You can use these three functions from the WINAPI:
RegisterEventSource
ReportEvent
DeregisterEventSource
Here is a quick example of how to use these and to display messages correctly in the event log (error handling mostly ignored for brevity).
Create a resource containg message information from the following Event_log.mc file:
;#ifndef _EXAMPLE_EVENT_LOG_MESSAGE_FILE_H_
;#define _EXAMPLE_EVENT_LOG_MESSAGE_FILE_H_
MessageIdTypeDef=DWORD
SeverityNames=(Success=0x0:STATUS_SEVERITY_SUCCESS
Informational=0x1:STATUS_SEVERITY_INFORMATIONAL
Warning=0x2:STATUS_SEVERITY_WARNING
Error=0x3:STATUS_SEVERITY_ERROR
)
LanguageNames=(EnglishUS=0x401:MSG00401
Dutch=0x113:MSG00113
Neutral=0x0000:MSG00000
)
MessageId=0x0 SymbolicName=MSG_INFO_1
Severity=Informational
Facility=Application
Language=Neutral
%1
.
MessageId=0x1 SymbolicName=MSG_WARNING_1
Severity=Warning
Facility=Application
Language=Neutral
%1
.
MessageId=0x2 SymbolicName=MSG_ERROR_1
Severity=Error
Facility=Application
Language=Neutral
%1
.
MessageId=0x3 SymbolicName=MSG_SUCCESS_1
Severity=Success
Facility=Application
Language=Neutral
%1
.
;#endif
To build the .mc file and .res resource file I executed the following:
mc.exe -A -b -c -h . -r resources Event_log.mc
rc.exe -foresources/Event_log.res resources/Event_log.rc
This will create a header file called Event_log.h in the current directory and a resources directory containing a file named Event_log.res which you must link in to your application binary.
Example main.cpp:
#include
#include "Event_log.h"
void install_event_log_source(const std::string& a_name)
{
const std::string key_path("SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\"
"EventLog\\Application\\" + a_name);
HKEY key;
DWORD last_error = RegCreateKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
key_path.c_str(),
0,
0,
REG_OPTION_NON_VOLATILE,
KEY_SET_VALUE,
0,
&key,
0);
if (ERROR_SUCCESS == last_error)
{
BYTE exe_path[] = "C:\\path\\to\\your\\application.exe";
DWORD last_error;
const DWORD types_supported = EVENTLOG_ERROR_TYPE |
EVENTLOG_WARNING_TYPE |
EVENTLOG_INFORMATION_TYPE;
last_error = RegSetValueEx(key,
"EventMessageFile",
0,
REG_SZ,
exe_path,
sizeof(exe_path));
if (ERROR_SUCCESS == last_error)
{
last_error = RegSetValueEx(key,
"TypesSupported",
0,
REG_DWORD,
(LPBYTE) &types_supported,
sizeof(types_supported));
}
if (ERROR_SUCCESS != last_error)
{
std::cerr << "Failed to install source values: "
<< last_error << "\n";
}
RegCloseKey(key);
}
else
{
std::cerr << "Failed to install source: " << last_error << "\n";
}
}
void log_event_log_message(const std::string& a_msg,
const WORD a_type,
const std::string& a_name)
{
DWORD event_id;
switch (a_type)
{
case EVENTLOG_ERROR_TYPE:
event_id = MSG_ERROR_1;
break;
case EVENTLOG_WARNING_TYPE:
event_id = MSG_WARNING_1;
break;
case EVENTLOG_INFORMATION_TYPE:
event_id = MSG_INFO_1;
break;
default:
std::cerr << "Unrecognised type: " << a_type << "\n";
event_id = MSG_INFO_1;
break;
}
HANDLE h_event_log = RegisterEventSource(0, a_name.c_str());
if (0 == h_event_log)
{
std::cerr << "Failed open source '" << a_name << "': " <<
GetLastError() << "\n";
}
else
{
LPCTSTR message = a_msg.c_str();
if (FALSE == ReportEvent(h_event_log,
a_type,
0,
event_id,
0,
1,
0,
&message,
0))
{
std::cerr << "Failed to write message: " <<
GetLastError() << "\n";
}
DeregisterEventSource(h_event_log);
}
}
void uninstall_event_log_source(const std::string& a_name)
{
const std::string key_path("SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\"
"EventLog\\Application\\" + a_name);
DWORD last_error = RegDeleteKey(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
key_path.c_str());
if (ERROR_SUCCESS != last_error)
{
std::cerr << "Failed to uninstall source: " << last_error << "\n";
}
}
int main(int a_argc, char** a_argv)
{
const std::string event_log_source_name("my-test-event-log-source");
install_event_log_source(event_log_source_name);
log_event_log_message("hello, information",
EVENTLOG_INFORMATION_TYPE,
event_log_source_name);
log_event_log_message("hello, error",
EVENTLOG_ERROR_TYPE,
event_log_source_name);
log_event_log_message("hello, warning",
EVENTLOG_WARNING_TYPE,
event_log_source_name);
// Uninstall when your application is being uninstalled.
//uninstall_event_log_source(event_log_source_name);
return 0;
}
Hope this helps but consider that this approach has been deprecated as stated by @Cody Gray.
