NAME

Log::LogLite - The "Log::LogLite" class helps us create simple logs for our application.

SYNOPSIS

  use Log::LogLite;
  my $LOG_DIRECTORY = "/where/ever/our/log/file/should/be"; 
  my $ERROR_LOG_LEVEL = 6; 
               
  # create new Log::LogLite object
  my $log = new Log::LogLite($LOG_DIRECTORY."/error.log", $ERROR_LOG_LEVEL);
  ...
  # we had an error
  $log->write("Could not open the file ".$file_name.": $!", 4);

DESCRIPTION

In order to have a log we have first to create a "Log::LogLite" object. The c<Log::LogLite> object is created with a logging level. The default logging level is 5. After the "Log::LogLite" object is created, each call to the "write" method may write a new line in the log file. If the level of the message is lower or equal to the logging level, the message will be written to the log file. The format of the logging messages can be controlled by changing the template, and by defining a default message. The class uses the IO::LockedFile class.

CONSTRUCTOR

new ( FILEPATH [,LEVEL [,DEFAULT_MESSAGE ]] )

The constructor. FILEPATH is the path of the log file. LEVEL is the defined logging level - the LEVEL data member. DEFAULT_MESSAGE will define the DEFAULT_MESSAGE data member - a message that will be added to the message of each entry in the log (according to the TEMPLATE data member, see below).

The levels can be any levels that the user chooses to use. There are, though, recommended levels:
0 the application is unusable
1 the application is going to be unusable
2 critical conditions
3 error conditions
4 warning conditions
5 normal but significant condition
6 informational
7+ debug-level messages

The default value of LEVEL is 5. The default value of DEFAULT_MESSAGE is "". Returns the new object.

METHODS

write( MESSAGE [, LEVEL ] )

If LEVEL is less or equal to the LEVEL data member, or if LEVEL is undefined, the string in MESSAGE will be written to the log file. Does not return anything.

level( [ LEVEL ] )

Access method to the LEVEL data member. If LEVEL is defined, the LEVEL data member will get its value. Returns the value of the LEVEL data member.

default_message( [ MESSAGE ] )

Access method to the DEFAULT_MESSAGE data member. If MESSAGE is defined, the DEFAULT_MESSAGE data member will get its value. Returns the value of the DEFAULT_MESSAGE data member.

log_line_numbers( [ BOOLEAN ] )

If this flag is set to true, the <called_by> string will hold the file that calls the subroutine and the line where the call is issued. The default value is zero.

template( [ TEMPLATE ] )

Access method to the TEMPLATE data member. The TEMPLATE data member is a string that defines how the log entries will look like. The default TEMPLATE is:

'[<date>] <<level>> <called_by><default_message><message>'

Where:

      <date>           will be replaced by a string that represent 
                        the date. For example: 09/01/2000 17:00:13
      <level>          will be replaced by the level of the entry.
      <called_by>       will be replaced by a call trace string. For 
                        example:
                        CGIDaemon::listen > MyCGIDaemon::accepted 
      <default_message> will be replaced by the value of the 
                        DEFAULT_MESSAGE data member.
      <message>         will be replaced by the message string that 
                        is sent to the C<write> method.

Returns the value of the TEMPLATE data member.

AUTHOR

Rani Pinchuk, rani@cpan.org