Timbr

Logger that supports custom stream, events, handy helper methods and built in debugger creation.

Installation

$ npm install timbr

OR

$ npm install timbr --production

Quick Start

Require or import

import * as timbr from 'timbr';
const log = timbr.init({ /* your options here */ })

OR

import * as timbr from 'timbr';
 
// IMPORTANT: When using Typescript do NOT
// define your custom log levels as ITimbrLevel.
// In order for the "keyof typeof" trick to work
// with record it can't be typed with the interface
// this will be applied internally in Timbr's instance.
// Just define as plain object and you'll be good.
 
const LOG_LEVELS = {
  emerg: ['bgRed', 'yellow'],
  alert: ['underline', 'bold', 'red'],
  crit: {
    label: 'critical'
    styles: ['underline', 'red']
  },
  error: 'red',
  warn: {
    label: 'warning',
    styles: 'yellow'
  },
  notice: 'green',
  info: 'blue'
}
 
const LogLevelKeys = keyof typeof LOG_LEVELS;
const log = timbr.create<LogLevelKeys>({ /* your options */}, LOG_LEVELS);

NOTE: When NOT using Typescript you can create your logger instance by simply passing your options and log levels/methods (see below).

const log = timbr.create({ /* options */}, LOG_LEVELS);

Log a Message

log.warn('some warning.');

Default Levels

When calling the .init() method Timbr will initialize with the following default log levels:

error, warn, info, trace, verbose, debug

NOTE: the "debug" method by default is a debugger. A debugger behaves much like a typical log level but emits its events to debug listeners instead of log.

This behavior allows for simple debugging without additional libs or instantiating a debugger. Good for simple projects. If you need multiple debuggers, simply disable and create as many debuggers as needed. See below for creating custom debuggers.

You can change this behavior by setting "debugLevel" in options to another level or false to disable. This allows for custom methods WITHOUT a built in debug method.

const options = {
  debugLevel: false
};

Custom Levels

When initializing using the .create() method to create a custom instance you must pass an object containing your desired log levels and their respective configurations.

const LOG_LEVELS = {
  info: 'blue'
}
 
// OR
 
const LOG_LEVELS = {
  info: ['bgBlue', 'white']
}
 
const LOG_LEVELS = {
  info: {
    label: 'information', // when null the key is used or false to disable label for this level.
    styles: ['blue'] // string or array of string matching colurs styles.,
    symbol: 'info' // a named known symbol or a string,
    symbolPos: 'after' // or 'before',
    symbolStyles: null // same as above 'styles',
    indent: 10 // a number of spaces to indent or a string.
  }
}

Logging Messages

A few logging examples.

Default Behavior

log('just some message.');

Using Formatting

log.warn('expected value to be of type %s', 'number');

Logging Metadata

log.trace('starting server...', { host: 'localhost', port: 1337 });

Logging Error

log.error(new Error('Whoops you can\'t do that!'));

Log & Exit

log.info('just some important message.').exit();

Log Line

Writes "----" before and after log message using the .write() method.

log
  .writeLn('----')
  .info('just some important message.')
  .writeLn('----');

Log Inline

Continually outputs to stream without line return.

Results in 'one, two'.

log.write('one, ').write('two');

Helper Methods

Timbr supports a few useful methods by default.

Method	Description
write	writes to output stream inline without line returns.
writeLn	same as above but with line return.
symbol	generates a symbol or gets known symbol.
exit	allows for exiting process ex: log.info().exit(code).

Debuggers

Timbr has built in support for creating debuggers.

Default Debugger

const debug = log.debugger();
// OR
const debug = log.debugger({ /* your options */ });
debug('my debug message.');

Log Level Debugger

You can use one of your log levels for the default debugger. When initializing Timbr options set:

const options {
  debugLevel: 'debug'
}

When using .init() or when passing log levels and creating an instance using .create() a log level of 'debug' will be wired up to the default debugger.

log.debug('your debug message.');
// same as instantiating
// const debug = log.debugger();
// debug('your debug message.')

Custom Debugger

const debugSvr = log.debugger('server', { /* options here */ });
debugSvr('some debug message for %s', 'server');

Activating Deubgger

When Node debug is detected the "default" debugger is automatically enabled. To enable specific debuggers you can pass the debuggers in the "DEBUG" environment variable.

