Java logger that automatically determines caller's class name

Question

public static Logger getLogger() {
    final Throwable t = new Throwable();
    final StackTraceElement methodCaller = t.getStackTrace()[1];
    final Logger logger          


        

Answer 1

Why not?

public static Logger getLogger(Object o) {
  final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(o.getClass());
  logger.setLevel(ResourceManager.LOGLEVEL);
  return logger;
}

And then when you need a logger for a class:

getLogger(this).debug("Some log message")

Answer 2

You don't need to create a new Throwable object. You can just call Thread.currentThread().getStackTrace()[1]

Answer 3

Please see my static getLogger() implementation (use same "sun.*" magic on JDK 7 as default java Logger doit)

• note static logging methods (with static import) without ugly log property...

  import static my.pakg.Logger.*;

And their speed is equivalent to native Java implementation (checked with 1 million of log traces)

package my.pkg;

import java.text.MessageFormat;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.IllegalFormatException;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.LogRecord;

import sun.misc.JavaLangAccess;
import sun.misc.SharedSecrets;


public class Logger {
static final int CLASS_NAME = 0;
static final int METHOD_NAME = 1;

// Private method to infer the caller's class and method names
protected static String[] getClassName() {
    JavaLangAccess access = SharedSecrets.getJavaLangAccess();
    Throwable throwable = new Throwable();
    int depth = access.getStackTraceDepth(throwable);

    boolean lookingForLogger = true;
    for (int i = 0; i < depth; i++) {
        // Calling getStackTraceElement directly prevents the VM
        // from paying the cost of building the entire stack frame.
        StackTraceElement frame = access.getStackTraceElement(throwable, i);
        String cname = frame.getClassName();
        boolean isLoggerImpl = isLoggerImplFrame(cname);
        if (lookingForLogger) {
            // Skip all frames until we have found the first logger frame.
            if (isLoggerImpl) {
                lookingForLogger = false;
            }
        } else {
            if (!isLoggerImpl) {
                // skip reflection call
                if (!cname.startsWith("java.lang.reflect.") && !cname.startsWith("sun.reflect.")) {
                    // We've found the relevant frame.
                    return new String[] {cname, frame.getMethodName()};
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return new String[] {};
    // We haven't found a suitable frame, so just punt.  This is
    // OK as we are only committed to making a "best effort" here.
}

protected static String[] getClassNameJDK5() {
    // Get the stack trace.
    StackTraceElement stack[] = (new Throwable()).getStackTrace();
    // First, search back to a method in the Logger class.
    int ix = 0;
    while (ix < stack.length) {
        StackTraceElement frame = stack[ix];
        String cname = frame.getClassName();
        if (isLoggerImplFrame(cname)) {
            break;
        }
        ix++;
    }
    // Now search for the first frame before the "Logger" class.
    while (ix < stack.length) {
        StackTraceElement frame = stack[ix];
        String cname = frame.getClassName();
        if (isLoggerImplFrame(cname)) {
            // We've found the relevant frame.
            return new String[] {cname, frame.getMethodName()};
        }
        ix++;
    }
    return new String[] {};
    // We haven't found a suitable frame, so just punt.  This is
    // OK as we are only committed to making a "best effort" here.
}


private static boolean isLoggerImplFrame(String cname) {
    // the log record could be created for a platform logger
    return (
            cname.equals("my.package.Logger") ||
            cname.equals("java.util.logging.Logger") ||
            cname.startsWith("java.util.logging.LoggingProxyImpl") ||
            cname.startsWith("sun.util.logging."));
}

protected static java.util.logging.Logger getLogger(String name) {
    return java.util.logging.Logger.getLogger(name);
}

protected static boolean log(Level level, String msg, Object... args) {
    return log(level, null, msg, args);
}

protected static boolean log(Level level, Throwable thrown, String msg, Object... args) {
    String[] values = getClassName();
    java.util.logging.Logger log = getLogger(values[CLASS_NAME]);
    if (level != null && log.isLoggable(level)) {
        if (msg != null) {
            log.log(getRecord(level, thrown, values[CLASS_NAME], values[METHOD_NAME], msg, args));
        }
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

