Configure NLog Programmatically

gistfile1.txt

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using NLog;
using NLog.Common;
using NLog.Targets;
using NLog.Config;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        private static Logger _logger;

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            //InternalLogger.LogToConsole = true;
            //InternalLogger.LogLevel = LogLevel.Trace;

            var config = new LoggingConfiguration();

            var target = 
                new FileTarget{
                    FileName=typeof(Program).FullName + ".log"
                };

            config.AddTarget("logfile", target);

            var dbTarget = new DatabaseTarget();

            dbTarget.ConnectionString = @"<server>;Initial Catalog=<database>;Persist Security Info=True;User ID=<user>;Password=<password>";

            dbTarget.CommandText =
@"INSERT INTO [Log] (Date, Thread, Level, Logger, Message, Exception) 
    VALUES(GETDATE(), @thread, @level, @logger, @message, @exception)";

            dbTarget.Parameters.Add(new DatabaseParameterInfo("@thread", new NLog.Layouts.SimpleLayout("${threadid}")));

            dbTarget.Parameters.Add(new DatabaseParameterInfo("@level", new NLog.Layouts.SimpleLayout("${level}")));

            dbTarget.Parameters.Add(new DatabaseParameterInfo("@logger", new NLog.Layouts.SimpleLayout("${logger}")));

            dbTarget.Parameters.Add(new DatabaseParameterInfo("@message", new NLog.Layouts.SimpleLayout("${message}")));

            dbTarget.Parameters.Add(new DatabaseParameterInfo("@exception", new NLog.Layouts.SimpleLayout("${exception}")));

            config.AddTarget("database", dbTarget);

            var rule = new LoggingRule("*", LogLevel.Debug, target);

            config.LoggingRules.Add(rule);

            var dbRule = new LoggingRule("*", LogLevel.Debug, dbTarget);

            config.LoggingRules.Add(dbRule);

            LogManager.Configuration = config; //doesn't work if moved after instatiation of config

            _logger = LogManager.GetCurrentClassLogger();

            _logger.Debug("Using programmatic config");
        }
    }
}

There is a newer method XmlLoggingConfiguration.CreateFromXmlString that allows to have an in-memory string with an XML and let NLog automatically create the configuration from that string, e.g.:

LogManager.Configuration = XmlLoggingConfiguration.CreateFromXmlString("...");

Thanks for pointing this out.