= Loggers

Loggers provide the interface for logging in Log4r. To create a logger,
first come up with a name for it. Good choices include the name of the
class using it, a service name, or the name of the file. 

To create a logger named 'mylog':

  Logger.new('mylog')

After creating a logger, it is stashed in a repository. The logger may
be retrieved at any time:

  Logger['mylog']              # get mylog back

It will return nil if the logger is not found. Alternatively, if an
Exception is desired when a nonexistant logger is referenced, the Logger#get
command can be used:

  Logger.get('boguslog')       # raises NameError if it doesn't exist

== Manipulating a Logger's Outputters

Loggers start out with no outputters. They can be added using the
Logger#add method or set directly by modifying the Loggers#outputters array:

  mylog = Logger['mylog']

  # assume we've created Outputters out1 through out4
  mylog.outputters = out1, out2 
  mylog.add(out3, out4)
  mylog.each_outputter {|o| o.flush}
  
  # assume out5 through out7 have names 'out5' through 'out7' resp.
  mylog.outputters = 'out5', 'out6'
  mylog.add('out7')
  mylog.remove('out5','out7')

Please see log4r/outputter/outputter.rb and Log4r::Outputter for more about
outputters.

== Logging Methods

To log something at a certain priority, use the logging method named
after the lowercased priority level name:

  mylog.warn "This is a message with priority WARN"
  mylog.fatal "A FATAL message"

Blocks can also be logged:

  mylog.warn {"This is also a message with priority WARN"}
  mylog.debug do
    # some complicated string magic
    return result
  end

The primary difference is that the block doesn't get called unless
the Logger can log at that level. It is useful for doing computationaly
expensive things at a log event.

== Query Methods

To ask Log4r whether it is capable of logging a certain level:

  mylog.warn?   # are we logging WARN?
  mylog.fatal?  # how about FATAL?

Query methods and blocks accomplish the same thing:

  mylog.warn "don't evaluate unless WARN is on" if mylog.warn?
  mylog.warn {"don't evaluate unless WARN is on"}

== What About the Special Levels?

<tt>ALL</tt> and <tt>OFF</tt> can be querried, but not logged:

  log.off?                    # true iff level is OFF
  log.all?                    # true iff level is ALL
  log.all "Try to log"        => Method not defined. (NameError)

== Custom Levels and Method Names

Suppose we've set up Log4r with the custom levels:

  Foo < Bar < Baz

As one might expect, the logging methods are named after them:

  log.bar "something"        # log at custom level Bar
  log.bar?                   # are we logging at level Bar?

= Logger Inheritance

Normally, when a logger is created, its parent is set to RootLogger.
If a Logger's level isn't specified at creation, it will inherit the level 
of its parent.

To specify an ancestors of a logger besides RootLogger, include the names 
of the ancestors in order of ancestry and delimited by 
Log4r::Log4rConfig::LoggerPathDelimiter. For example, if the 
delimiter is the default <tt>::</tt>, our logger is 'me' 
and its ancestors are 'cain', 'grandpa', and 'pa', we create the logger 
like so:

  Logger.new('cain::grandpa::pa::me')

This string is split into three compontents which can be used
by a Formatter to avoid parsing the name:

Logger#fullname::   The whole enchilada: 'cain::grandpa::pa::me'
Logger#name::       Just 'me'

To get this logger back from the repository,

  Logger['cain::grandpa::pa::me']

= Outputter Additivity

By default, Logger Outputters are <b>additive</b>. This means that
a log event will also be sent to all of a logger's ancestors. To 
stop this behavior, set a logger's +additive+ to false.

  Logger['foo'].additive = false

A Logger's level, additivity and trace can be changed dynamically,
but this is an expensive operation as the logging methods have to be
redefined.

= RootLogger

Log4r::RootLogger is the ancestor of all loggers. Its level defines the global
logging threshold. Any loggers created <b>after</b> RootLogger's level is
set will not log below that level. By default, RootLogger's level is set
to <tt>ALL</tt>

RootLogger is a singleton which gets created automaticallay. It can be
retrieved at any time with Logger.root, Logger.global,
Logger['root'] or Logger['global'].

== Global Level

Suppose we want _everything_ to ignore events less than FATAL. We can
accomplish this easily:

  Logger.global.level = FATAL

Just be sure to set this before any other Loggers or Outputters are defined.

== RootLogger Does Nothing

RootLogger itself behaves as if its level were permanently set to 
<tt>OFF</tt>, thus making it a sort of null object.

= XML Configuration

Please see log4r/configurator.rb for an overview of XML configuratoin.

It's easy to configure a Logger in XML. The following example should be
sufficient:

    ...
    <logger name="papa::mylog" level="DEBUG" trace="true">
      <additive>false</additive>
      <outputter>stdout</outputter>
      <outputters>stderr, dancer, doner, blitzen</outputters>
    </logger>
    <logger name="papa" outputters="stderr, stdout"/>
    ...

The element +outputter+ can occur multiple times, but cannot be an attribute 
of +logger+. That is, it is not an <i>XML directive</i>. However, the element 
+outputters+ is an <i>XML directive</i>, as are all the others.

For more examples, check the <tt>examples</tt> directory in the Log4r package.