log4j

log4j is Apache’s Java logger. It allows logging to be turned on and off at runtime, improving the performance of code that contains a lot of log statements. log4j also allows inheritance of loggers facilitating a logger hierarchy, allowing a programmer to inspect the execution of the code at varying levels of detail.

Logger.getRootLogger(); gets the root logger.

Other loggers (all children of the root logger are retrieved by: Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(“pagegen.Page”);

Printing methods

debug(Object msg); info(Object msg); warn(Object msg); error(Object msg); fatal(Object msg); log(Level l, Object msg)

Levels

DEBUG < INFO < WARN < ERROR < FATAL

Appenders

In log4j, an output destination is called an appender. Log statements may output to more than one appender. Appenders are available for the console, output files, JMS, NT Event loggers, GUI compenents etc. Appenders are added using the addAppender() method. More than one can be added to each logger and child loggers inherit their parent’s appenders.

Configuration Files

log4j’s configuration files can either be in a properties format (log4j.properties or log4j.lcf) or in xml (log4j.xml)

log4j will automatically look for log4j.properties or log4j.xml in the classpath

Tips

To avoid unnecessary string concatentations, check if logger is used e.g. if(logger.isDebugEnabled() { logger.debug(“This” + “is” + “a” + “string”); }

Readers

Chainsaw

Ganymede

Add the following lines to the configuration

log4j.rootLogger=debug, R or log4j.loggername.pagegen=debug, S, LOCALSERVER

LOCALSERVER logger is used by the Ganymede Eclipse plugin

log4j.appender.LOCALSERVER=org.apache.log4j.net.SocketAppender log4j.appender.LOCALSERVER.RemoteHost=localhost log4j.appender.LOCALSERVER.Port=4445 log4j.appender.LOCALSERVER.LocationInfo=true

Note

If you’re not sure which logger to user, use a higher level logger like Apache’s commons logger. You can then change the underlying logger at a later date:

http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/logging/

http://logging.apache.org/log4j/docs/ http://saloon.javaranch.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=64&t=001048

Andrew McDonough is a consultant CTO and software developer, currently based between Berlin and London.

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