Conclusion

One of the biggest surprises associated with server-based application development has been the disparity between the perceived complexity of performing a task and the task's actual complexity. While I expected the Service API to be terribly complex and fraught with difficulties, in general it is easy to understand and use. The opposite is true of event logging.

The examples in this chapter are not the most complex examples in the book, but neither are they the simplest. For instance, loading a library so that message resources can be read, while not taking the time or risk of failure that is possible if DLL references are resolved, is an advanced and uncommon operation. This kind of complexity seems at odds with the apparently simple requirement of reading an event log.

Along with Event Logging API's complexity, we have also seen its advanced capabilities, including the increasingly important task of allowing applications to operate globally with minimal changes required. In the end, the ability to have an operating system supported by an event logging system is worth the additional complexity of the API.