WebLogger 1.1.0

Weblogger

WebLogger is a websocket server designed to provide an accessible console application served to an html user interface. The WebLogger library targets .netstandard 2.0 and can be used in any .net framework 4.7 and .net Core application. WebLogger will manage the server and provide an easy way to create a custom CLI using commands and prompts. This library also includes an HTML front end using vanilla JS to handle the socket connection. The webpage is embedded into the DLL and will be extracted when executed to a destination of your choosing.

Inspiration for this project comes from https://kielthecoder.com/2021/04/16/vc-4-websocket-sharp/. This was original created to solve the problems described in his blog regarding Crestron's Virtual Control platform. However it has since proven usefull in other application so a move to .netstandard was important.

Table of Contents

1. VS Solution
2. WebLogger
3. Commands
4. Embedded HTML
5. Serilog Sink
6. Release Notes

Visual Studio Solution

The included solution includes five projects including two example projects and 3 libraries.

• /source/WebLogger.csproj
• /source/WebLogger.Serilog.csproj
• /source/WebLogger.Crestron.csproj
• /example/WebLogger.ConsoleApp.csproj
• /example/WebLogger.CrestronApp.csproj

A unit test project is also included and located in the tests directory

• /tests/WebLogger_UnitTests

WebLogger.csproj

This is lowest level library including all WebLogger types and logic. This library has one dependancy on WebSocketSharp

WebSocketSharp

WebLogger.Serilog.csproj

The WebLogger.Serilog project provides a serilog sink used to write structured logging outputs to the WebLogger console. Included in this project are the WebLogger Sink and Extension methods to streamline the configuration and implmentation.

Serilog

WebLogger.Crestron.csproj

Adds a reference to the Crestron SDK. This project provides some helpful Crestron commands to use with the console. Since browsers will block ws when the html page is served via https this server solves (albeit unsecured) this issue by providing an unsecured http server to distrubute the HTML files.

WebLogger.ConsoleApp Example Program

The Weblogger example is a simple console application showing SerilogSink usage.

WebLogger.CrestronApp Example Program

The Weblogger example is a Crestron SDK SimpleSharp program that demonstrates how to instantiate the WebLogger class and add console commands with callbacks.

Create a WebLogger

To Create a new instance of the WebLoger class included in the using WebLogger namespace.
Creating a new instace will:

1. Create a Websocket Server at the specified port
2. Copy all embedded resource HTML files to your local file system at the specified directory
3. Create a few default console commands

using WebLogger;

Create a new instance and start the server using the WebLoggerFactory. The default factory method will return an IWebLogger interface using the default WebLogger concrete implmentation.

var logger = WebLoggerFactory.CreateWebLogger();

Optionally use the Lambda Action<WebLoggerOptions to override the default parameters. Note: Currently secured web sockets are not fully supported, options to provide a valid certificate will be provided in the next release. https://github.com/ewilliams0305/WebLogger/issues/7

var logger = WebLoggerFactory.CreateWebLogger(options =>
{
    options.Secured = false;  
    options.WebSocketTcpPort = 54321;                  //allows you to provide a TCP port used by the web socket server
    options.DestinationWebpageDirectory = "C:/Temp/";  //allows you to provide a file directory to extract the embedded html files.
    options.Commands = commands;                       //provide a collection of custom commands that will be registered with the console.
});

Call the start method to extract the embedded resources and start the web socket server at the specified port.

logger.Start();

Console Commands

Custom console commands can be created and registered with the logger, after all this is the whole point of CLI. To get started using custom commands create a class that implements the IWebLoggerCommand interface or using the provided WebLoggerCommand concrete class. This class has been provided for your convienve and can be used to create ADHOC commands.

Create a Command

Define a name for the console command. This string will be used as the command key and is what the user would enter into the webpage user interface. A friendly description and help should be provided and shuld be descriptive informing the user as to the funtion of the command. When the WebLogger input receives a matching command key the CommandHandler will be executed. The command handler method will provide your class the Command and a list of args. Args will include a collection of strings that were entered into the CLI command line after the command string.

