How to write to a custom event log?

Question

I'm trying to get my .Net Windows Service to right to a custom event log. I'm using EventLogInstaller to create the event log and source when the application is installed. I read here that it takes a while for Windows to register the source so they reccomend you restart the application before trying to write to the log.

As this is a Windows Service I didn't want to have to force a computer restart or get the user to manually start the service up, so I use this code to wait for the log to exist and then start the service automatically.

while (!(EventLog.Exists("ManageIT") || EventLog.SourceExists("ManageIT Client Service")))
{
    Thread.Sleep(1000);
}

System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController controller = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController("ManageIT.Client.Service");
controller.Start();

My problem is that events from the service are still written to the Application Log and although I can see my custom log in the Registry Editor it does not show up in the Windows 7 Event Viewer.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Answer 1

By default when a service is installed, the source gets associated with the Application Log. If we change this association at a later point, the system needs a restart.

We can however prevent the association of the service with the application log, by setting autolog property to false in the service class (class which inherits from servicebase) constructor. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.serviceprocess.servicebase.autolog.aspx