What is the difference between "switch" and "filter" in Tracing in .NET?
.net, filter, switch-statement, system.diagnostics, trace
Solution
There is a bit of overlap. A `<filter>` names a specific class that you write that's derived from TraceFilter. Which you can use to suppress trace output, anything is possible. It always applies to a specific TraceListener.
The `<switches>` element is useful to configure tracing and set the value of a TraceSwitch object. Which you then test in your code to selectively bypass trace output. Note how `<switches>` is "global", it doesn't apply to a specific listener. So a logical place to test the switch is in the TraceSource. A good use for a switch is to configure the tracing verbosity. Like your "Error" value would indicate that only errors are ever traced.
Problem
What is the difference between "switch" and "filter" in Tracing in .NET ? They seem to work in similar way. ``` <system.diagnostics> <trace autoflush="true" indentsize="5"> <listeners> <add name="DemoListener" type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener" initializeData="D:\output1.txt"> </add> <remove name="Default" /> </listeners> </trace> <sources> <source name="DemoApp" switchName="DemoApp"> <listeners> <add name="DemoListener" type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener" initializeData="D:\output2.txt"> <filter type="System.Diagnostics.EventTypeFilter" initializeData="Error"/> </add> <remove name="Default" /> </listeners> </source> </sources> <switches> <add name="DemoApp" value="Error"/> </switches> </system.diagnostics> ```