Log4j 0.9.1

org.log4j
Class PropertyConfigurator

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--org.log4j.BasicConfigurator
        |
        +--org.log4j.PropertyConfigurator

public class PropertyConfigurator
extends BasicConfigurator

Extends BasicConfigurator to provide configuration from an external file. See configure(String) 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.configDebug variable.

As of log4j version 0.8.5, at the initialization of the Category 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 sub-classing of the Priority class, sub-classing of the Category class, Filters, custom ErrorHandlers, nested appenders, etc.

Since:
version 0.8.1
Author:
Ceki Gülcü, Avy Sharell

Field Summary
protected static Hashtable registry
          Used internally to keep track of configured appenders.
 
Fields inherited from class org.log4j.BasicConfigurator
DISABLE_OVERRIDE_KEY, INHERITED
 
Method Summary
static void configure(Properties properties)
          Read configuration options from properties.
static void configure(String configFileName)
          Read configuration from a file.
static void configure(URL configURL)
          Read configuration options from url configURL.
static void configureAndWatch(String configFilename)
          Like configureAndWatch(String, long) except that the default delay as defined by FileWatchdog.DEFAULT_DELAY is used.
static void configureAndWatch(String configFilename, long delay)
          Read the configuration file configFilename if it exists.
protected static void configureCategories(Properties op)
          Used internally to parse non-root categories.
 
Methods inherited from class org.log4j.BasicConfigurator
configure, configure, disable, disableAll, disableDebug, disableInfo, enableAll, flagAsShippedCode, overrideAsNeeded, resetConfiguration
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Field Detail

registry

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

configure

public static void configure(String configFileName)
Read configuration from a file. The existing configuration is not cleared or reset. If this is the behaviour you need, call resetConfiguration method before calling this method.

The configuration file consists of staments in the format key=value.

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:
log.appender.appenderName.layout=fully.qualified.name.of.layout.class
log.appender.appenderName.layout.option1=value1
....
log.appender.appenderName.layout.optionN=valueN

The syntax for configuring the root category is:

log4j.rootCategory=[ERROR|WARN|INFO|DEBUG], appenderName, appenderName, ...

This syntax means that one of the strings values ERROR, WARN, INFO or DEBUG can be supplied followed by appender names separated by commas.

If one of the optional priority values ERROR, WARN, INFO or DEBUG is given, the root priority is set to the corresponding priority. If no priority value is specified, then the root priority remains untouched.

The root category can be assigned multiple appenders.

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

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

log4j.category.category_name=[INHERITED|ERROR|WARN|INFO|DEBUG], appenderName, appenderName, ...

Thus, one of the usual priority values ERROR, WARN, INFO, or DEBUG can be optionally specified. For any any of these values the named category is assigned the corresponding priority. In addition however, the value INHERITED can be optionally specified which means that named category should inherit its priority from the category hierarchy.

If no priority value is supplied, then the priority of the named category remains untouched.

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

Similar to the root category syntax, each appenderName (seperated by commas) will be added to the named category.

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

The user can override any of the BasicConfigurator.disable(org.log4j.Priority) family of methods by setting the a key "log4j.disableOverride" to true or any value other than false. As in

 log4j.disableOverride=true 

An example configuration is given below. Other configuration file examples are given in Sort class documentation.


# Set options for appender named "A1". 
# Appender "A1" will be a SyslogAppender
log4j.appender.A1=org.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 priority of the log request,
# followed by the two rightmost components of the category 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.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.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.A2.MaxFileSize=10MB
log4j.appender.A2.MaxBackupIndex=1
log4j.appender.A2.layout=org.log4j.TTCCLayout
log4j.appender.A2.layout.ContextPrinting=enabled
log4j.appender.A2.layout.DateFormat=ISO8601

# Root category set to DEBUG using the A2 appender defined above.
log4j.rootCategory=DEBUG, A2

# Category definions:
# The SECURITY category inherits is priority from root. However, it's output
# will go to A1 appender defined above. It's additivity is non-cumulative.
log4j.category.SECURITY=INHERIT, A1
log4j.additivity.SECURITY=false

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


# The category "class.of.the.day" inherits its priority from the
# category hierrarchy.  Output will go to the appender's of the root
# category, A2 in this case.
log4j.category.class.of.the.day=INHERIT

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(Properties properties)
Read configuration options from properties. See configure(String) for the expected format.

configure

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

configureAndWatch

public static void configureAndWatch(String configFilename)
Like configureAndWatch(String, long) except that the default delay as defined by FileWatchdog.DEFAULT_DELAY is used.
Parameters:
configFilename - A file in key=value format.

configureAndWatch

public static void configureAndWatch(String configFilename,
                                     long delay)
Read the configuration file configFilename if it exists. Moreover, a thread will be created that will periodically check if configFilename has been created or modified. The period is determined by the delay argument. If a change or file creation is detected, then configFilename is read to configure log4j.
Parameters:
configFilename - A file in key=value format.
delay - The delay in milliseconds to wait between each check.

configureCategories

protected static void configureCategories(Properties op)
Used internally to parse non-root categories.

Log4j 0.9.1

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