logger - Tool

Postscript file available

Tool for logging

include "logger.g"

Description

The logger is the tool managing messages from scripts, clients, etc.. In general it writes the messages into a log file and shows them on the screen in a text window or a GUI.

Log messages are produced by binary executable programs and Glish scripts. You may also create log messages yourself through the ``note'' member function of logger. You will almost always be interacting with defaultlogger, which is also known as dl to save you some typing.

Note: Users should use the global note function to create log messages. This has sufficient flexibility to do everything that the ``log'' and ``note'' member function of logger can do. note checks for the existance of the defaultlogger and sends messages to the screen if the defaultlogger is not present.

The log messages are sent both to your screen (normally to a GUI, but you can have them come out in your terminal window instead if you prefer) and to a file (an AIPS++table). This file will continue to accumulate messages until you purge them.

By default the log file is /aips++/aips++.log, however you may override this default location by setting some variables in your /.aipsrc file as described below.

The first column is the time that the message was produced. The default is to display the GMT times. If you want to see local times instead, you can set the time zone offset with another .aipsrc variable.
The second panel gives the priority of the message. Messages may presently be of DEBUGGING, NORMAL, WARN, and SEVERE priority. When a SEVERE level message is shown a pop-up window with a dismiss button also comes up to make sure you don't miss it. In the log window WARN and SEVERE level messages are highlighted and shown in red instead of green to make them stand out.
The third panel contains the (hopefully!) informative messages. Note that messages may be multiple lines, the other column values are only shown at the start of the message, not for every line in it.
The final panel contains the location where the message came from. This may be of little interest to you.
You can control the panels (size, order, and which to see) by .aipsrc variables and by the Options menu. They can also be used to control whether a few buttons will be displayed at the bottom. It makes it possible to make the log window as big or small as you like.

It is possible to execute a query on the log window; i.e. to select or sort messages. They will be displayed in a separate log window which is similar to the main window, but also shows the select and sort command used in the query. One can execute another query on that new window, etc..

The File menu contains various entries to deal with log messages.

Query makes it possible to query the log messages as described above. It uses taqlwidget to let you form the select and/or sort command.
Purge removes old messages from the log file. The last n messages will be kept which can be set using a slider. Alternatively a TaQL expression can be given to remove the matching messages. You should purge your log file from time to time.
This entry is only available in the main log window.
Refresh refreshes a window resulting from a query. New messages are only added to the main log window. It is possible to add them to a sub window too by pressing refresh. It simply re-executes the query.
The refresh button at the bottom-left of the window does the same.
Script creates a glish script from logged glish commands. It gets all messages starting with the special prefix and stores them in a file after removing the prefix. That file can be saved and/or be executed. A slider lets you specify the maximum number of commands to be written (counted from the end).
Print writes the messages into a file and optionally prints them. A slider lets you specify the maximum number of messages to be written (counted from the end). It is also possible to tell which columns have to be printed.
Dismiss to dismiss this window and all its children.
The dismiss button at the bottom-right of the window does the same.

Note that the commands above are always executed on the log file and not on the messages in the window. For example, a print is done in a window resulting from a query. This may print more messages than there are in the window, because in the mean time new messages may have been added to the log file.

A dismiss of a window also dismisses its child windows resulting from queries. If you dismiss the main log window, log messages will come out on your terminal instead of the GUI. When you get tired of this, you can type dl.gui() at the Glish command prompt to restart the GUI.

The only logger functions you might perhaps call are loginput() and logoutput() to control what is logged from Glish.

Aipsrc Variables

user.aipsdir	AIPS++info directory
	Allowed:	Any writable directory. If it doesn't exist it will be created
	Default:	$\sim$ /aips++
tzoffset	Timezone offset in hours
	Allowed:	e.g., Socorro is -7
	Default:	0
logger.file	Log file name (no path!)
	Allowed:	any (none means temporary log file is used)
	Default:	aips++.log
logger.default	Where to write log messages
	Allowed:	gui or screen
	Default:	gui
logger.showbuttons	Show buttons at bottom of the GUI?
	Allowed:	Bool
	Default:	T
logger.glish	What to log from Glish
	Allowed:	input, output, both, or none
	Default:	input
logger.guishow	Which panels to show in GUI and in which order
	Allowed:	any of time,priority,message,origin
	Default:	time,priority,message
logger.height	Height of GUI panels
	Allowed:	Integer
	Default:	8
logger.timewidth	Width of time panel (if shown)
	Allowed:	Integer
	Default:	20
logger.prioritywidth	Width of priority panel (if shown)
	Allowed:	Integer
	Default:	6
logger.messagewidth	Width of message panel (if shown)
	Allowed:	Integer
	Default:	75
logger.originwidth	Width of origin panel (if shown)
	Allowed:	Integer
	Default:	25
logger.autoscroll	Scroll GUI to the end after appending a message
	Allowed:	Bool
	Default:	T
logger.background	Normal background color of the GUI
	Allowed:	String
	Default:	xing

Constructors

logger

Construct logger tool

Functions

attach	Attach to another log table
brief	Write fewer fields in log messages
getformatted	Get a formatted representation of the log file
gui	Use the GUI
log	Add a message to the logging system
loginput	Log input to Glish?
logoutput	Log output from Glish?
nmessages	How many log messages are in the file
note	Add a note to the logging messages
printtofile	Write some or all of the log file to a text file
purge	Delete some or all messages from the log file.
screen	Use the screen for logging messages
verbose	Write more fields in log messages

Next: logger - Constructor Up: tasking - Module Previous: scripter.reset - Function Contents Index

	Package	utility
	Module	tasking