When I’m coding and Copilot is trying to help me, creating a good prompt can sometimes be very challenging. But did you know you can let Copilot create a prompt for you?
Context
I’m replacing all ILogger messages by moving them into a separate partial class and making use of the source generator ILoggerMessage to prevent boxing when the LogLevel is not logged anyway. Nick Chapsas has a whole Youtube Video explaining this topic in detail, but the ‘why’ is out-of-scope for this blog.
This refactoring work is repetitive and tedious, so how can Copilot help me with this? I had no clue what kind of prompt I should give it. So how about asking Copilot for help?
Getting Copilot to Create a Prompt
I created two files: the original version and a second one with the changes applied. Then I simply asked Copilot for a prompt:
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I have these two C# files showing a before and after refactoring where I moved all ILogger calls into a separate static partial class using the LoggerMessage source generator pattern. Please analyze the changes and create a clear, copy-and-paste prompt that I can use with Copilot to apply this same refactoring pattern to other classes in the future. The prompt should specify the ILoggerMessage approach and include concrete examples.
Copilot will now return a prompt that I can use later in other classes.
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Refactor this class to move all logging statements into a separate static partial class using the LoggerMessage attribute pattern.
Instructions:
• Create a static partial class named [ClassName]Log (replace [ClassName] with the main class name).
• Add the newly created class into the same file as [ClassName]
• For each log statement, define a corresponding static partial method in the log class, decorated with [LoggerMessage] and the appropriate log level, message, and parameters.
• Replace direct calls to _logger.LogInformation, _logger.LogError, etc., in the main class with calls to the new static partial methods.
• Ensure the main class only calls these new logging methods, passing the logger instance as this ILogger<[ClassName]> logger.
• Do not change the logic or structure of the main class, except for replacing the logging calls.
Example:
// Before: _logger.LogInformation("Starting scheduled {HttpMethod} call to {RequestPath}", method, url);
// After: _logger.StartingScheduledHttpCall(method, url);
// In the static partial log class: [LoggerMessage(Level = LogLevel.Information, Message = "Starting scheduled {HttpMethod} call to {RequestPath}")] public static partial void StartingScheduledHttpCall(this ILogger<MitzHttpJob> logger, HttpMethod httpMethod, string? requestPath);