Class VFSLogFilePatternReceiver

All Implemented Interfaces:
VisualReceiver, Plugin, Component, org.apache.log4j.spi.OptionHandler, Thresholdable

public class VFSLogFilePatternReceiver extends LogFilePatternReceiver implements VisualReceiver
A VFS-enabled version of org.apache.log4j.varia.LogFilePatternReceiver.

VFSLogFilePatternReceiver can parse and tail log files, converting entries into LoggingEvents. If the file doesn't exist when the receiver is initialized, the receiver will look for the file once every 10 seconds.

See the Chainsaw page (http://logging.apache.org/log4j/docs/chainsaw.html) for information on how to set up Chainsaw with VFS.

See http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/vfs/filesystems.html for a list of VFS-supported file systems and the URIs needed to access the file systems.

Because some VFS file systems allow you to provide username/password, this receiver provides an optional GUI dialog for entering the username/password fields instead of requiring you to hard code usernames and passwords into the URI.

If the 'promptForUserInfo' param is set to true (default is false), the receiver will wait for a call to 'setContainer', and then display a username/password dialog.

If you are using this receiver without a GUI, don't set promptForUserInfo to true - it will block indefinitely waiting for a visual component.

If the 'promptForUserInfo' param is set to true, the fileURL should -leave out- the username/password portion of the VFS-supported URI. Examples:

An sftp URI that would be used with promptForUserInfo=true: sftp://192.168.1.100:22/home/thisuser/logfile.txt

An sftp URI that would be used with promptForUserInfo=false: sftp://username:password@192.168.1.100:22/home/thisuser/logfile.txt

This receiver relies on java.util.regex features to perform the parsing of text in the log file, however the only regular expression field explicitly supported is a glob-style wildcard used to ignore fields in the log file if needed. All other fields are parsed by using the supplied keywords.

Features:
- specify the URL of the log file to be processed
- specify the timestamp format in the file (if one exists, using patterns from SimpleDateFormat)
- specify the pattern (logFormat) used in the log file using keywords, a wildcard character (*) and fixed text
- 'tail' the file (allows the contents of the file to be continually read and new events processed)
- supports the parsing of multi-line messages and exceptions - to access

Keywords:
TIMESTAMP
LOGGER
LEVEL
THREAD
CLASS
FILE
LINE
METHOD
RELATIVETIME
MESSAGE
NDC
PROP(key)

Use a * to ignore portions of the log format that should be ignored

Example:
If your file's patternlayout is this:
%d %-5p [%t] %C{2} (%F:%L) - %m%n

specify this as the log format:
TIMESTAMP LEVEL [THREAD] CLASS (FILE:LINE) - MESSAGE

To define a PROPERTY field, use PROP(key)

Example:
If you used the RELATIVETIME pattern layout character in the file, you can use PROP(RELATIVETIME) in the logFormat definition to assign the RELATIVETIME field as a property on the event.

If your file's patternlayout is this:
%r [%t] %-5p %c %x - %m%n

specify this as the log format:
PROP(RELATIVETIME) [THREAD] LEVEL LOGGER * - MESSAGE

Note the * - it can be used to ignore a single word or sequence of words in the log file (in order for the wildcard to ignore a sequence of words, the text being ignored must be followed by some delimiter, like '-' or '[') - ndc is being ignored in this example.

Assign a filterExpression in order to only process events which match a filter. If a filterExpression is not assigned, all events are processed.

Limitations:
- no support for the single-line version of throwable supported by patternlayout
(this version of throwable will be included as the last line of the message)
- the relativetime patternLayout character must be set as a property: PROP(RELATIVETIME)
- messages should appear as the last field of the logFormat because the variability in message content
- exceptions are converted if the exception stack trace (other than the first line of the exception)
is stored in the log file with a tab followed by the word 'at' as the first characters in the line
- tailing may fail if the file rolls over.

Example receiver configuration settings (add these as params, specifying a LogFilePatternReceiver 'plugin'):
param: "timestampFormat" value="yyyy-MM-d HH:mm:ss,SSS"
param: "logFormat" value="RELATIVETIME [THREAD] LEVEL LOGGER * - MESSAGE"
param: "fileURL" value="file:///c:/events.log"
param: "tailing" value="true" param: "promptForUserInfo" value="false"

This configuration will be able to process these sample events:
710 [ Thread-0] DEBUG first.logger first - <test> <test2>something here</test2> <test3 blah=something/> <test4> <test5>something else</test5> </test4></test>
880 [ Thread-2] DEBUG first.logger third - <test> <test2>something here</test2> <test3 blah=something/> <test4> <test5>something else</test5> </test4></test>
880 [ Thread-0] INFO first.logger first - infomsg-0
java.lang.Exception: someexception-first
at Generator2.run(Generator2.java:102)

  • Field Details

    • promptForUserInfo

      private boolean promptForUserInfo
    • container

      private Container container
    • waitForContainerLock

      private final Object waitForContainerLock
    • autoReconnect

      private boolean autoReconnect
    • vfsReader

  • Constructor Details

    • VFSLogFilePatternReceiver

      public VFSLogFilePatternReceiver()
  • Method Details

    • shutdown

      public void shutdown()
      Description copied from class: LogFilePatternReceiver
      Close the reader.
      Specified by:
      shutdown in interface Plugin
      Overrides:
      shutdown in class LogFilePatternReceiver
    • setPromptForUserInfo

      public void setPromptForUserInfo(boolean promptForUserInfo)
      If set to true, will cause the receiver to block indefinitely until 'setContainer' has been called, at which point a username/password dialog will appear.
      Parameters:
      promptForUserInfo -
    • isPromptForUserInfo

      public boolean isPromptForUserInfo()
    • isAutoReconnect

      public boolean isAutoReconnect()
      Accessor
      Returns:
    • setAutoReconnect

      public void setAutoReconnect(boolean autoReconnect)
      Mutator
      Parameters:
      autoReconnect -
    • setContainer

      public void setContainer(Container container)
      Implementation of VisualReceiver interface - allows this receiver to provide a username/password dialog.
      Specified by:
      setContainer in interface VisualReceiver
    • activateOptions

      public void activateOptions()
      Read and process the log file.
      Specified by:
      activateOptions in interface org.apache.log4j.spi.OptionHandler
      Overrides:
      activateOptions in class LogFilePatternReceiver