This class accesses Windows event logs that are accessible through the Event Viewer administrative tool. Windows contains three logs by default: the Application Log, System Log, and Security Log. The Security Log is read-only, so you can't write events to it. Whenever you need to raise an event, you must select a system-wide unique event source. This source can be any keyword, as long as it is unique. To write an event to the Application log, use the static two-argument version of WriteEntry( ), supplying the source name and message as string arguments. If the source does not exist, it is automatically registered.

You can manually register a new event source several ways. First, call CreateEventSource( ). If you do not specify a log name, then your events are registered with the generic Application Log. Otherwise, a new .evt file is created (in the %SystemRoot%\system32\config directory). Alternatively, create a new EventLog object, and set Source, Log, and MachineName to the appropriate values. To delete a source, call DeleteEventSource( ). Delete( ) lets you delete an entire log, but be careful not to delete one of the Windows event logs! GetEventLogs( ) allows you to find the logs on the system, and LogNameFromSourceName( ) allows you to determine the log file for a given source.

You can interact with a log in many ways. Add to it using WriteEntry( ) and remove all log entries by calling Clear( ). Examine the Entries property to view the individual log entries. An EventLog can raise the EntryWritten event if you set EnableRaisingEvents to true.

public class EventLog : System.ComponentModel.Component, System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize {
// Public Constructors
   public EventLog( );
   public EventLog(string logName);
   public EventLog(string logName, string machineName);
   public EventLog(string logName, string machineName, string source);
// Public Instance Properties
   public bool EnableRaisingEvents{set; get; }
   public EventLogEntryCollection Entries{get; }
   public string Log{set; get; }
   public string LogDisplayName{get; }
   public string MachineName{set; get; }
   public string Source{set; get; }
   public ISynchronizeInvoke SynchronizingObject{set; get; }
// Public Static Methods
   public static void CreateEventSource(string source, string logName);
   public static void CreateEventSource(string source, string logName, string machineName);
   public static void Delete(string logName);
   public static void Delete(string logName, string machineName);
   public static void DeleteEventSource(string source);
   public static void DeleteEventSource(string source, string machineName);
   public static bool Exists(string logName);
   public static bool Exists(string logName, string machineName);
   public static EventLog[ ] GetEventLogs( );
   public static EventLog[ ] GetEventLogs(string machineName);
   public static string LogNameFromSourceName(string source, string machineName);
   public static bool SourceExists(string source);
   public static bool SourceExists(string source, string machineName);
   public static void WriteEntry(string source, string message);
   public static void WriteEntry(string source, string message, EventLogEntryType type);
   public static void WriteEntry(string source, string message, EventLogEntryType type, int eventID);
   public static void WriteEntry(string source, string message, EventLogEntryType type, int eventID, 
        short category);
   public static void WriteEntry(string source, string message, EventLogEntryType type, int eventID, 
        short category, byte[ ] rawData);
// Public Instance Methods
   public void BeginInit( );
// implements System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize
   public void Clear( );
   public void Close( );
   public void EndInit( ); 
// implements System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize
   public void WriteEntry(string message);
   public void WriteEntry(string message, EventLogEntryType type);
   public void WriteEntry(string message, EventLogEntryType type, int eventID);
   public void WriteEntry(string message, EventLogEntryType type, int eventID, 
        short category);
   public void WriteEntry(string message, EventLogEntryType type, int eventID, 
        short category, byte[ ] rawData);
// Protected Instance Methods
   protected override void Dispose(bool disposing);  
// overrides System.ComponentModel.Component
// Events
   public event EntryWrittenEventHandler EntryWritten;
}

Hierarchy

System.Object System.MarshalByRefObject System.ComponentModel.Component(System.ComponentModel.IComponent, System.IDisposable) EventLog(System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize)

Returned By

EventLogTraceListener.EventLog

Passed To

EventLogTraceListener.{EventLog, EventLogTraceListener( )}