Error occurred creating the configuration section handler for nlog: Error when setting property 'Layout' on NLog.Targets.DatabaseParameterInfo

Question

I have (what I thought to be) a very straightforward database logger for NLog, with nothing exotic or exciting, but I'm getting yelled at and I don't have any information about what the problem is.

I have NLog wired into Common.Logging like so:

<common>
    <logging>
        <factoryAdapter type="Common.Logging.NLog.NLogLoggerFactoryAdapter, Common.Logging.NLog40">
            <arg key="configType" value="INLINE" />
        </factoryAdapter>
    </logging>
</common>
<nlog
    internalLogLevel="Trace"
    internalLogFile="c:\logs\myservice.api.nlog.log"
    throwExceptions="true">
    <extensions>
        <add assembly="NLog.Extended" />
    </extensions>
    <targets>
        <target
            type="Database"
            name="database"
            dbProvider="mssql"
            commandType="Text"
            connectionStringName="MyServiceDbConnection"
            commandText="INSERT INTO dbo.LOGS (Machine, ExecutingAssembly, UtcTimestamp, Source, Thread, Severity, Username, Message) VALUES (@Machine, @ExecutingAssembly, @UtcTimestamp, @Source, @Thread, @Severity, @Username, @Message);">
            <parameter name="@Machine" layout="${machinename}" />
            <parameter name="@ExecutingAssembly" layout="${literal:text=MyService.Api}" />
            <parameter name="@UtcTimestamp" layout="${date:universalTime=true}" />
            <parameter name="@Source" layout="${logger}" />
            <parameter name="@Thread" layout="${threadname}" />
            <parameter name="@Severity" layout="${level:uppercase=true}" />
            <parameter name="@Username" layout="${aspnet-user-identity}" />
            <parameter name="@Message" layout="${message} ${exception:format=ToString}" />
        </target>
    </targets>
    <rules>
        <logger name="*" minLevel="Debug" writeTo="database" />
    </rules>
</nlog>

when I try to run my api application, I get the following error message:

Server Error in '/' Application.

Configuration Error

Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately. 

Parser Error Message: An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for nlog: Error when setting property 'Layout' on NLog.Targets.DatabaseParameterInfo

Source Error: 


Line 86:        </logging>
Line 87:    </common>
Line 88:    <nlog
Line 89:        internalLogLevel="Trace"
Line 90:        internalLogFile="c:\logs\myservice.api.nlog.log"

My internal NLog log is not very helpful:

2015-08-13 08:21:05.1643 Info Loading assembly name: NLog.Extended
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1643 Debug ScanAssembly('NLog.Extended, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=5120e14c03d0593c')
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Debug Setting 'DatabaseTarget.name' to 'database'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Debug Setting 'DatabaseTarget.dbProvider' to 'mssql'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Debug Setting 'DatabaseTarget.commandType' to 'Text'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Debug Setting 'DatabaseTarget.connectionStringName' to 'MyServiceDbConnection'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Debug Setting 'DatabaseTarget.commandText' to 'INSERT INTO dbo.LOGS (Machine, ExecutingAssembly, UtcTimestamp, Source, Thread, Severity, Username, Message) VALUES (@Machine, @ExecutingAssembly, @UtcTimestamp, @Source, @Thread, @Severity, @Username, @Message);'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.name' to '@Machine'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.layout' to '${machinename}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Trace FindReachableObject<NLog.Internal.IRenderable>:
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Trace Scanning MachineNameLayoutRenderer 'Layout Renderer: ${machinename}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1753 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.name' to '@ExecutingAssembly'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.layout' to '${literal:text=MyService.Api}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'LiteralLayoutRenderer.text' to 'Onlife.Globalization.Api'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace FindReachableObject<NLog.Internal.IRenderable>:
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace Scanning LiteralLayoutRenderer 'Layout Renderer: ${literal}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.name' to '@UtcTimestamp'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.layout' to '${date:universalTime=true}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DateLayoutRenderer.universalTime' to 'true'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace FindReachableObject<NLog.Internal.IRenderable>:
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace Scanning DateLayoutRenderer 'Layout Renderer: ${date}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.name' to '@Source'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.layout' to '${logger}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace FindReachableObject<NLog.Internal.IRenderable>:
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace Scanning LoggerNameLayoutRenderer 'Layout Renderer: ${logger}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.name' to '@Thread'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.layout' to '${threadname}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace FindReachableObject<NLog.Internal.IRenderable>:
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace Scanning ThreadNameLayoutRenderer 'Layout Renderer: ${threadname}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.name' to '@Severity'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.layout' to '${level:uppercase=true}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'UppercaseLayoutRendererWrapper.uppercase' to 'true'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace Wrapping LevelLayoutRenderer with UppercaseLayoutRendererWrapper
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace FindReachableObject<NLog.Internal.IRenderable>:
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace Scanning LevelLayoutRenderer 'Layout Renderer: ${level}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace FindReachableObject<NLog.Internal.IRenderable>:
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace Scanning UppercaseLayoutRendererWrapper 'Layout Renderer: ${uppercase}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace  Scanning SimpleLayout ''''
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Trace   Scanning LevelLayoutRenderer 'Layout Renderer: ${level}'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.name' to '@Username'
2015-08-13 08:21:05.1892 Debug Setting 'DatabaseParameterInfo.layout' to '${aspnet-user-identity}'
2015-08-13 08:21:15.5407 Info Shutting down logging...
2015-08-13 08:21:15.5407 Info Logger has been shut down.

There are no other error messages or indications of what the problem is here. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

A little bit late bit it may help:

If you are using NLog > 4.0, the ASP.NET renderes are in NLog.Web. So you will need to add it with Nuget package and reference it as below:

<extensions>
    <add assembly="NLog.Web" />
</extensions>

This is all, because you are using the following param:

<parameter name="@Username" layout="${aspnet-user-identity}" />

More info here: http://nlog-project.org/2015/06/13/NLog-Extended_NLog-Web_and_NLog-Windows-Forms.html