Settings for Logging an Application (SAP Library)

Settings for Logging an Application

Settings in init-config.xml

type	Selects the logging API to be used. The type of the SAP API is "sapmarkets". Setting to off will totally disable any logging activity.
version	Not used when SAP logging API is used. (was only relevant when using log4j)
config-file	The name of the config-file, to be used. The configuration file for the SAP Logging API is log-config.properties
path	Path where to store the log files. If the path attribute is not set, the default {application}/WEB-INF/logs/ will be used as logging directory. If you use / the path will be constructed relative to /WEB-INF/, e.g. /tmp/logs/ will log to {application}/WEB-INF/tmp/logs/. Finally you may also use absolute paths to a directory, e.g. c:/temp/ as log path.

A typical segment for the configuration within the init-config.xml looks like the following:

</initialization>

This initialization block should be the first within init-config.xml. This guarantees that logging is initialized before other initializations are started.

Settings in the SAP Logging API configuration file

Important facts are the separation between:

Location: The source area that generates trace/log messages. Typically, it corresponds to the source code structure, and can be attached to the level of component, package, class or method.

Log: The output destination to print out messages (in the default logging configuration all log entries are written into files)

Formatter: Defines the format of log messages (how they appear in the log file)

Note

You will usually only change the log level when you make changes in Locations.

Locations will deliver the statements only if the priority is higher than defined in the configuration file. Thus, if the information should be increased, simply set the priority of the category to something more detailed (for example: DEBUG to see every message).

Priority	Use
ERROR	Serious errors should generally be used for events that are extremely important, and that can stop the application. The messages must be comprehensible for both end users and system administrators.
WARNING	This level should usually be used for messages that inform end users or system administrators of events that represent potential problems.
INFO	The "information" priority should only be used for messages that make sense for both end users and system administrators.
DEBUG	The debug priority can be used for tracing. Tracing is a special form of logging, whereby only specific messages are logged. The logging interface can also be used to record tracing messages.

Location Inheritance

The Log-Statements will be delivered to parents of a location. A parent is a more general package description.

com.sapmarkets.isa.core.taglib will log to the categories:

1. com.sapmarkets.isa.core.taglib

2. com.sapmarkets.isa.core

3. com.sapmarkets.isa (the root node)

When a Location is configured it has the following syntax:

[location name].attribute = value

The value of [location name] is usually a package name (e.g. com.sapmarkets.isa)

The log level is specified using the severity attribute. The value is one of the log levels as described in the table above (case sensitive)

A Log (e.g. FileLog) is associated to a Location using the logs attribute:

[location name].logs = +log[name of Log]

Example of Location configuration

#Set parent location of ISA
com.sapmarkets.isa.severity = DEBUG
com.sapmarkets.isa.logs = +log[isa]

#Set location of core functions.
com.sapmarkets.isa.core.severity = DEBUG
com.sapmarkets.isa.core.logs = +log[core]

#Set location of isacore functions
com.sapmarkets.isa.isacore.severity = DEBUG
com.sapmarkets.isa.isacore.logs = +log[isacore]

The com.sapmarkets.isa location is currently set to log level DEBUG. The associated Log is named isa. All log entries coming from packages beginning with com.sapmarkets.isa will be logged into the isa log.

The com.sapmarkets.isa.core location is also set to log level DEBUG. The associated Log is named core. All log entries created by classes located in packages beginning with com.sapmarkets.isa.core will be logged into this log as well as in the isa log, because com.sapmarkets.isa is parent of com.sapmarkets.isa.core.

Logs

Logs are responsible for writing log entries into different destinations. The currently used Log type is a FileLog which writes log entries into files. A different Log type is the ConsoleLog which outputs log entries into the standard Error output stream.

