SimpleLogger

Single header only logger library for C++. Focused on performance, simplicity and extensibility.

Table of Contents

Getting Started
    Example
Usage
    Log Levels
    Loggers available
        ConsoleLogger
        FileLogger
        BufferLogger
        SysLogger
    Implement your own logger
TODOs
Contributing
    Found an issue ?
    Pull requests

Getting Started

Either add the project as a submodule or download it.

Then include the header you need :) As simple as that...

Example

Let's log to console for example:

#include "logger.h"
#include "consolelogger.h"

int main() {
  ILogListener* consoleLogger = new ConsoleLogger;
  SimpleLogger::AddListener(consoleLogger);

  LOGI << "As simple as that :)" << std::endl;

  SimpleLogger::RemoveListener(consoleLogger);
  delete consoleLogger;
}

If you execute this sample programme you will see in the console :

$ ./MySimpleLog
16:39:35.394 INFO: As simple as that :)

Usage

You have different log levels and different way to log, here we will see in details how to customize all of that.

Log Levels

Level	Macro	String	Description
Critical	LOGC	CRITICAL	Critical error happened (program will not recover)
Error	LOGE	ERROR	Error happened, program tries to recover
Warning	LOGW	WARNING	Something unusual happened (or unexpected)
Info	LOGI	INFO	Simple log message (default)
Debug	LOGD	DEBUG	Debugging message
Debug 1	LOGD1	DEBUG1	More debugging message (might impact performance)
Debug 2	LOGD2	DEBUG2	More debugging message (will impact performance)

If you selected a Log Level info (which is the default one), all the more important messages will be logged (Critical, Error, Warning) and the Info ones. This goes for every log level. Debug 2 is the least important, Critical is the most.

Why do we have more than one Debug log level ?

In some program, performance is a must. In order to not impact performance but still be able to log, you might want to have different kind of Debug messages. That is, when I started this project, I was using it in a small homemade Game Engine, where performance is critical. I could use Debug2 in the Game loop will using just Debug in the startup of the Engine, and Debug1 in the loading of the assets.

Loggers available

SimpleLogger provides 4 default loggers: ConsoleLogger, FileLogger, BufferLogger and SysLogger.

ConsoleLogger

Logger responsible for logging the messages in the ..... console. The example earlier shows how to use it.

If the Level of the message printed is Critical or Error, the message will be printed on the error output, otherwise every other message will be printed on the standard output.

FileLogger

This one will simply log the messages in a file.

#include <string>
#include "logger.h"
#include "filelogger.h"

static const std::string g_FilePath = "/home/me/cool.log";

int main() {
  ILogListener* fileLogger = new FileLogger(g_FilePath);
  SimpleLogger::AddListener(fileLogger);

  LOGI << "As simple as that :)" << std::endl;

  SimpleLogger::RemoveListener(fileLogger);
  delete fileLogger;
}

As you can expect:

$ ./MySimpleLog
$ cat /home/me/cool.log
16:39:35.394 INFO: As simple as that :)

BufferLogger

The less obvious of the 3, it has for responsability to put all the messages inside a buffer. Then periodically you can get the messages. Useful if you want to send the messages over the network, on a graphical user interface of if you prefer to limitate the number of IO in a file or on the console.

The usage is the same as the others:

#include <iostream>
#include "logger.h"
#include "bufferlogger.h"

int main() {
  ILogListener* bufferLogger = new BufferLogger;
  SimpleLoggerLogger::AddListener(bufferLogger);

  LOGI << "As simple as that :)" << std::endl;
  LOGI << "Isn't it ?" << std::endl;

  std::cout << "Waiting to print the logs..." << std::endl;

  std::cout << bufferLogger.GetBuffer() << std::endl;

  SimpleLogger::RemoveListener(bufferLogger);
  delete bufferLogger;
}

Ouput:

$ ./MySimpleLog
Waiting to print the logs...
16:39:35.394 INFO: As simple as that :)
16:39:35.394 INFO: Isn't it ?

SysLogger

This one will log messages into the Linux system log (syslog).

#include <logger.h>
#include <syslogger.h>

int main() {
  ILogListener* sysLogger = new SysLogger("SysLoggerTest");
  SimpleLogger::AddListener(sysLogger);

  LOGI << "(Sys)Logging info..." << std::endl;
  LOGW << "(Sys)Logging warning..." << std::endl;
  LOGE << "(Sys)Logging error..." << std::endl;
  LOGC << "(Sys)Logging critical..." << std::endl;

  SimpleLogger::RemoveListener(sysLogger);
  delete sysLogger;

  return 0;
}

As you can expect:

$ ./SysLoggerTest
$ journalctl -f
SysLoggerTest[32391]: 2017-06-09 11:06:12.560 INFO:         (Sys)Logging info...
SysLoggerTest[32391]: 2017-06-09 11:06:12.560 INFO:         (Sys)Logging info...
SysLoggerTest[32391]: 2017-06-09 11:06:12.562 ERROR:        (Sys)Logging error...
SysLoggerTest[32391]: 2017-06-09 11:06:12.562 CRITICAL:     (Sys)Logging critical...

Implement your own logger

With SimpleLogger, you can implement your own logger.

Our use case will be to implement a logger over the network.

To implement your own logger you have to implement the ILogListener interface:

class ILogListener {
public:
    virtual ~ILogListener() {}
    virtual void Notify(const std::string& iLog, ELogLevel iLevel) = 0;
};

networklogger.h:

// some includes...

// The socket API used here is just made up and simplified for the example

class NetworkLogger : public ILogListener {
public:
    NetworkLogger(const std::string& iServerURI) {
        m_MySocket = connect(iServerURI.c_str());
    }

    ~NetworkLogger() {
        if (m_MySocket) {
            disconnect(m_MySocket);
            m_MySocket = nullptr;
        }
    }

    // Method called everytime a new message is logged
    virtual void Notify(const std::string& iMsg, ELogLevel iLevel) {
        send(m_MySocket, iMsg.c_str());
    }

private:
    Socket_t* m_MySocket = nullptr;
};

And now, just use it !

#include "logger.h"
#include "networklogger.h"

int main() {
  ILogListener* networkLogger = new NetworkLogger("http://mylog.mycompany.com:1234");
  SimpleLogger::AddListener(networkLogger);

  LOGI << "As simple as that :)" << std::endl;

  SimpleLogger::RemoveListener(networkLogger);
  delete networkLogger;
}

On the server you should simply receive: 16:39:35.394 INFO: As simple as that :);

TODOs

• Allow user to format the log (today it is always datetime [LogLevel]: message
• Add tests
• Allow users to define their own log levels
• Assign colors for the terminal depending on the level

Contributing

Found an issue ?

If you find a bug in the source code or a mistake in the documentation, you can help by submitting an issue here.

Pull requests

Before you submit your pull request consider the following guidelines:

• Search GitHub for an open or closed Pull Request that relates to your submission. You don't want to duplicate effort.

• Make your changes in a new git branch:

  $ git checkout -b my-fix-branch master
  

• Create your patch

• Commit your changes using a descriptive commit message

• Push your branch to GitHub:

  $ git push origin my-fix-branch
  

• In GitHub, send a pull request to SimpleLogger:master.

• If we suggest changes then:

  • Make the required updates.

  • Re-run the test suite to ensure tests are still passing.

  • If necessary, rebase your branch and force push to your GitHub repository (this will update your Pull Request):

    $ git rebase master -i
    $ git push origin my-fix-branch -f
    

That's it! Thank you for your contribution!