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Edit File: logger
= Loggers Loggers provide the interface for logging in Log4r. To create a logger, first come up with a name for it. Good choices include the name of the class using it, a service name, or the name of the file. To create a logger named 'mylog': Logger.new('mylog') After creating a logger, it is stashed in a repository. The logger may be retrieved at any time: Logger['mylog'] # get mylog back It will return nil if the logger is not found. Alternatively, if an Exception is desired when a nonexistant logger is referenced, the Logger#get command can be used: Logger.get('boguslog') # raises NameError if it doesn't exist == Manipulating a Logger's Outputters Loggers start out with no outputters. They can be added using the Logger#add method or set directly by modifying the Loggers#outputters array: mylog = Logger['mylog'] # assume we've created Outputters out1 through out4 mylog.outputters = out1, out2 mylog.add(out3, out4) mylog.each_outputter {|o| o.flush} # assume out5 through out7 have names 'out5' through 'out7' resp. mylog.outputters = 'out5', 'out6' mylog.add('out7') mylog.remove('out5','out7') Please see log4r/outputter/outputter.rb and Log4r::Outputter for more about outputters. == Logging Methods To log something at a certain priority, use the logging method named after the lowercased priority level name: mylog.warn "This is a message with priority WARN" mylog.fatal "A FATAL message" Blocks can also be logged: mylog.warn {"This is also a message with priority WARN"} mylog.debug do # some complicated string magic return result end The primary difference is that the block doesn't get called unless the Logger can log at that level. It is useful for doing computationaly expensive things at a log event. == Query Methods To ask Log4r whether it is capable of logging a certain level: mylog.warn? # are we logging WARN? mylog.fatal? # how about FATAL? Query methods and blocks accomplish the same thing: mylog.warn "don't evaluate unless WARN is on" if mylog.warn? mylog.warn {"don't evaluate unless WARN is on"} == What About the Special Levels? <tt>ALL</tt> and <tt>OFF</tt> can be querried, but not logged: log.off? # true iff level is OFF log.all? # true iff level is ALL log.all "Try to log" => Method not defined. (NameError) == Custom Levels and Method Names Suppose we've set up Log4r with the custom levels: Foo < Bar < Baz As one might expect, the logging methods are named after them: log.bar "something" # log at custom level Bar log.bar? # are we logging at level Bar? = Logger Inheritance Normally, when a logger is created, its parent is set to RootLogger. If a Logger's level isn't specified at creation, it will inherit the level of its parent. To specify an ancestors of a logger besides RootLogger, include the names of the ancestors in order of ancestry and delimited by Log4r::Log4rConfig::LoggerPathDelimiter. For example, if the delimiter is the default <tt>::</tt>, our logger is 'me' and its ancestors are 'cain', 'grandpa', and 'pa', we create the logger like so: Logger.new('cain::grandpa::pa::me') This string is split into three compontents which can be used by a Formatter to avoid parsing the name: Logger#fullname:: The whole enchilada: 'cain::grandpa::pa::me' Logger#name:: Just 'me' To get this logger back from the repository, Logger['cain::grandpa::pa::me'] = Outputter Additivity By default, Logger Outputters are <b>additive</b>. This means that a log event will also be sent to all of a logger's ancestors. To stop this behavior, set a logger's +additive+ to false. Logger['foo'].additive = false A Logger's level, additivity and trace can be changed dynamically, but this is an expensive operation as the logging methods have to be redefined. = RootLogger Log4r::RootLogger is the ancestor of all loggers. Its level defines the global logging threshold. Any loggers created <b>after</b> RootLogger's level is set will not log below that level. By default, RootLogger's level is set to <tt>ALL</tt> RootLogger is a singleton which gets created automaticallay. It can be retrieved at any time with Logger.root, Logger.global, Logger['root'] or Logger['global']. == Global Level Suppose we want _everything_ to ignore events less than FATAL. We can accomplish this easily: Logger.global.level = FATAL Just be sure to set this before any other Loggers or Outputters are defined. == RootLogger Does Nothing RootLogger itself behaves as if its level were permanently set to <tt>OFF</tt>, thus making it a sort of null object. = XML Configuration Please see log4r/configurator.rb for an overview of XML configuratoin. It's easy to configure a Logger in XML. The following example should be sufficient: ... <logger name="papa::mylog" level="DEBUG" trace="true"> <additive>false</additive> <outputter>stdout</outputter> <outputters>stderr, dancer, doner, blitzen</outputters> </logger> <logger name="papa" outputters="stderr, stdout"/> ... The element +outputter+ can occur multiple times, but cannot be an attribute of +logger+. That is, it is not an <i>XML directive</i>. However, the element +outputters+ is an <i>XML directive</i>, as are all the others. For more examples, check the <tt>examples</tt> directory in the Log4r package.