Log4j2: Dynamic creation of log files for multiple logs

Question

I am currently creating a system that can have modules (think of them as plugins), where each one of them can have their own log, dedicated.

I would like to use the

Answer 1

Even though Remko Popma's answer might be the most efficient way to do the logging, I built a small class that can create log files on it's own.

I think I will use the accepted answer's solution, so here is the code I wrote to work around the XML file stuff:

import gnu.trove.map.hash.THashMap;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.Level;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.Logger;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.LoggerContext;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.FileAppender;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.async.AsyncLoggerContext;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.layout.PatternLayout;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.message.FormattedMessageFactory;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.message.MessageFactory;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Map;

/**
 * Represents a manager for custom log files stored inside a log folder.
 */
public class LoggingManager {
    /** The default log file extension */
    public static final String FILE_EXTENSION = "log";

    /** The global context used for all loggers */
    private final LoggerContext context;

    /** The global message factory used for all loggers */
    private final MessageFactory msgFactory;

    /** A map of all created logs */
    private final Map logCache;

    /** The folder containing the log files */
    private final File logFolder;


    public LoggingManager(String name, File logFolder) throws IOException {
        this.logFolder = logFolder;

        if(!logFolder.exists()) {
            if(!logFolder.mkdirs()) {
                throw new IOException("Could not create log folder");
            }
        }

        this.logCache = new THashMap();

        // Create logger context
        this.context = new AsyncLoggerContext(name);

        // Create formatted message factory
        this.msgFactory = new FormattedMessageFactory();
    }

    public Logger getLogger(String name) {
        Logger logger = logCache.get(name);

        // Create a new one
        if(logger == null) {
            logger = new SimpleLogger(name);

            FileAppender appender = FileAppender.createAppender(
                    new File(logFolder, name + "." + FILE_EXTENSION).getAbsolutePath(),
                    "true",
                    "false",
                    "file_appender-" + name,
                    "true",
                    "false",
                    "true",
                    PatternLayout.createLayout(PatternLayout.SIMPLE_CONVERSION_PATTERN, null, null, "UTF-8", "true"),
                    null,
                    "false",
                    null,
                    null
            );

            appender.start();
            logger.getContext().getConfiguration().getLoggerConfig("root").addAppender(appender, Level.ALL, null);

            // Add to log cache
            logCache.put(name, logger);
        }

        // Return the logger
        return logger;
    }

    private class SimpleLogger extends Logger {

        public SimpleLogger(String name) {
            super(context, name, msgFactory);

            // Set to all levels
            this.setLevel(Level.ALL);
        }

    }

}

If you don't use trove you can replace it with a normal java HashMap if you want.