Log4j - why not logging RuntimeException to the file?

Question

log4j.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE log4j:configuration SYSTEM "log4j.dtd">
<log4j:configuration debug="true"
     xmlns:log4j="http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/">
     <appender name="Console" class="org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender">
          <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
               <!-- l, L, M - is extremely slow. It's use should be avoided unless execution
                    speed is not an issue. -->
               <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d{[dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss.SSS]} %l %p:%n    %m%n" />
          </layout>
     </appender>
     <appender name="File" class="org.apache.log4j.DailyRollingFileAppender">
          <param name="File" value="logs/trace.log" />
          <param name="Append" value="true" />
          <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
               <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d{[dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss.SSS]} %l %p:%n    %m%n" />
          </layout>
     </appender>
     <root>
          <level value="ALL" />
          <appender-ref ref="Console" />
          <appender-ref ref="File" />
     </root>
</log4j:configuration>and all logging to the file and to the console. OK.
But when throw RuntimeException (e.g. java.lang.NullPointerException) then logging ONLY to the console. But I also need logging to the file.
console log WITH RuntimeException:
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.591] com.mycompany.myproject.views.OutgoingTabView.actionPerformed(OutgoingTabView.java:150) DEBUG:
[java]     Start signing and uploading M2 documents to the CB (FTP server) ...
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.607] com.mycompany.myproject.db.DefaultDBStrategy.createM2PackDocuments(DefaultDBStrategy.java:423) TRACE:
[java]     Start creating m2PackDocuments from DB (from M2 documents with status 0) by SQL query:
[java] SELECT * FROM OutDocs WHERE STATUS=0
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.622] com.mycompany.myproject.db.DefaultDBStrategy.createM2PackDocuments(DefaultDBStrategy.java:471) TRACE:
[java]     Success created m2PackDocuments(6)
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.685] com.mycompany.myproject.views.OutgoingTabView.actionPerformed(OutgoingTabView.java:158) TRACE:
[java]     Success created m2PackDocuments(6) from M2 documents with status 'new'
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.685] com.mycompany.myproject.util.M2EIManager.sendM2Pack(M2EIManager.java:178) TRACE:
[java]     Start create M2Pack
[java] Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.pack.M2PackTrailer.isCorrectPhone(M2PackTrailer.java:361)
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.pack.M2PackTrailer.setTrailer_Phone(M2PackTrailer.java:380)
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.pack.M2PackTrailer.setTrailer(M2PackTrailer.java:425)
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.pack.M2PackTrailer.createDynamicTrailerFields(M2PackTrailer.java:481)
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.pack.M2PackTrailer.initialize(M2PackTrailer.java:489)
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.pack.M2PackTrailer.<init>(M2PackTrailer.java:494)
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.pack.M2Pack.initialize(M2Pack.java:28)
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.pack.M2Pack.<init>(M2Pack.java:32)
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.util.M2EIManager.sendM2Pack(M2EIManager.java:179)
[java]      at com.mycompany.myproject.views.OutgoingTabView.actionPerformed(OutgoingTabView.java:165)
[java]      at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(Unknown Source)
[java]      at javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed(Unknown Source)
[java]      at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(Unknown Source)
[java]      at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(Unknown Source)
[java]      at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicButtonListener.mouseReleased(Unknown Source)
[java]      at java.awt.AWTEventMulticaster.mouseReleased(Unknown Source)
[java]      at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
[java]      at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
[java]      at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Unknown Source)file log WITHOUT logging RuntimeException:
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.591] com.mycompany.myproject.views.OutgoingTabView.actionPerformed(OutgoingTabView.java:150) DEBUG:
[java]     Start signing and uploading M2 documents to the CB (FTP server) ...
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.607] com.mycompany.myproject.db.DefaultDBStrategy.createM2PackDocuments(DefaultDBStrategy.java:423) TRACE:
[java]     Start creating m2PackDocuments from DB (from M2 documents with status 0) by SQL query:
[java] SELECT * FROM OutDocs WHERE STATUS=0
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.622] com.mycompany.myproject.db.DefaultDBStrategy.createM2PackDocuments(DefaultDBStrategy.java:471) TRACE:
[java]     Success created m2PackDocuments(6)
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.685] com.mycompany.myproject.views.OutgoingTabView.actionPerformed(OutgoingTabView.java:158) TRACE:
[java]     Success created m2PackDocuments(6) from M2 documents with status 'new'
[java] [09 Aug 2010 12:48:23.685] com.mycompany.myproject.util.M2EIManager.sendM2Pack(M2EIManager.java:178) TRACE:
[java]     Start create M2Pack

Answer 1

Because you're not catching the exception. You're letting it bubble up to Swing's default exception handler, which doesn't know about Log4J.
One solution would be to put a catch (Exception ex) in OutgoingTabView.actionPerformed, and explicitly log it there. I picked that method (rather than any of the ones lower on the stack trace) because catching the exception there is equivalent to saying "don't perform the action."
However, this solution isn't very good, because it would let your program continue in a probably-incorrect state. NullPointerException generally indicates a programming error: after all, if you expected that a particular value could be null, you wouldn't blindly dereference it, right? And while you could write code to undo anything that happened before the exception, a better solution is to log any available information, pop a dialog apologizing to the user, and shutting down.
Perhaps better, you could replace the event dispatch thread's [uncaught exception handler|http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/Thread.html#setUncaughtExceptionHandler] with something that writes the log and then exits. That will keep you from adding try/catch blocks to all of your action listeners.