$ DEBUG="debugger1,debugger2" node index.js

NOTE: the above will not work in Windows use the "set" command.

Additionally you can manually enable a debugger in your code.

const debugSvr = log.debugger('server');
debugSvr.enable();

Logic w/ Debuggers

Some times it's useful to check if a debugger is active before firing off some logic.

if (debugSvr.enabled()) {
  // do something the server debugger is active.
}

Show ONlY Debuggers

You can pass an environment variable to show ONLY debug messages and skip other messages. This can be handy during development time.

You can also set this in your initialization options using property "debugOnly".

$ DEBUG_ONLY="true" node index.js

Log Symbols

To use symbols you can get a known symbol to Timbr and manually add it to your log message or you can specify that known type in your log level config.

By default the following symbols are included: error, warn, info, trace, debug, ok.

Get Warn Symbol

const warnSymbol = log.symbol('warn');
log.warn('some message %s', warnSymbol);

Symbol in Options

Known Symbols

const SYMBOLS = {
  error: '✖',
  warn: '⚠',
  info: 'ℹ',
  trace: '◎',
  debug: '✱',
  ok: '✔'
};

const LOG_LEVELS = {
  warn: {
    symbol: 'warn', // a known symbol name (see above) to Timbr or custom string.
    symbolPos: 'after', // (before or after, default is after)
    symbolStyles: undefined // (if undefined above "styles" used)
  }
};

Event Emitter

Timbr extends Event Emitter allowing you to listen to log or debug events.

Timbr Event Object

Both event listeners and callbacks provide access to the TimbrEventData object which is created when log arguments are parsed.

const event = {
  type: 'the primary type like error, warn, info etc',
  level: 'this is the log level or debug configuration options',
  index: 'the integer or index of the log level being logged',
  activeIndex: 'the integer of the active level, what you passed in your init options as the active level',
  message: msg, // this gets updated after compile.
  timestamp: 'the current timestamp',
  meta: 'any metadata or object that was passed in the log message',
  args: 'array containing the original arguments.',
  error: 'when an error is logged the error instance will be stored here',
  stack: 'the stack trace for the message being logged when no error present a stack is generated'
};

On Log

log.on('log', (message, event) => {
  // do something
})

// Or by type

log.on('log:info', (message, event) => {
  // do something
})

On Debug

log.on('debug', (message, event) => {
  // do something
})

// Or by type

log.on('debug:default', (message, event) => {
  // do something
})

Options

**Option**	**Description**	**Type**	**Default**
stream	stream to output to.	WriteableStream	process.stderr
level	active log level.	string | number	info
colorize	enables/disables colors.	boolean	true
labelLevels	when true log messages prefixed with level label.	boolean	true
padLevels	pads left of level.	boolean	true
prettyMeta	when true prettifies metadata on new line.	boolean	false
timestamp	enables/disables or defines timestamp type.	false | time | datetime | iso | Function	time
timestampStyles	colors/styles for stylizing timestamp	string | string[]	null
timestampLocale	the timestamp locale	string	en-US
timestampTimezone	IANA timezone string	string	UTC
errorLevel	the error level name.	string	error
errorExit	when true exits on errors.	boolean	false
errorConvert	if first arg Error instance convet to error log level.	boolean	false
errorCapture	capture uncaught exceptions.	boolean	false
errorConstruct	when true on error level and is string convert to Error instance.	boolean	false
stackTrace	when true full stack trace shown on errors.	boolean	true
stackDepth	depth of stack trace to display.	number	0
miniStack	when true file, line & column shown on all messages.	boolean	true
debugLevel	the log level to use for default debugger.	string | false	debug
debugOnly	when true show only debug messages	boolean	false
debugElapsed	when true shows elapsed time in ms for debug messages.	boolean	true
beforeWrite	callback for customizing log output before writing to stream.	Function	null

Get Option

Gets the timestamp format.

const currentLogLevel = log.getOption('level');

Set Option

Sets the timestamp format false disabling it from log messages.

log.setOption('timestamp', false);

Change

See CHANGE.md

License

See LICENSE.md