Example: enter "DO A Arg With Another Arg" would provide the handler a new List<string>{A, Arg, With, Another, Arg} including all values.

internal class DoWorkCommand : IWebLoggerCommand
{
    public string Command => "DO";
    public string Description => "Does work";
    public string Help => "Does lots of stuff";
    public Func<string, List<string>, ICommandResponse> CommandHandler => DoTheWork;

    public DoWorkCommand()
    {
            
    }

    public ICommandResponse DoTheWork(string command, List<string> args)
    {
        return CommandResponse.Success(this, "Done the Work");
    }
}

Use the provided WebLoggerCommand class.

var command = new ConsoleCommand(
    "EXAMPLE",
    "Simple example of console command",
    "Parameter: NA",
    (cmd, args) =>
    {
        Log.Logger.Information("{command} Received", cmd);
    });

var command = new ConsoleCommand(
    "EXAMPLE",
    "Simple example of console command",
    "Parameter: NA",
    IWebLoggerCommandHandler);

All command handlers must reponse to the WebLogger with a Success, Failure, or Error. The ICommandResponse type can be implmented and custom reponses can be provided to the WebLogger. A default implmentation is provided in the library with serveral factory methods.

public ICommandResponse HandleCommand(string command, List<string> args)
{
    if (args == null || args.Count == 0)
    {
        return CommandResponse.Failure(this, "Missing File Path Parameter");
    }
    try
    {
        EmbeddedResources.ExtractEmbeddedResource(
            Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(IAssemblyMarker)),
            ConstantValues.HtmlRoot,
            args[0]);

        return CommandResponse.Success(this, $"{args[0]}/index.html");
    }
    catch (FileLoadException fileLoadException)
    {
        CommandResponse.Error(this, fileLoadException);
    }
    catch (FileNotFoundException fileNotFoundException)
    {
        CommandResponse.Error(this, fileNotFoundException);
    }
    catch (IOException ioException)
    {
        CommandResponse.Error(this, ioException);
    }

    return CommandResponse.Error(this, new Exception("Code Unreachable"));
}

Responses are formatted and presented back to the WebLogger webpage with color formatted strings. Commands with prompts will be implmented in a future release https://github.com/ewilliams0305/WebLogger/issues/8

Register Console Commands

After creating commands they will need to be registered with the WebLogger instance. Programs can contain multiple WebLogger servers with different commands registered with each server. At the simplest form execute the IWebLogger.RegisterCommand(IWebLoggerCommand) method.

var logger = WebLoggerFactory.CreateWebLogger();

var command = new WebLoggerCommand(
    (cmd, args) => CommandResponse.Success("TEST", $"{cmd} Received"),
    "TEST",
    "Simple example of console command",
    "Parameter: NA")

logger.RegisterCommand(logger);

Commands can also be removed from the CLI at anytime.

logger.RemoveCommand(logger);

Extension methods have been provided to make this easier. If your custom command has a paramterless constructor you can execute the assembly discovery extension method to find all IWebLoggerCommands in the provided assembly.

logger.DiscoverCommands(Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(Program)))

An extension method to discover all the commands created inside the WebLogger library can be used as well

logger.DiscoverProvidedCommands();

There is even an extension method in the Crestron implmentation to discover the provided Crestron commands

logger.DiscoverCrestronCommands();

An extension method to register a collection of commands has also been provided

var logger = WebLoggerFactory.CreateWebLogger();

var commands = new List<IWebLoggerCommand>()
{
    new WebLoggerCommand(
        (cmd, args) => CommandResponse.Success("EXAMPLE", $"{cmd} Received"),
        "EXAMPLE",
        "Simple example of console command",
        "Parameter: NA"),

    new WebLoggerCommand(
        (cmd, args) => CommandResponse.Success("TEST", $"{cmd} Received"),
        "TEST",
        "Simple example of console command",
        "Parameter: NA")
};

logger.RegisterCommands(commands);

Embedded HTML

Located in the WebLogger project is a folder titled HTML. All HTML source files have been added to the project and configured as an embedded resource.
These files will be automatically extracted and written to the provided applicationDirectory in the WebLoggerFactory's CreateWebLogger() method.

var logger = WebLoggerFactory.CreateWebLogger(options =>
{
    options.DestinationWebpageDirectory = "C:/Temp/";
});

Be aware, the program will check if the files are already created and ONLY write them if they are not found. This decision was made to reduce disc writes and ensure files are recreated everytime the application is restarted This means the HTML files will need to be deleted off the server if changees to the HTML are made After starting the WebLogger, a directory will be created at the specifed location with the following file tree

• index.html
• console.js
• style.css

To help with writing webpage updates a custom command is provided by the IWebLogger.DiscoverProvidedCommands(); extension method. Execute this command and your weblogger will be provided with an Update command. All files will be extracted from the embedded resources and writen to the specified file directory.

