Logging

Chesster offers a simple logging implementation, similar to other applications. Log messages are categorized by their severity level, and can include a date, time, sender type, message and additional information.

Level	Description
Debug	A piece of data that can be useful to figure out what variables are in use.
Info	An information regarding the current action of the library.
Warn	Something that could potentially cause unexpected behaviour.
Error	Something that went wrong, but can be handled.
Fatal	Something that went terribly wrong, and can lead to a crash or data loss.

Setting up

To allow logs to be displayed, you need to register a log output source. By default, Chesster can output to a file and the console.

using Chesster.Logging;

Logger.RegisterOutput<ConsoleLogOutput>();
Logger.RegisterOutput<FileLogOutput>();

Other kinds of settings can be configured via Logger.Settings.

Property	Type	Description
IncludeDate	Boolean	Should the date be included in the log message? `False` by default.
IncludeTime	Boolean	Should the time be included in the log message? `True` by default.
DateFormat	String	If the date should be included, this string specifies the format. `yyyy/MM/dd` by default.
TimeFormat	String	If the time should be included, this string specifies the format. `HH:mm:ss` by default.
MinimumLevel	LogLevel	The minimum log level that should be logged. Lower-level messages will be ignored. `Error` by default.

Logging Messages

If you are extending a part of the library, or just want a convenient logging service, you can simply call the static Logger class, which provides various methods to easily create log messages. Logs can include a type, to allow a better understanding where log messages arose from.

// This message will include a sender type.
Logger.Debug<MyAwesomeType>("My awesome log message!");
// This message won't!
Logger.Error("Oh no, something went wrong!");

// This can be used to have more control over log message properties:
Logger.Append(new LogMessage() { ... });

// This can be used to log exceptions.
// Exceptions are automatically categorized as 'Errors' and include a stacktrace.
try { /* Some code */ }
catch (Exception e)
{
    Logger.Exception(e);
}

Customization

Log Outputs

If you need to add another kind of log output (to a database for example) you simply have a type inherit the LogOutput base class. The only thing the inheriting class is required to have, is a Log method with a LogMessage and a LoggerSettings parameter.

public class MyLogOutput : LogOutput
{
    public override void Log(LogMessage message, LoggerSettings settings)
    {
        // My awesome log code here!
    }
}