Sailor Logger

Information about currently used logger in components and how to implement it in your components. This document describes the changes in node.js sailor from January 2020.

Description

Information about currently used logger in components and how to implement it in your components. This document describes the changes in node.js sailor from January 2020.

As of elastic.io platform version 20.03 a new executions page is introduced. Unlike the main dashboard which shows log statements from both console.log() and this.logger.info(), the new executions page will show the logs if you enveloper your message in this.logger.info().

To take advantage of this new executions page your component must use this.logger.info() to envelope the messages or in technical terms your must switch to bunyan logging framework and upgrade the Sailor version to at least 2.5.4.

About the Built-In Logger

Every process() function will have a property logger attached to the context of the function that can be accessed by referencing this.

The logger object is an instance of a Bunyan Logger. It exposes 6 levels of log statements (from highest to lowest):

  • this.logger.fatal - The service/app is going to stop or become unusable now. An operator should immediately look into this soon.
  • this.logger.error - This is fatal for a particular request, but the service/app continues servicing other requests. An operator should look at this soon(ish).
  • this.logger.warn - This is a note on something that should probably be looked at by an operator eventually.
  • this.logger.info - This is a detail on regular operation.
  • this.logger.debug - This is something else, i.e. too verbose to be included in info level.
  • this.logger.trace - This is logging from external libraries used by your app or very detailed application logging.

Please Note: Only statements with level info or higher will appear on the executions page.

Most other exported functions (e.g. verifyCredenitals(), getMetaModel() and functions which populate dynamic drop-downs) also have this logger attached. However, the logger is not available in the init(), shutdown() or startup() functions. As of 20.03 it is no longer possible to record log statements from those functions.

How to Use the Built-In Logger

In a component process() function

Instead of

    module.exports.process = async function process(msg, cfg, snapshot) {
            console.log('Incoming message is %s', JSON.stringify(msg));
            const body = { result : 'Hello world!' };
            await this.emit('data', { body });
            console.log('Execution finished');
    }

Do

    module.exports.process = async function process(msg, cfg, snapshot) {
            this.logger.info('Incoming message is %s', JSON.stringify(msg));
            const body = { result : 'Hello world!' };
            await this.emit('data', { body });
            this.logger.info('Execution finished');
    }

Please Note: If you call into a child function from within your parent process function, you will need to pass the logger as an argument to the child function.

Instead of

    async function buildMessage(resultText) {
            console.log(resultText);
            return { body: { result : 'Hello world!' }};
    }

    module.exports.process = async function process(msg, cfg, snapshot) {
            const message = buildMessage('Hello world!');
            await this.emit('data', { body });
    }

Do

    async function buildMessage(logger, resultText) {
            logger.info(resultText);
            return { body: { result : 'Hello world!' }};
    }

    module.exports.process = async function process(msg, cfg, snapshot) {
            const message = buildMessage(this.logger, 'Hello world!');
            await this.emit('data', { body });
    }

or do

    async function buildMessage(resultText) {
            this.logger.info(resultText);
            return { body: { result : 'Hello world!' }};
    }

    module.exports.process = async function process(msg, cfg, snapshot) {
            const message = buildMessage.call(this, 'Hello world!');
            await this.emit('data', { body });
    }

Java

Currently, the Java Sailor does not expose a logger that is capable of recording log statements on the new executions page. For flows which use components that are written in Java, it is advised to continue using the old executions interface.