Log4j 1.3alpha-8

org.apache.log4j
Class PropertyConfigurator

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--org.apache.log4j.config.ConfiguratorBase
        |
        +--org.apache.log4j.PropertyConfigurator
All Implemented Interfaces:
Configurator

public class PropertyConfigurator
extends ConfiguratorBase

Allows the configuration of log4j from an external file. See doConfigure(String, LoggerRepository) for the expected format.

It is sometimes useful to see how log4j is reading configuration files. You can enable log4j internal logging by defining the log4j.debug variable.

As of log4j version 0.8.5, at class initialization time class, the file log4j.properties will be searched from the search path used to load classes. If the file can be found, then it will be fed to the configure(java.net.URL) method.

The PropertyConfigurator does not handle the advanced configuration features supported by the DOMConfigurator such as support for Filters, nested appenders such as the AsyncAppender, etc.

All option values admit variable substitution. The syntax of variable substitution is similar to that of Unix shells. The string between an opening "${" and closing "}" is interpreted as a key. The value of the substituted variable can be defined as a system property or in the configuration file itself. The value of the key is first searched in the system properties, and if not found there, it is then searched in the configuration file being parsed. The corresponding value replaces the ${variableName} sequence. For example, if java.home system property is set to /home/xyz, then every occurrence of the sequence ${java.home} will be interpreted as /home/xyz.

Since:
0.8.1
Author:
Ceki Gülcü, Anders Kristensen

Field Summary
protected  List errorList
           
static String LOGGER_FACTORY_KEY
          Key for specifying the LoggerFactory.
protected  LoggerFactory loggerFactory
           
protected  Hashtable registry
          Used internally to keep track of configured appenders.
 
Fields inherited from class org.apache.log4j.config.ConfiguratorBase
DEBUG_KEY
 
Fields inherited from interface org.apache.log4j.spi.Configurator
INHERITED, NULL
 
Constructor Summary
PropertyConfigurator()
           
 
Method Summary
protected  void clearRegistry()
          Clears the registry so that we don't hold references to Appender objects, which would prevent their garbage collection.
static void configure(Properties properties)
          Read configuration options from properties.
static void configure(String configFilename)
           
static void configure(URL configURL)
          Read configuration options from url configURL.
protected  void configureLoggerFactory(Properties props, LoggerRepository repository)
          Check the provided Properties object for a LoggerFactory entry specified by LOGGER_FACTORY_KEY.
 void doConfigure(InputStream configStream, LoggerRepository repository)
          Read configuration options from input stream configStream.
 void doConfigure(Properties properties, LoggerRepository repository)
          Read configuration options from properties.
 void doConfigure(String configFileName, LoggerRepository repo)
          Read configuration from a file.
 void doConfigure(URL configURL, LoggerRepository repository)
          Read configuration options from url configURL.
 List getErrorList()
           
protected  void parseCatsAndRenderers(Properties props, LoggerRepository repository)
          Parse non-root elements, such non-root categories and renderers.
 
Methods inherited from class org.apache.log4j.config.ConfiguratorBase
addError, attachListAppender, attachTemporaryConsoleAppender, detachListAppender, detachTemporaryConsoleAppender, dumpErrors, getLogger
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Field Detail

LOGGER_FACTORY_KEY

public static final String LOGGER_FACTORY_KEY
Key for specifying the LoggerFactory. Currently set to "log4j.loggerFactory".

registry

protected Hashtable registry
Used internally to keep track of configured appenders.

loggerFactory

protected LoggerFactory loggerFactory

errorList

protected List errorList
Constructor Detail

PropertyConfigurator

public PropertyConfigurator()
Method Detail

doConfigure

public void doConfigure(String configFileName,
                        LoggerRepository repo)
Read configuration from a file. The existing configuration is not cleared nor reset. If you require a different behavior, then call resetConfiguration method before calling doConfigure.

The configuration file consists of statements in the format key=value. The syntax of different configuration elements are discussed below.

Repository-wide threshold

The repository-wide threshold filters logging requests by level regardless of logger. The syntax is:

log4j.threshold=[level]

The level value can consist of the string values OFF, FATAL, ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG, ALL or a custom level value. A custom level value can be specified in the form level#classname. By default the repository-wide threshold is set to the lowest possible value, namely the level ALL.

Appender configuration

Appender configuration syntax is:

# For appender named appenderName, set its class.
# Note: The appender name can contain dots.
log4j.appender.appenderName=fully.qualified.name.of.appender.class

# Set appender specific options.
log4j.appender.appenderName.option1=value1
...
log4j.appender.appenderName.optionN=valueN
For each named appender you can configure its Layout. The syntax for configuring an appender's layout is:
log4j.appender.appenderName.layout=fully.qualified.name.of.layout.class
log4j.appender.appenderName.layout.option1=value1
....
log4j.appender.appenderName.layout.optionN=valueN

Configuring loggers

The syntax for configuring the root logger is:

log4j.rootLogger=[level], appenderName, appenderName, ...

This syntax means that an optional level can be supplied followed by appender names separated by commas.

The level value can consist of the string values OFF, FATAL, ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG, ALL or a custom level value. A custom level value can be specified in the form level#classname.

If a level value is specified, then the root level is set to the corresponding level. If no level value is specified, then the root level remains untouched.

The root logger can be assigned multiple appenders.

