Best way to write custom json messages using log4j2

Question

I have been using log4j for different kind of projects and have some experience with log4j2. All implementations used the default appender and layout. Currently i need to wr

Answer 1

I found a solution which works for me; slf4j-json-logger. It is a slf4j framework, so should be included in the pom.xml. Sample project files;

pom.xml

  
  
     4.0.0
     com.reddipped
     JSONLogger_2
     1.0-SNAPSHOT
     jar
     

        UTF-8
        1.6
        1.6

        com.reddipped.jsonlogger_2.Test

        1.7.21
        
        2.6.2 

     

     
        
           org.slf4j
           slf4j-api
           ${slf4j.version}
        
        
        
           org.apache.logging.log4j
           log4j-slf4j-impl
           ${log4j.version}
        
        
        
           org.apache.logging.log4j
           log4j-api
           ${log4j.version}
        
        
           org.apache.logging.log4j
           log4j-core
           ${log4j.version}
        
        
        
           com.savoirtech.logging
           slf4j-json-logger
           2.0.2
        
      
  

log4j2.xml

  

  
  
     
        /Users/petervannes/NetBeansProjects/JSONLogger_2/logfiles
     
     
        
           
              %m%n
            
           
              
              
           
           
        
     
     
        
           
        
        
           
        
     
  

Example Java code

  package com.reddipped.jsonlogger_2;

  import com.savoirtech.logging.slf4j.json.LoggerFactory;
  import java.util.HashMap;
  import java.util.Map;

  /**
   *
   * @author petervannes
   */
  public class Test {
      public static void main(String[] args) {   
        Test t = new Test() ;
     }


     public Test() {

        LoggerFactory.setIncludeLoggerName(false);
        LoggerFactory.setDateFormatString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS");

         com.savoirtech.logging.slf4j.json.logger.Logger LOGGER =  LoggerFactory.getLogger("JSONLogger");

     Map optionalFields = new HashMap();
     optionalFields.put("CaseNumber", "C12.12343");
     optionalFields.put("Step","Assignment") ;
     optionalFields.put("Department","BPM") ;

     String LOB = "Business Administration" ;
     String Service = "DocumentService" ;
     String Process = "AddAttachements" ;
     String Reason = "Technical" ; 

     LOGGER.error().message("Conversion error 'incompatible PDF document'")
           .field("LOB",LOB)
           .field("Service", Service)
           .field("Process",Process)
           .field("Reason", Reason)
           .map("OptionalFields", optionalFields).log() ;
     }

  }

JSON Log Entry

  {
    "message": "Conversion error  'incompatible PDF document'",
    "LOB": "Business Administration",
    "Service": "DocumentService",
    "Process": "AddAttachements",
    "Reason": "Technical",
    "OptionalFields": {
     "Step": "Assignment",
     "Department": "BPM",
     "CaseNumber": "C12.12343"
    },
    "level": "ERROR",
    "thread_name": "main",
    "class": "com.reddipped.jsonlogger_2.Test",
    "@timestamp": "2016-09-23 10:18:06.623"
  }