The difference between Trace.Write () and Trace.TraceInformation ()

Question

What is the difference between Trace.Write

Records trace information to trace listeners

and Trace.TraceInformation ?

Records an informational message to trace listeners

Answer 1

Unfortunately, the API is confused here, and certain overloads change the behavior. Method-level documentation does not describe methods well, and finding a (decompiled) source is useful for answering this question.

Trace.Write/WriteLine(string) are abstract methods that the implementation redefines for the actual “write” to the underlying streams, and any data that has been written will be received regardless of the trace / source configuration.

Trace.Write/WriteLine(object) (and other overloads) should be effectively treated as "Trace.WriteVerbose" because they use the Verbose ShouldTrace filter.

therefore

• To directly access the base stream / provider, bypassing the filters, use Trace.Write/WriteLine(string) .

  This trace text will always be written.

• To write an informational message, use Trace.TraceInformation . This calls Trace.WriteLine(string) with a TraceEvent that applies an information filter. Trace.TraceXYZ also emits headers and footers.

  This trace event will be recorded when tracking information.

• To write text, use Trace.WriteLine(object) (or other overloads).

  This text will only be written if Verbose is traceable.

All forms of Trace.Write/WriteLine bypass additional trace formatting and write to the main trace implementation stream.

Answer 2

My gut tells me they write different types of streams.

Trace.TraceInformation

TraceInformation calls the TraceEvent method for each trace listener with the type of the Event trace event, passing an informational message as a message string.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/64tdffaz(v=vs.110).aspx

Trace.Write

This method calls the trace listener write method.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sdx112wk(v=vs.110).aspx

Answer 3

Looking at the reflector, TraceInformation (and the equivalent of TraceWarning , TraceError ) registers an “Event” in which an informational (or warning or error) trace was provided (usually checking that this trace level was requested with “headers”, a new line and "footers").

Trace.Write just writes the text provided to the listeners.

NB TraceListener.TraceEvent is excessive, so any particular listener can adjust the output.