There can be different Logs distinguished by their name. A Log is configured using the following syntax:

log[name].attribute = value

FileLog Properties

log	Attribute	Value	Description
log[name]		FileLog
log[name]	severity	Log level	The effective Log level for this Log. Used to refine the log level defined in the Location.
log[name]	formatter	formatter[name of formatter]	The formatter which should be used by this Log.
log[name]	pattern	name and destination of log files	The name of the file can be given using a pattern with a number of place holders: / the local file name separator %h the home directory %t the system temporary directory %u a unique number to make the file name unique %% the percentage sign Please note that the above placeholders are not used in the default logging configuration. There is a special placeholder only valid for the Internet Sales Application: %[isa:path]. This placeholder specifies the log path, relative to the web application. For further information please refer to the description of the path attribute in the init-config.xml file.
log[name]	limit	Limit of file size in bytes	This parameter has to coexist with the parameter with the attribute "cnt". Either they both have values assigned or both values equal to zero. These settings are used to turn on the output file rotation.
log[name]	cnt	Maximum number of files	This parameter has to coexist with the parameter with the attribute "limit". Either they both have values assigned or both values equal to zero. These settings are used to turn on the output file rotation.

You can set this parameter as in the following example:

log[isa] = FileLog

log[isa].pattern = %[isa:path]/isa.log

log[isa].limit = 10000000

log[isa].cnt = 10

log[isa].formatter = formatter[isa]

The configuration above defines a File Log named isa. The files will be written in the folder (when the path attribute in the init-config.xml is omitted) <application-root>\web-inf\logs. The maximum number of log files is 10 with a maximum file size of 10MB. The formatter used to format the messages is named isa.

Formatter

Note

It is usually not necessary to change the print format of the log messages

You can modify the layout of the log entries by manipulating the settings of the Formatter associated with the log.
The current configuration uses Trace Formatters to format log messages.
Different Formatters can be distinguished by their name. A Trace Formatter is defined using the following syntax:

formatter[name] = TraceFormatter

The output format of a Formatter is configured using the following syntax:

formatter[name].pattern = custom formatting pattern

The pattern allows you to specify the message data fields, with place holders of the form "%[[-]<width>[-]]<type>", interspersed with arbitrary text that you want to have included in formatted messages.

If you put a dash in front of the <width> of the field to be printed, which is a positive integral number, the field is aligned on the right, in case of a trailing dash it is aligned on the left. If you flank <width> with dashes on both sides, you get a centered field. If you omit the alignment, the field is left-aligned. The <type> that specifies the field can be one of:

i the message identification

p the time stamp in milliseconds since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 GMT

d the time stamp in readable form

c the log controller the message was issued through

l the location of origin

t the thread that emitted the message

s the message severity

m the formatted message text

In Internet Sales the message also contains the session id and the resource key used to print the message

Description of the Internet Sales Locations

Location Description

Name of the Category	Description of the Logging	Log file used
com.sapmarkets.isa	All logging entries from the Internet Sales application will be collected here	isa.log
com.sapmarkets.isa.auction	Logging entries from the Web Auction component	auction.log
com.sapmarkets.isa.backend	Messages regarding backend (e.g. CRM) communication	backend.log
com.sapmarkets.isa.businessobject	Messages regarding the business objects that implement the business logic (e.g. also via backend communication)	businessobject.log
com.sapmarkets.isa.catalog	Logging entries from the Internet Sales catalog	catalog.log
com.sapmarkets.isa.cic	Logging statements from the Live Web Collaboration component	cic.log
com.sapmarkets.isa.core	Framework, initialization, BLS-Layer and system management infrastructure	core.log
com.sapmarkets.isa.core.eai.init.InitEaiISA.xml	Writes eai-config.xml.log, which contains the combined configuration file that is being used (web.xml plus eai-config.xml)	eai-config.xml.log
com.sapmarkets.isa.isacore	Logging entries from the Internet Sales application (specific package com.sapmarkets.isa.isacore)	isacore.log
monitoring	Root node for Monitoring	monitoring.log
monitoring.jco.performance	Monitoring of the throughput of the Java Connector (JCO)	monitoring.log
monitoring.jco.pools	Java Connector (JCO) Pools statistics	core.log
monitoring.performance	Monitoring of the performance	monitoring.log