protected static LogRecord getRecord(Level level, Throwable thrown, String className, String methodName, String msg, Object... args) {
    LogRecord record = new LogRecord(level, format(msg, args));
    record.setSourceClassName(className);
    record.setSourceMethodName(methodName);
    if (thrown != null) {
        record.setThrown(thrown);
    }
    return record;
}

private static String format(String msg, Object... args) {
    if (msg == null || args == null || args.length == 0) {
        return msg;
    } else if (msg.indexOf('%') >= 0) {
        try {
            return String.format(msg, args);
        } catch (IllegalFormatException esc) {
            // none
        }
    } else if (msg.indexOf('{') >= 0) {
        try {
            return MessageFormat.format(msg, args);
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException exc) {
            // none
        }
    }
    if (args.length == 1) {
        Object param = args[0];
        if (param != null && param.getClass().isArray()) {
            return msg + Arrays.toString((Object[]) param);
        } else if (param instanceof Throwable){
            return msg;
        } else {
            return msg + param;
        }
    } else {
        return msg + Arrays.toString(args);
    }
}

public static void severe(String msg, Object... args) {
    log(Level.SEVERE, msg, args);
}

public static void warning(String msg, Object... args) {
    log(Level.WARNING, msg, args);
}

public static void info(Throwable thrown, String format, Object... args) {
    log(Level.INFO, thrown, format, args);
}

public static void warning(Throwable thrown, String format, Object... args) {
    log(Level.WARNING, thrown, format, args);
}

public static void warning(Throwable thrown) {
    log(Level.WARNING, thrown, thrown.getMessage());
}

public static void severe(Throwable thrown, String format, Object... args) {
    log(Level.SEVERE, thrown, format, args);
}

public static void severe(Throwable thrown) {
    log(Level.SEVERE, thrown, thrown.getMessage());
}

public static void info(String msg, Object... args) {
    log(Level.INFO, msg, args);
}

public static void fine(String msg, Object... args) {
    log(Level.FINE, msg, args);
}

public static void finer(String msg, Object... args) {
    log(Level.FINER, msg, args);
}

public static void finest(String msg, Object... args) {
    log(Level.FINEST, msg, args);
}

public static boolean isLoggableFinest() {
    return isLoggable(Level.FINEST);
}

public static boolean isLoggableFiner() {
    return isLoggable(Level.FINER);
}

public static boolean isLoggableFine() {
    return isLoggable(Level.FINE);
}

public static boolean isLoggableInfo() {
    return isLoggable(Level.INFO);
}

public static boolean isLoggableWarning() {
    return isLoggable(Level.WARNING);
}
public static boolean isLoggableSevere() {
    return isLoggable(Level.SEVERE);
}

private static boolean isLoggable(Level level) {
    return log(level, null);
}

}

Answer 4

Unless you really need your Logger to be static, you could use

final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(getClass());

Answer 5

You could of course just use Log4J with the appropriate pattern layout:

For example, for the class name "org.apache.xyz.SomeClass", the pattern %C{1} will output "SomeClass".

http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/apidocs/org/apache/log4j/PatternLayout.html

Answer 6

We actually have something quite similar in a LogUtils class. Yes, it's kind of icky, but the advantages are worth it as far as I'm concerned. We wanted to make sure we didn't have any overhead from it being repeatedly called though, so ours (somewhat hackily) ensures that it can ONLY be called from a static initializer context, a la:

private static final Logger LOG = LogUtils.loggerForThisClass();

It will fail if it's invoked from a normal method, or from an instance initializer (i.e. if the 'static' was left off above) to reduce the risk of performance overhead. The method is:

public static Logger loggerForThisClass() {
    // We use the third stack element; second is this method, first is .getStackTrace()
    StackTraceElement myCaller = Thread.currentThread().getStackTrace()[2];
    Assert.equal("<clinit>", myCaller.getMethodName());
    return Logger.getLogger(myCaller.getClassName());
}

Anyone who asks what advantage does this have over

= Logger.getLogger(MyClass.class);

has probably never had to deal with someone who copies and pastes that line from somewhere else and forgets to change the class name, leaving you dealing with a class which sends all its stuff to another logger.