Correct usage Of LOG4J in Spring Framework Via DI

Question

I am trying to use Log4j as part of the Spring Framework, as far as i understand through the use of a an appropriate bean the system is supposed to map a singleton instance accessible in the code while mapping the logging depth automatically to the class

Similar to the normal use of Log4J as in

Logger log = Logger.getLogger(getClass());

i have been using the following Spring bean definition

<bean id="log4jInitialization"
class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.MethodInvokingFactoryBean">
    <property name="targetClass"
        value="org.springframework.util.Log4jConfigurer" />
    <property name="targetMethod" value="initLogging" />
    <property name="arguments">
        <list>
            <value>conf\log4j.xml</value>
        </list>
    </property>
</bean>

But i am unable to map this bean to a specific member in a given class nor am i able to use it through @autowired

Please let me know if there are any better ways to integrate Log4j and Spring

Best Regards

Mark

Answer 1

The short answer to your question is that log4j is not DI friendly.

The Log4jConfigurer.initLogging() method has a void return value, so there's nothing to inject. The idea is that you call that method, which bootstraps log4j, and then you use the Log4j API as usual (using Logger.getLogger(getClass())).

You generally wouldn't configure Log4jConfigurer as a Spring bean, though, but more usually you'd invoke it directly from your own code during application startup.

If this is a webapp, then Spring provides alternatives to Log4jConfigurer that are better suited to that environment (Log4jWebConfigurer, Log4jConfigListener).

Incidentally, 2 years ago I filed a feature request to allow loggers to be autowired, and it's finally been marked as fix for Spring 3.1. Horray.