Adding an Additional Layer of Logging to EPiServer Actions

Part of my standard Workflow Implementation is an additional layer of logging that sits in a table outside of the standard EPiServer installation. I’ve found that keeping a record of a few basic EPiServer actions can really help to paint an accurate picture of which editors are doing what.

To log the actions as they are executed, I first created a custom property with the [PagePlugIn] Attribute. I then created a method called Initialize, which adds additional processing capabilities to events exposed through DataFactory.Instance.

The result is something like the following:

    [PagePlugIn]
    public class CustomPageActionControl
    {
        public static void Initialize(int bitflags)
        {
            DataFactory.Instance.SavedPage += LogSaved;
            DataFactory.Instance.PublishedPage += LogPublished;
            DataFactory.Instance.MovingPage += CheckIfDeleting;
        }

private static void LogSaved(object sender, PageEventArgs e)
        {
            LoggingTools.LogVersionStatus(e.Page, "Saved", "Details: Version saved.", EPiServer.Security.PrincipalInfo.Current);
        }

        private static void LogPublished(object sender, PageEventArgs e)
        {
            LoggingTools.LogVersionStatus(e.Page, "Published", "Details: Version published", EPiServer.Security.PrincipalInfo.Current);
        }

        private static void LogReadyToPublish(object sender, PageEventArgs e)
        {
            LoggingTools.LogVersionStatus(e.Page, "Publish Requested", "Details: Version marked as Ready to Publish. ", EPiServer.Security.PrincipalInfo.Current);
        }

}

This could be enhanced to log additional system actions..or be made more flexible so I’m only calling one Log procedure and then have some logic within to determine what the appropriate message should be… but you get the idea.