How to pass email address as parameter from C# code to log4net smtp appender

Question

I am using log4net smtp appender to send email alerts in case of an error in the application. Is there a way I can assign the email address at run time rather than putting in the config file. The config file is :

<appender name="LogSmtpAppender" type="log4net.Appender.SmtpAppender">
      <authentication value="Basic" />
      <to value="" />

I am initializing the logger from my application as:

 public static readonly log4net.ILog applicationLog = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger("MyApplication");

Answer 1

You can get the appender and then change the configuration by setting the property and then activate the new options like:

        // Get the Hierarchy object that organizes the loggers
        Hierarchy hier = log4net.LogManager.GetRepository() as Hierarchy;
        var smtpappender =
                (SmtpAppender)hier.GetAppenders().Where(
                    appender => appender.Name.Equals("LogSmtpAppender", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)).FirstOrDefault();

            if (smtpappender != null)
            {
                // Change your setting here
                smtpappender.To = "[email protected]"
                // Activate the options
                smtpappender.ActivateOptions(); 
            }
        }