• What is Logger?
• Documentation
• Download
• Change Log
• License

#What is Logger?

Logger is a PL/SQL logging and debugging framework. The goal of logger is to be as simple as possible to install and use. The primary use cases for this utility include:

• Debugging: It's often difficult to track down the source of an error without some form of debugging instrumentation. This is particularly true in multi-tier, stateless architectures such as Application Express.
• Error Logging: While most experts agree that it's important not to mask errors, it's also nice to have a persistent record of them.
• Timing: Logger has a very simple timing framework built-in that makes it easy to benchmark sections of code.
• Instrumentation: Because it's easy to "turn-off" logger globally with virtually no performance impact, it's easy to get in the habit of leaving debug calls in production code. Now, when something does go wrong, you simply flip the switch and logger is enabled making it much quicker to debug errors.

##Feedback/Issues Please submit any feedback, suggestions, or issues on the project's issue page.

##Demo

exec logger.log('hello world');

select * from logger_logs;
-- This will display all the logged logs

See the Logger API documentation for complete set of procedures.

#Documentation In order to keep this page relatively small and for ease of use, the documentation has been moved to the Logger Wiki. In there you you will find the following sections:

• Installation
• Logger API
• [Best Practices](../../wiki/Best Practices)

#Download It is recommended that you download a certified release (from the releases folder). The files in the current repository are for the next release and should be considered unstable.

#Change Log ##Version 2.1.0

• TODO check what was flagged in the 2.1.0 milestone
• Made ok_to_log (TODO link) public function
• If p_text is greater than 4000 characters, it automatically moves content to EXTRA column. (TODO thank Jurgen for this)

• TODO test
• TODO document

##Version 2.0.0

• Moved to GitHub and restructured / updated documentation
• Added p_params support and append_params function
• Client specific level setting (to enable logging based on client_id)
• New build script which will allow for future versions of logger to be updated. This was built off a 1.4.0 release.

##Version 1.4.0

• Fixed an issue detecting 11.2 RAC installations
• APEX no longer supported from a web-only installation if the schema was provisioned by APEX. Essentially the APEX team removed the "create any context" privelege when provisioning a new workspace, likely for security reasons. I (Tyler) agree with their choice, it unfortunately impacts logger.

##Version 1.3.0

• Fixed major flaw in time calculation used in time_start/time_stop
• Changed implementation of LOG_APEX_ITEMS to use the APEX views so explicit privs on wwv_flow_data are not required. Thanks to Scott Spendolini for this suggestion.

##Version 1.2.2

• Fixed an error with the admin security check reported by John Flack
• It is now possible to install logger in multiple schemas as the global context is now prefixed with the schema name. So, the global context name in the LOGGER schema would be LOGGER_LOGCTX and the SCOTT schema would be SCOTT_LOGCTX. Thanks to Bill Wheeling for reporting this one.

##Version 1.2.0

• New: PROTECT_ADMIN_PROCS preference which is TRUE by default, protects set_level, purge and purge_all. This means that only someone logged into the schema where logger is installed can call these procedures. The idea is that you could grant execute on logger to other schemas, but want to prevent them from changing the levels or purging the logs.
• New: preference called INCLUDE_CALL_STACK allows you to enable / disable logging of the full call stack for LEVELS greater than ERROR (such as debug). Logging the call stack does take additional resources and also requires additional storage per row. So, you can still read your debug messages, but you simply won't see the full call stack. The value is TRUE by default.
• New: CLOB parameter of "P_EXTRA" was added to call LOG... procedures. This populates a CLOB column in LOGGER_LOGS called "EXTRA". This column is also used by several new functions / procedures where the values are relatively large.
• New: logger.log_userenv procedure logs information obtained through sys_context('userenv'...), such as IP Address, NLS info, schema / user information. It's use is documented here.
• New: logger.log_cgi_env procedure grabs all output from owa_util.print_cgi_env and logs it to logger_logs.extra. Useful in debugging some APEX issues. It's use is documented here.
• New: logger.log_character_codes procedure supplements the output of the SQL DUMP() function, great for finding hidden carriage return / line feeds or other non-printable characters.It's use is documented here.
• Fixed set_level, purge and purge_all so they are now autonomous transactions (thanks Tony).

#License

Copyright (c) 2013, Tyler D. Muth, tylermuth.wordpress.com and contributors to the project at https://github.com/tmuth/Logger---A-PL-SQL-Logging-Utility All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

• Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
• Neither the name of Tyler D Muth, nor Oracle Corporation, nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.