Using outputTemplate argument in Serilog with Azure Application Insights

Question

I'm currently implementing Azure Application Insights logging with Serilog which is working fine except for when I use an output template in my Serilog configuration. It seems like the template is ignored when passing the Serilog data to Application insights.

My serilog config in appsetting.json:

"Serilog": {
    "Using": [ "Serilog.Sinks.ApplicationInsights" ],
    "MinimumLevel": "Debug",
    "WriteTo": [
      { "Name": "Console" },
      {
        "Name": "RollingFile",
        "Args": {
          "pathFormat": "logs\\log-{Date}.txt",
          "outputTemplate": "{Timestamp:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff zzz} [{Level}] {Message}{NewLine}{Exception}"
        }
      },
      {
        "Name": "ApplicationInsights",
        "Args": {
          "restrictedToMinimumLevel": "Information",
          "telemetryConverter": "Serilog.Sinks.ApplicationInsights.Sinks.ApplicationInsights.TelemetryConverters.TraceTelemetryConverter, Serilog.Sinks.ApplicationInsights",
          "outputTemplate": "Test Template - {Message}"
        }
      }
    ],
    "Enrich": [ "FromLogContext", "WithMachineName", "WithThreadId" ],
    "Properties": {
      "Application": "app"
    }
  },

The logging statement:

logger.Error("Test Serilog Error For AI - " + DateTime.Now);

The output within application insights:

Is this the correct approach to customising an error message for Application insights?

Edward · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-25 07:52:11Z

After checking the source code serilog-sinks-applicationinsights, you will find it did not read the outputTemplate from appsetting.json.

For a workaround, you may implement custom TemplateTraceTelemetryConverter.

TemplateTraceTelemetryConverter

public class TemplateTraceTelemetryConverter : TraceTelemetryConverter
{
    public override IEnumerable<ITelemetry> Convert(LogEvent logEvent, IFormatProvider formatProvider)
    {
        var templateParser = new MessageTemplateParser();
        var template = templateParser.Parse($"Test Template - {logEvent.MessageTemplate.Text}");
        LogEvent newLogEvent = new LogEvent(logEvent.Timestamp
            , logEvent.Level
            , logEvent.Exception
            , template
            , logEvent.Properties.Select(p => new LogEventProperty(p.Key, p.Value)));
        return base.Convert(newLogEvent, formatProvider);
    }
}

Use TemplateTraceTelemetryConverter

"Serilog": {
    "Using": [
    "Serilog.Sinks.ApplicationInsights",
    ],
    "MinimumLevel": "Debug",
    "WriteTo": [
    {
        "Name": "Console",
        "Args": {
        "outputTemplate": "Test Template - {Message}"
        }
    },
    {
        "Name": "RollingFile",
        "Args": {
        "pathFormat": "logs\\log-{Date}.txt",
        "outputTemplate": "{Timestamp:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff zzz} [{Level}] {Message}{NewLine}{Exception}"
        }
    },
    {
        "Name": "ApplicationInsights",
        "Args": {
        "restrictedToMinimumLevel": "Error",          
        "telemetryConverter": "YourProjectNamespace.TemplateTraceTelemetryConverter, YourProjectNamespace"
        //"outputTemplate": "Test Template - {Message}"
        }
    }
    ],
    "Enrich": [ "FromLogContext", "WithMachineName", "WithThreadId" ],
    "Properties": {
    "Application": "app"
    }
}

Thank you, works like a charm. Should've checked the source code first.

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