| <?xml version="1.0"?> |
| <document> |
| |
| <properties> |
| <author email="BMarlborough@thoughtworks.com">Brad Marlborough</author> |
| <title>LogFactor5 Users' Guide</title> |
| </properties> |
| |
| <body> |
| <section name="Reading Log Files"> |
| |
| <p><code>FileAppender</code> and derived classes give you the |
| ability to output log messages to a files. LogFactor5 provides |
| developers with two easy ways to open and view these log |
| files. Log files can be opened locally using the File->Open |
| menu item or log files can be opened from a remote server |
| using the File->Open URL menu item. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p>An additional feature that was added to LogFactor5 was the |
| ability to start the console window independently of |
| log4j. That is to say, you do not need to add a |
| <code>LF5Appender</code> to your properties file to use |
| LogFactor5. The benefit of this feature is that developers who |
| run utilities like Ant to test their applications can now view |
| their log files off-line (i.e. after their application has |
| completed the test and the JVM has shut down). Moreover, the |
| ability to open log files on a remote server provides the |
| ability for multiple developers working on the same |
| application to view log files independently. It also gives |
| developers the ability to view log files both internally and |
| from remote locations. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p>LogFactor5 can read in log files created with |
| <code>RollingFileAppender</code>. The format of the log file |
| can be set in the log4j.properties or a standard properties |
| file and <b>must</b> follow the LogFactor5 layout conventions |
| in order for LogFactor5 to read the file. The following is an |
| example of a properties file with the LogFactor5 conversion |
| pattern added: |
| </p> |
| |
| <pre><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> |
| log4j.rootLogger=debug, R |
| |
| # R is the RollingFileAppender that outputs to a rolling log |
| # file called sample.log. |
| |
| log4j.appender.R=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender |
| log4j.appender.R.File=sample.log |
| |
| # Define a pattern layout for the file. |
| # For more information on conversion characters (i.e. d,p,t,c,l,m,n) |
| # please see the PatternLayout class of the Log4j API. |
| |
| log4j.appender.R.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout |
| |
| # The following normally appears on one single line. |
| <b>log4j.appender.R.layout.ConversionPattern=[slf5s.start]%d{DATE}[slf5s.DATE]%n\ |
| %p[slf5s.PRIORITY]%n%x[slf5s.NDC]%n%t[slf5s.THREAD]%n\ |
| %c[slf5s.CATEGORY]%n%l[slf5s.LOCATION]%n%m[slf5s.MESSAGE]%n%n</b> |
| |
| # Set the max size of the file |
| log4j.appender.R.MaxFileSize=500KB</font></pre> |
| |
| <p>You are free to use any or all of the main conversion |
| characters to create your log file (i.e. %p for |
| Priority). There are only two requirements for the conversion |
| pattern. First, the conversion pattern string <b>must</b> |
| start with the tag <b>[slf5s.start]</b>. Second, for each |
| log4j conversion character listed in the conversion pattern |
| string, a corresponding LogFactor5 tag <b>must</b> be placed |
| immediately <b>after</b> the character. The following is a |
| complete list of the log4j characters and LogFactor5 tags: |
| </p> |
| |
| <pre><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Date - %d{DATE}[slf5s.DATE] |
| Priority - %p[slf5s.PRIORITY] |
| NDC - %x[slf5s.NDC] |
| Thread - %t[slf5s.THREAD] |
| Category - %c[slf5s.CATEGORY] |
| Location - %l[slf5s.LOCATION] |
| Message - %m[slf5s.MESSAGE]</font> |
| </pre> |
| |
| <p> <b>Note:</b> The order of the characters does not matter so |
| you are free to layout your log file any way you like. Just |
| remember to include the LogFactor5 start tag at the beginning |
| of the string and any LogFactor5 tags after each corresponding |
| log4j conversion character. For more information or to see a |
| working example, try the OpeningLogFiles example in the |
| examples directory. |
| </p> |
| </section> |
| </body> |
| </document> |
| |
| |
