PropertiesColumnWriter: ability to exclude specified properties

[manisero]

I would like to store LogEvent's properties, but not all of them.
E.g. I store some properties as separate columns using SinglePropertyColumnWriter and I don't want to duplicate them in "properties" column:

var columnWriters = new Dictionary<string, ColumnWriterBase>
{
  ["code"] = new SinglePropertyColumnWriter("LogCode"),
  ["properties"] = new PropertiesColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Jsonb),
  // ...
};

Giving PropertiesColumnWriter an ability exclude specified properties would solve the issue:

var columnWriters = new Dictionary<string, ColumnWriterBase>
{
  ["code"] = new SinglePropertyColumnWriter("LogCode"),
  ["properties"] = new PropertiesColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Jsonb, exclude: new[] { "LogCode" }),
  // ...
};

[nilmas]

This ability would be a welcome addition out-of-the-box. I had the same need. Utilized manisero's solution.

[SeppPenner]

You could use my new project which is basically the same as this repo but will be better maintained: https://github.com/SeppPenner/SerilogSinkForPostgreSQL. Don't hesitate to put this pull request to my repository, too.

[SeppPenner]

@nilmas @manisero: What's the benefit of this? I mean, isn't it possible to simply exclude a property from the Dictionary?

From

IDictionary<string, ColumnWriterBase> columnWriters = new Dictionary<string, ColumnWriterBase>
{
    { "message", new RenderedMessageColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Text) },
    { "message_template", new MessageTemplateColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Text) },
    { "level", new LevelColumnWriter(true, NpgsqlDbType.Varchar) },
    { "raise_date", new TimestampColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Timestamp) },
    { "exception", new ExceptionColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Text) }
};

to e.g.:

IDictionary<string, ColumnWriterBase> columnWriters = new Dictionary<string, ColumnWriterBase>
{
    { "message", new RenderedMessageColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Text) },
    { "message_template", new MessageTemplateColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Text) },
    { "raise_date", new TimestampColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Timestamp) },
    { "exception", new ExceptionColumnWriter(NpgsqlDbType.Text) }
};

?

I am planning to bring this feature to my project so you can use it. Check serilog-contrib/Serilog.Sinks.Postgresql.Alternative#8. I will release a new version tomorrow probably.