Each appenderName (separated by commas) will be added to the root logger. The named appender is defined using the appender syntax defined above.

For non-root categories the syntax is almost the same:

log4j.logger.logger_name=[level|INHERITED|NULL], appenderName, appenderName, ...

The meaning of the optional level value is discussed above in relation to the root logger. In addition however, the value INHERITED can be specified meaning that the named logger should inherit its level from the logger hierarchy.

If no level value is supplied, then the level of the named logger remains untouched.

By default categories inherit their level from the hierarchy. However, if you set the level of a logger and later decide that that logger should inherit its level, then you should specify INHERITED as the value for the level value. NULL is a synonym for INHERITED.

Similar to the root logger syntax, each appenderName (separated by commas) will be attached to the named logger.

See the appender additivity rule in the user manual for the meaning of the additivity flag.

ObjectRenderers

You can customize the way message objects of a given type are converted to String before being logged. This is done by specifying an ObjectRenderer for the object type would like to customize.

The syntax is:

log4j.renderer.fully.qualified.name.of.rendered.class=fully.qualified.name.of.rendering.class
As in,
log4j.renderer.my.Fruit=my.FruitRenderer

Logger Factories

The usage of custom logger factories is discouraged and no longer documented.

Example

An example configuration is given below. Other configuration file examples are given in the examples folder.


# Set options for appender named "A1".
# Appender "A1" will be a SyslogAppender
log4j.appender.A1=org.apache.log4j.net.SyslogAppender

# The syslog daemon resides on www.abc.net
log4j.appender.A1.SyslogHost=www.abc.net

# A1's layout is a PatternLayout, using the conversion pattern
# %r %-5p %c{2} %M.%L %x - %m\n. Thus, the log output will
# include # the relative time since the start of the application in
# milliseconds, followed by the level of the log request,
# followed by the two rightmost components of the logger name,
# followed by the callers method name, followed by the line number,
# the nested disgnostic context and finally the message itself.
# Refer to the documentation of PatternLayout for further information
# on the syntax of the ConversionPattern key.
log4j.appender.A1.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.A1.layout.ConversionPattern=%-4r %-5p %c{2} %M.%L %x - %m\n

# Set options for appender named "A2"
# A2 should be a RollingFileAppender, with maximum file size of 10 MB
# using at most one backup file. A2's layout is TTCC, using the
# ISO8061 date format with context printing enabled.
log4j.appender.A2=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.A2.MaxFileSize=10MB
log4j.appender.A2.MaxBackupIndex=1
log4j.appender.A2.layout=org.apache.log4j.TTCCLayout
log4j.appender.A2.layout.ContextPrinting=enabled
log4j.appender.A2.layout.DateFormat=ISO8601

# Root logger set to DEBUG using the A2 appender defined above.
log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG, A2

# Logger definitions:
# The SECURITY logger inherits is level from root. However, it's output
# will go to A1 appender defined above. It's additivity is non-cumulative.
log4j.logger.SECURITY=INHERITED, A1
log4j.additivity.SECURITY=false

# Only warnings or above will be logged for the logger "SECURITY.access".
# Output will go to A1.
log4j.logger.SECURITY.access=WARN


# The logger "class.of.the.day" inherits its level from the
# logger hierarchy.  Output will go to the appender's of the root
# logger, A2 in this case.
log4j.logger.class.of.the.day=INHERITED

Refer to the setOption method in each Appender and Layout for class specific options.

Use the # or ! characters at the beginning of a line for comments.

Parameters:
configFileName - The name of the configuration file where the configuration information is stored.

configure

public static void configure(String configFilename)

configure

public static void configure(URL configURL)
Read configuration options from url configURL.
Since:
0.8.2

configure

public static void configure(Properties properties)
Read configuration options from properties. See doConfigure(String, LoggerRepository) for the expected format.

doConfigure

public void doConfigure(Properties properties,
                        LoggerRepository repository)
Read configuration options from properties. See doConfigure(String, LoggerRepository) for the expected format.

clearRegistry

protected void clearRegistry()
Clears the registry so that we don't hold references to Appender objects, which would prevent their garbage collection.

doConfigure

public void doConfigure(URL configURL,
                        LoggerRepository repository)
Read configuration options from url configURL.
Following copied from interface: org.apache.log4j.spi.Configurator
Parameters:
url - The URL to parse
repository - The repository to operate upon.

doConfigure

public void doConfigure(InputStream configStream,
                        LoggerRepository repository)
Read configuration options from input stream configStream.
Parameters:
configStream -  
repository -  
Since:
1.3

configureLoggerFactory

protected void configureLoggerFactory(Properties props,
                                      LoggerRepository repository)
Check the provided Properties object for a LoggerFactory entry specified by LOGGER_FACTORY_KEY. If such an entry exists, an attempt is made to create an instance using the default constructor. This instance is used for subsequent Category creations within this configurator.
See Also:
parseCatsAndRenderers(java.util.Properties, org.apache.log4j.spi.LoggerRepository)

parseCatsAndRenderers

protected void parseCatsAndRenderers(Properties props,
                                     LoggerRepository repository)
Parse non-root elements, such non-root categories and renderers.

getErrorList

public List getErrorList()
Overrides:
getErrorList in class ConfiguratorBase

Log4j 1.3alpha-8

Copyright © 2000-2006 Apache Software Foundation.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.