util/logging/package.html

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<P>
Provides the classes and interfaces of
the Java<SUP><FONT SIZE="-2">TM</FONT></SUP> 2
 platform's core logging facilities.
The central goal of the logging APIs is to support maintaining and servicing
software at customer sites.

<P>
There are four main target uses of the logs:
</P>

<OL>
   <LI> <I>Problem diagnosis by end users and system administrators</I>.
          This consists of simple logging of common problems that can be fixed
          or tracked locally, such as running out of resources, security failures,
          and simple configuration errors.

   <LI> <I>Problem diagnosis by field service engineers</I>. The logging information
           used by field service engineers may be considerably more complex and
           verbose than that required by system administrators.  Typically such information
           will require extra logging within particular subsystems.

   <LI> <I>Problem diagnosis by the development organization</I>.
         When a problem occurs in the field, it may be necessary to return the captured logging
         information to the original development team for diagnosis. This logging
         information may be extremely detailed and fairly inscrutable. Such information might include
         detailed tracing on the internal execution of particular subsystems.

   <LI> <I>Problem diagnosis by developers</I>. The Logging APIs may also be
           used to help debug an application under development. This may
           include logging information generated by the target application
           as well as logging information generated by lower-level libraries.
           Note however that while this use is perfectly reasonable,
           the logging APIs are not intended to replace the normal debugging
           and profiling tools that may already exist in the development environment.
</OL>

</P>
The key elements of this package include:
<UL>
   <LI> <I>Logger</I>: The main entity on which applications make
                logging calls. A Logger object is used to log messages
                for a specific system or application
                component.
   <LI> <I>LogRecord</I>: Used to pass logging requests between the logging
                   framework and individual log handlers.
   <LI> <I>Handler</I>: Exports LogRecord objects to a variety of destinations
                 including memory, output streams, consoles, files, and sockets.
                 A variety of Handler subclasses exist for this purpose. Additional Handlers
                 may be developed by third parties and delivered on top of the core platform.
   <LI> <I>Level</I>: Defines a set of standard logging levels that can be used
                      to control logging output. Programs can be configured to output logging
                      for some levels while ignoring output for others.
   <LI> <I>Filter</I>: Provides fine-grained control over what gets logged,
                       beyond the control provided by log levels. The logging APIs support a general-purpose
                       filter mechanism that allows application code to attach arbitrary filters to
                       control logging output.

   <LI> <I>Formatter</I>: Provides support for formatting LogRecord objects. This
                          package includes two formatters, SimpleFormatter and
                          XMLFormatter, for formatting log records in plain text
                          or XML respectively. As with Handlers, additional Formatters
                          may be developed by third parties.
</UL>
<P>
The Logging APIs offer both static and dynamic configuration control.
Static control enables field service staff to set up a particular configuration and then re-launch the
application with the new logging settings. Dynamic control allows for updates to the
logging configuration within a currently running program. The APIs also allow for logging to be
enabled or disabled for different functional areas of the system. For example,
a field service engineer might be interested in tracing all AWT events, but might have no interest in
socket events or memory management.
</P>

<h2>Null Pointers</h2>
<p>
In general, unless otherwise noted in the javadoc, methods and
constructors will throw NullPointerException if passed a null argument.
The one broad exception to this rule is that the logging convenience
methods in the Logger class (the config, entering, exiting, fine, finer, finest,
log, logp, logrb, severe, throwing, and warning methods)
will accept null values
for all arguments except for the initial Level argument (if any).
<p>
<H2>Related Documentation</H2>
<P>
For an overview of control flow,
please refer to the
<a href="{@docRoot}/technotes/guides/logging/overview.html">
Java Logging Overview</a>.
</P>

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@since 1.4


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