marekf
8c77df207a
Cause: - Live diagnostics required logging from multiple applications without blocking TBF. - Shared nlog.config files caused configuration conflicts. - The original viewer lacked configurable colors and practical log controls. - Inconsistent diagnostic deployment caused log transfer failures and locked shared DLLs during builds. Solution: 1. Added universal diagnostic transport - Added AppDiagnostic.Logging with an NLog target and named-pipe communication. - Added background buffering and automatic reconnection. - Registered the diagnostic connector programmatically. 2. Separated diagnostic window lifecycle - Run AppDiagnostic as an independent process. - Activate the existing window on repeated launches. - Keep TBF running when the diagnostic window closes. 3. Corrected diagnostic deployment - Copy the complete diagnostic output into a dedicated AppDiagnostic subdirectory during build. - Overwrite existing deployment files to prevent inconsistent versions. - Validate and launch the executable from that subdirectory with an explicit working directory. 4. Improved the log viewer - Added configurable substring colors with a palette and live preview. - Added text, level and application filters. - Added line wrapping, clipboard actions and log export. - Added Pause/Resume, Refresh, Clear, auto-scroll and Always on top. - Added connection and log counters. - Persist color rules between sessions. 5. Removed legacy dependencies - Replaced LiveLogCache with structured diagnostic storage. - Removed AppDiagnostic dependencies on log4net and SharedComponents. Validation: - Confirmed successful log transfer when launching AppDiagnostic from TBF.
AppDiagnostic.Logging
Reusable NLog target for sending structured diagnostic events from multiple
.NET Framework processes to AppDiagnostic.exe through a local named pipe.
Producer integration
Reference this project from the producer application and add the extension and target to its NLog configuration:
<extensions>
<add assembly="AppDiagnostic.Logging" />
</extensions>
<targets>
<target name="appDiagnostic"
xsi:type="AppDiagnostic"
layout="${message}" />
</targets>
<rules>
<logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="appDiagnostic" />
</rules>
The target writes to a bounded background queue. Producer threads are not blocked while the diagnostic viewer is unavailable. Queued messages are sent after the viewer becomes available; new messages are discarded when the queue limit is reached.
The receiver can read messages with:
DiagnosticLogEntry entry =
DiagnosticMessageSerializer.ReadFramed(namedPipeServerStream);