sole.js

the soul of the console

sole.js is an extension of the console paradigm that includes tagging, filtering, globbing, plugins and event subscription.

Note: sole.js does not override the console, (however there is a plugin for that, if you wish.)

Quick start

• Download the latest release
• Include dist/sole-latest.min.js in your page
• You can now do things like

sole.tag('my').log('stuff');

and then later

sole.filter('my')

to get just your stuff!

• Play around with the qunit tests to see how it all works!

Wait, why do I need this?

With the ability to use semantic tagging, and filtering output of commands, you can use it for example to create unit tests, catching issues cross-browser, perfomance tuning, troubleshooting, replacing the normal console, etc... There is a plugin to generate qunit tests automatically by simply logging information at key points, check out the included qunitgenerator test!

Caveat emptor: On the surface, having console commands everywhere and tightly coupling your code with a library seems like a bad idea, however sole.js is fully tested, and used in various high-traffic production sites. If you can live with that, read on!

Using it

sole.log("Some gibberish");
sole.tag("useful").log("Useful info");
sole.filter("useful").get();
// [{ args: ["Useful info"], tags: ["useful"], type: "log" }] 

ie: avoid the gibberish!

Simple example

Say we had a function Func that we wanted to test - we could use sole to capture information from it at key points in the process.

function Func(args) {
    //	Private function - we are naming the function here  
    var multiply = function multiply(num, times) {
            sole.log(num, times);
            return num * times;
        }, value = multiply(args.num, args.times);
    this.getValue = function getValue() {
        sole.log(value);
        return value;
    };
    sole.log("Ran multiply", value);
};
 
//	Code we want to test, including any data 
var myFunc = new Func({ num: 9, times: 6 });

sole will now contain the following:

[
    {"type":"log","tags":[],"args":{"0":9,"1":6}},
    {"type":"log","tags":[],"args":{"0":"Ran multiply","1":54}}
]

You can use this to test that the output result matches the given input, ie: Func received 9, 6 and returned 54, or in other words: 9 x 6 = 54.

Tagging

sole.tag(yourTag)

Where yourTag is one of

• string most basic form of use
• array alternatively pass in an array of tags

tag is chainable, so you can do things like:

sole.tag("blah").log("something").get();
// [{ args: ["something], tags: ["blah"], type: "log", time: date }] 

Note: Tags are persistent, so once you set a tag, it will be reused for further messages.

Globbing

Say you had:

sole.tag("fruit.apple").log("We have an apple");
sole.tag("fruit.apple.green").log("We have a green apple");

If you run

sole.glob("fruit.apple").length

Returns 1 item

sole.glob("fruit.apple*").length

Returns 2 items

Filtering

Copyright and license

Copyright 2013 jsguy (Mikkel Bergmann)

Licensed under the MIT License