/ 
Log-Dispatchouli-1.100711
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/ Log::Dispatchouli

NAME

Log::Dispatchouli - a simple wrapper around Log::Dispatch

VERSION

version 1.100711

SYNOPSIS

my $logger = Log::Dispatchouli->new({
  ident     => 'stuff-purger',
  facility  => 'daemon',
  to_stdout => $opt->{print},
  debug     => $opt->{verbose}
})

$logger->log([ "There are %s items left to purge...", $stuff_left ]);

$logger->log_debug("this is extra often-ignored debugging log");

$logger->log_fatal("Now we will die!!");

DESCRIPTION

Log::Dispatchouli is a thin layer above Log::Dispatch and meant to make it dead simple to add logging to a program without having to think much about categories, facilities, levels, or things like that. It is meant to make logging just configurable enough that you can find the logs you want and just easy enough that you will actually log things.

Log::Dispatchouli can log to syslog (if you specify a facility), standard error or standard output, to a file, or to an array in memory. That last one is mostly useful for testing.

In addition to providing as simple a way to get a handle for logging operations, Log::Dispatchouli uses String::Flogger to process the things to be logged, meaning you can easily log data structures. Basically: strings are logged as is, arrayrefs are taken as (sprintf format, args), and subroutines are called only if needed. For more information read the String::Flogger docs.

METHODS

new

my $logger = Log::Dispatchouli->new(\%arg);

This returns a new logger, a Log::Dispatchouli object.

Valid arguments are:

ident      - the name of the thing logging (mandatory)
to_self    - log to the logger object for testing; default: false
to_file    - log to PROGRAM_NAME.YYYYMMDD in the log path; default: false
to_stdout  - log to STDOUT; default: false
to_stderr  - log to STDERR; default: false
facility   - to which syslog facility to send logs; default: none
log_pid    - if true, prefix all log entries with the pid; default: true
fail_fatal - a boolean; if true, failure to log is fatal; default: true
debug      - a boolean; if true, log_debug method is not a no-op
             defaults to the truth of the DISPATCHOULI_DEBUG env var

The log path is either /tmp or the value of the DISPATCHOULI_PATH env var.

If the DISPATCHOULI_NOSYSLOG env var is true, we don't log to syslog.

log

$logger->log(@messages);

$logger->log(\%arg, @messages);

This method uses String::Flogger on the input, then logs the result. Each message is flogged individually, then joined with spaces.

If the first argument is a hashref, it will be used as extra arguments to logging. It may include a prefix entry to preprocess the message by prepending a string (if the prefix is a string) or calling a subroutine to generate a new message (if the prefix is a coderef).

log_fatal

This behaves like the log method, but will throw the logged string as an exception after logging.

This method can also be called as fatal, to match other popular logging interfaces. If you want to override this method, you must override log_fatal and not fatal.

log_debug

This behaves like the log method, but will only log (at the debug level) if the logger object has its debug property set to true.

This method can also be called as debug, to match other popular logging interfaces. If you want to override this method, you must override log_debug and not debug.

set_debug

$logger->set_debug($bool);

This sets the logger's debug property, which affects the behavior of log_debug.

get_debug

This gets the logger's debug property, which affects the behavior of log_debug.

clear_debug

This method does nothing, and is only useful for Log::Dispatchouli::Proxy objects. See Methods for Proxy Loggers, below.

get_prefix

my $prefix = $logger->get_prefix;

This method returns the currently-set prefix for the logger, which may be a string or code reference or undef. See Logger Prefix.

set_prefix

$logger->set_prefix( $new_prefix );

This method changes the prefix. See Logger Prefix.

clear_prefix

This method clears any set logger prefix. (It can also be called as unset_prefix, but this is deprecated. See Logger Prefix.

dispatcher

This returns the underlying Log::Dispatch object. This is not the method you're looking for. Move along.

LOGGER PREFIX

Log messages may be prepended with information to set context. This can be set at a logger level or per log item. The simplest example is:

my $logger = Log::Dispatchouli->new( ... );

$logger->set_prefix("Batch 123: ");

$logger->log("begun processing");

# ...

$logger->log("finished processing");

The above will log something like:

Batch 123: begun processing
Batch 123: finished processing

To pass a prefix per-message:

$logger->log({ prefix => 'Sub-Item 234: ', 'error!' })

# Logs: Batch 123: Sub-Item 234: error!

If the prefix is a string, it is prepended to each line of the message. If it is a coderef, it is called and passed the message to be logged. The return value is logged instead.

Proxy loggers also have their own prefix settings, which accumulate. So:

my $proxy = $logger->proxy({ proxy_prefix => 'Subsystem 12: ' });

$proxy->set_prefix('Page 9: ');

$proxy->log({ prefix => 'Paragraph 6: ' }, 'Done.');

...will log...

Batch 123: Subsystem 12: Page 9: Paragraph 6: Done.

METHODS FOR TESTING

new_tester

my $logger = Log::Dispatchouli->new_tester( \%arg );

This returns a new logger that logs only to_self. It's useful in testing. If no ident arg is provided, one will be generated. log_pid is off by default, but can be overridden.

\%arg is optional.

events

This method returns the arrayref of events logged to an array in memory (in the logger). If the logger is not logging to_self this raises an exception.

clear_events

This method empties the current sequence of events logged into an array in memory. If the logger is not logging to_self this raises an exception.

METHODS FOR PROXY LOGGERS

proxy

my $proxy_logger = $logger->proxy( \%arg );

This method returns a new proxy logger -- an instance of Log::Dispatchouli::Proxy -- which will log through the given logger, but which may have some settings localized.

%arg is optional. It may contain the following entries:

proxy_prefix

This is a prefix that will be applied to anything the proxy logger logs, and cannot be changed.

debug

This can be set to true or false to change the proxy's "am I in debug mode?" setting. It can be changed or cleared later on the proxy.

parent

logger

These methods return the logger itself. (They're more useful when called on proxy loggers.)

METHODS FOR API COMPATIBILITY

To provide compatibility with some other loggers, most specifically Log::Contextual, the following methods are provided. You should not use these methods without a good reason, and you should never subclass them. Instead, subclass the methods they call.

is_debug

This method calls get_debug.

is_info
is_fatal

These methods return true.

info
fatal
debug

These methods redispatch to log, log_fatal, and log_debug respectively.

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR

Ricardo SIGNES <rjbs@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2010 by Ricardo SIGNES.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.