COMMAND............... | HELP........................................................  
> UPDATE.............. | FORCES THE WEBPAGE UPDATE AND OVERWRITES THE EXISTING WEBPAGE | Parameter: Destination File Path | 
> HELP................ | RETURNS ALL REGISTERED WEBLOGGER CONSOLE COMMANDS | Parameter: NA | 
> IPCONFIG............ | DISPLAYS THE IP CONFIGURATION........... | Not parameters | 

HELP>Help End

update /opt/crestron/virtualcontrol/RunningPrograms/TEST/Html/logger/

UPDATE>/opt/crestron/virtualcontrol/RunningPrograms/TEST/Html/logger//index.html

When using the WebLogger.Crestron library you can create a custom http file server and distibute the HTML page via an unsecured webserver

Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
    .MinimumLevel.Verbose()
    .WriteTo.WebloggerSink(
        options =>
        {
            options.Commands = commands;
            options.Secured = false;
            options.DestinationWebpageDirectory = Path.Combine(Directory.GetApplicationRootDirectory(), "html/logger");
            options.WebSocketTcpPort = 54321;
        },
        logger =>
        {
            logger
                .ServeWebLoggerHtml(8081)
                .DiscoverCrestronCommands();

        })
    .CreateLogger();

The above code will result in a url http://ip:8081/index.html While the files will be stored in the application directory /html/logger/

Serilog Sink

The WebLogger.Serilog library provides a Serilog Sink used to write structured logs to the WebLogger websocket output. Generally speaking this is really intended for verbose information as the WebLogger does not store data. Logs should be writen to additional Sinks for permenet storage. Start by creating a LoggerConfiguration and WriteTo the WebLoggerSink.

Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
    .MinimumLevel.Verbose()
    .WriteTo.WebloggerSink()
    .CreateLogger();

Calling the WriteTo.WebLoggerSink() method will create a weblogger server and start the services with default WebLoggerOptions. To further customize you configuration implment the Action<WebLoggerOptions> lambda and update the properties to meet your configuration needs.

Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
    .MinimumLevel.Verbose()
    .WriteTo.WebloggerSink(
        options =>
        {
            options.Commands = commands;
            options.Secured = false;
            options.DestinationWebpageDirectory = "C:/Temp/WebLogger/Logger";
            options.WebSocketTcpPort = 54321;
        }
    .CreateLogger();

Since the Sink is now resonsible for creation of the WebLogger and your application no longer has a reference to the logger an optional Action<IWebLogger> has been provided. This provides you a reference to the WebLogger and allows for further command registration and management.

Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
    .MinimumLevel.Verbose()
    .WriteTo.WebloggerSink(
        options =>
        {
            options.Commands = commands;
            options.Secured = false;
            options.DestinationWebpageDirectory = "C:/Temp/WebLogger/Logger";
            options.WebSocketTcpPort = 54321;
        },
        logger =>
        {
            logger.DiscoverCommands(Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(Program)))
                .DiscoverProvidedCommands();
        })
    .CreateLogger();

If you need to, store a referance to the logger, but NOTE Log.CloseAndFlush() will dispose the WebLogger and could create upstream issues with your application depending on the usage.

IWebLogger webLogger;

Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
    .MinimumLevel.Verbose()
    .WriteTo.WebloggerSink(logger => webLogger = logger;)
    .CreateLogger();

webLogger
    .DiscoverCommands(Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(Program)))
    .DiscoverProvidedCommands();

Release Notes

Version 1.0.1

• Initial Release

Version 1.1.0

• Changed command handler from Action<string, List<string> to Func<string, List<string>, CommandResponse to provide a command response. Returned string will now be Writen to the webLogger output.

• Created WebLogger.Serilog Project and Nuget Package. This allowed the web logger to remove the dependancy on Serilog. Weblogger.Serilog now provides logger configuration extensions and SerilogSink for the weblogger server.

• Provided Action<IWebLogger> to the WebLoggerFactory

• Created extension methods to discovery all defined commands in a provided assembly.