make it easier to build and test new sinks, without having n-different Example.* projects in the Serilog solution

How do I use it?

These instructions assume that you're building a sink for Serilog. Most of the time these live in their own DLL, and provide an extension method or two that hooks into the .WriteTo. Serilog configuration DLL.

As an example, here's how to fire up the generator against the Serilog.Sinks.CouchDB assembly.

1. Install the package

At the Package Manager Console:

PM> install-package serilog-generator

This is a 'tools' package, so it won't change assembly references.

2. Set the Start Action

In Visual Studio, right click the project you're working on (e.g. Serilog.Sinks.CouchDB) and select Properties.
In the Debug tab select Start External Program
Navigate to and select the packages/serilog-generator.0.0.0/tools/serilog-generator.exe file
Under Start Options > Command-line arguments point the program to your sink assembly and provide arguments (see below)
Finally, for sanity set the Working directory explicitly to your output folder, e.g. bin/Debug

The serilog-generator.exe program accepts command-line arguments indicating the assembly file and sink methods to use. A full command line might look like:

serilog-generator --using="Serilog.Sinks.CouchDB" --write-to:CouchDB.databaseUrl="http://my-couch/"

--using - Provide either an assembly name, or the path to an assembly file.
--write-to - The syntax of this command is Method.parameter; the parameter part is optional if no parameters need to be supplied to the method; specify --write-to once for each required parameter.

So, the command-line above is the same as:

.WriteTo.CouchDB(databaseUrl: "http://my-couch/")

(When you enter this into the Visual Studio project settings in step (4), don't include the serilog-generator executable part, since that's specified in step (3).)

The semantics match those of the Serilog.Extras.AppSettings package. The command-line syntax is very strict; use double-dashes, quotes and so-on exactly as shown above (we'd like to improve this!).

3. Debug your project

Now, if you set your DLL project as the start-up project and press F5, the generator will start writing events to the sink.

The simulation is very simple right now - multiple threads run "actors" (e.g. customers) interacting with an "e-Commerce" site. Initially events will be logged slowly; over time the logging rate will ramp up. There's no limit to how much data will be created, reaching 1000s of events/second is possible, so don't leave it running and expect to come back to any disk space after a long coffee! :)

Get involved!

There are still some challenges to coming up with a good commmand-line syntax (and processor).