B4J Question B4J Windows Event Log - Inserting entries

[rgarnett1955]

Hi All,

I have a number of headless server apps written in b4J running on Windows 10 and wish to use the Windows Even Log system to log starts/stops errors etc.

I know I can develop stand alone logs for each app using text files or sqLite, but I would like to use the Windows Event Logs so everything is in one place. I use these logs a lot to work out why Windows isn't working properly (this isn't an oxymoron).

Is there any way I can do this from b4J? I don't want to read the logs with b4j, just write to the Applications Event Log.

I have attached a screen shot so you can see what I'm getting at.

Best regards

Rob

 

[Erel]

Moved to B4J.

You can call this library with JavaObject: https://github.com/dblock/log4jna/blob/master/USAGE.md
However it is based on a native DLL and such libraries are more fragile. I wouldn't use it unless it is a critical feature for you.

 

[rgarnett1955]

Thanks Erel,

I will give it a whorl.

Best regards

Rob

 

[MicroDrie]

You can try the following program. It doesn't need a dll, but it has one drawback: you need to create only once an log event from a dos box.

Sub Process_Globals
    Private fx As JFX
'    Private MainForm As Form
    Private WWL As WriteWindowsLog
End Sub

Sub AppStart (Form1 As Form, Args() As String)
'    MainForm = Form1
'    MainForm.RootPane.LoadLayout("Layout1") 'Load the layout file.
'    MainForm.Show
    WWL.Initialize
    WWL.WriteWindowsEvent("Test")
End Sub

'Return true to allow the default exceptions handler to handle the uncaught exception.
Sub Application_Error (Error As Exception, StackTrace As String) As Boolean
    Return True
End Sub

This is the class code:

Sub Class_Globals
'    --- Needs Javaobjects
    Private NativeMe As JavaObject
End Sub

'Initializes the object. You can add parameters to this method if needed.
Public Sub Initialize
    NativeMe = Me
End Sub

Public Sub WriteWindowsEvent(buffer As String)
    Dim s As String = NativeMe.RunMethod("WriteToWindowsEventLog", Array(buffer))
    Log(s)
End Sub

#IF JAVA

/* See also https://www.jasonsamuel.com/2010/01/08/creating-a-custom-event-log-under-event-viewer-to-log-server-events/
 * The first run time an error 1 is generated to solved this error status:
 *   Open a DOS box with the CMD command in Windows
 *   Paste the following command line (without the  *) 
 *   eventcreate /ID 5 /L APPLICATION /T INFORMATION  /SO MYEVENTSOURCE /D \"My first log\"
 */
  
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
public void WriteToWindowsEventLog(String argument) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
    String osName = System.getProperty("os.name").toUpperCase(Locale.ENGLISH);
    if (!osName.startsWith("WINDOWS")) {
        System.err.println("Not windows");
        return;
    }
    
//    System.out.println("Windows system found");
      
// https://www.jasonsamuel.com/2010/01/08/creating-a-custom-event-log-under-event-viewer-to-log-server-events/    
// eventcreate /ID 1 /L APPLICATION /T INFORMATION  /SO MYEVENTSOURCE /D "My first log"
    Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("eventcreate /ID 5 /L APPLICATION /T INFORMATION  /SO MYEVENTSOURCE /D \"My first log\"");

    process.waitFor(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    int exitValue = process.exitValue();
    System.out.printf("Process exited with value %d\n", exitValue);
    
    if (exitValue != 0) {
        InputStream errorStream = process.getErrorStream();
        String result = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(errorStream))
            .lines()
            .collect(Collectors.joining("\n"));
        System.err.println(result);
    }
}
#End If

 

[rgarnett1955]

You can try the following program. It doesn't need a dll, but it has one drawback: you need to create only once an log event from a dos box.

Sub Process_Globals
    Private fx As JFX
'    Private MainForm As Form
    Private WWL As WriteWindowsLog
End Sub

Sub AppStart (Form1 As Form, Args() As String)
'    MainForm = Form1
'    MainForm.RootPane.LoadLayout("Layout1") 'Load the layout file.
'    MainForm.Show
    WWL.Initialize
    WWL.WriteWindowsEvent("Test")
End Sub

'Return true to allow the default exceptions handler to handle the uncaught exception.
Sub Application_Error (Error As Exception, StackTrace As String) As Boolean
    Return True
End Sub

This is the class code:

Sub Class_Globals
'    --- Needs Javaobjects
    Private NativeMe As JavaObject
End Sub

'Initializes the object. You can add parameters to this method if needed.
Public Sub Initialize
    NativeMe = Me
End Sub

Public Sub WriteWindowsEvent(buffer As String)
    Dim s As String = NativeMe.RunMethod("WriteToWindowsEventLog", Array(buffer))
    Log(s)
End Sub

#IF JAVA

/* See also https://www.jasonsamuel.com/2010/01/08/creating-a-custom-event-log-under-event-viewer-to-log-server-events/
* The first run time an error 1 is generated to solved this error status:
*   Open a DOS box with the CMD command in Windows
*   Paste the following command line (without the  *)
*   eventcreate /ID 5 /L APPLICATION /T INFORMATION  /SO MYEVENTSOURCE /D \"My first log\"
*/
 
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;

public void WriteToWindowsEventLog(String argument) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
    String osName = System.getProperty("os.name").toUpperCase(Locale.ENGLISH);
    if (!osName.startsWith("WINDOWS")) {
        System.err.println("Not windows");
        return;
    }
   
//    System.out.println("Windows system found");
     
// https://www.jasonsamuel.com/2010/01/08/creating-a-custom-event-log-under-event-viewer-to-log-server-events/   
// eventcreate /ID 1 /L APPLICATION /T INFORMATION  /SO MYEVENTSOURCE /D "My first log"
    Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("eventcreate /ID 5 /L APPLICATION /T INFORMATION  /SO MYEVENTSOURCE /D \"My first log\"");

    process.waitFor(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    int exitValue = process.exitValue();
    System.out.printf("Process exited with value %d\n", exitValue);
   
    if (exitValue != 0) {
        InputStream errorStream = process.getErrorStream();
        String result = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(errorStream))
            .lines()
            .collect(Collectors.joining("\n"));
        System.err.println(result);
    }
}
#End If

Hi MicroDrie,

Thanks for that.

I will give it a try, but I am not sure what you mean by:

you need to create only once an log event from a dos box

Could you expand on this with an example?

Best regards

Rob

 

[MicroDrie]

The given program example just works with that strange first log action. I suspect it has to do with the fact that you manually establish the association between the program and the Windows event process via the CMD box operation. As with everything, try it and if it works use it as long as it goes.

 

[Derek Johnson]

Just tried that out and your code always writes "My first Log" as per the line below:

Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("eventcreate /ID 5 /L APPLICATION /T INFORMATION /SO MYEVENTSOURCE /D \"My first log\"");

[/code]

To work with the passed parameter it needs to be:

Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("eventcreate /ID 5 /L APPLICATION /T INFORMATION  /SO MYEVENTSOURCE /D \"" + argument +"\""    );

Thought this might help someone else if like me you first blindly copied the example!

Derek