Using outputTemplate argument in Serilog with Azure Application Insights - azure

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?

Answer 1

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"
}
}