New semantic logging patterns available from MSDN

As a .NET developer, it's hard to think about an enterprise system without any logging and/or monitoring capabilities, be it a traditional desktop application or an ASP.NET web application. Logging is conceptually a simple thing, but the format in which those logging entries should be done is sometimes a topic generating heat.

Now, Microsoft has released an alpha (CTP) version of what is called the Semantic Logging Application Block or SLAB. In this case, semantic logging simple means a structured format of logging information, and the semantics ("the meaning") comes from the fact that the information can be processed and displayed in multiple ways.

Source code is naturally available (C#), and can be downloaded from CodePlex. This download contains ready-made chunks of code that you can bring in to your existing application, and thus save development time.

Happy logging with SLAB!