How to Configure ASP.NET Tracing for ASP.NET MVC Applications

1. ASP.NET Application Level Tracing
2. Writting Custom ASP.NET Trace Messages using System.Diagnostics.TraceSource class and trace sources
3. Writting Custom ASP.NET Trace Messages using System.Diagnostics.Trace class

PRE-Requisite(Trace Complier Constant) : Trace statements (Custom tracing) require the TRACE compiler constant, but it’s on by default and you can verify that in the Build tab of the project properties window
The problem is that this setting in the .csproj file only applies to .cs files. ASP.NET uses a different compile process for .cshtml files (or .aspx files in Web Forms), and the settings for that compile process are in the Web.config file. If you don’t explicitly specify the TRACE constant there, tracing method calls in .cshtml views are ignored. Below is an example of what you have to add to the application Web.config file for a Visual Studio project that targets .NET 4.5, in order to define a TRACE constant for the .cshtml compiler:

ASP.NET Application Level Tracing

Web.Config entries

C# Code

 using System.Diagnostics;
 public class AccountController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {            
            TraceSource source = new TraceSource("AccountController");
            source.TraceEvent(TraceEventType.Warning, 100, "This is message logged from Account Controller");
            return View();
        }

    }

Writting Custom ASP.NET Trace Messages using System.Diagnostics.Trace class

 using System.Diagnostics;
 public class AccountController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {          
            Trace.WriteLine("This is message logged from Account Controller");
            return View();
        }

    }