eScript Framework - Logging Variables

Here is another entry into the logging framework previously discussed. The idea behind this function is to Log multiple variable values to separate lines of our log file using a single line of script. This keeps our script pristine and makes the log file well organized and easy to read. The script to call the function is as follows:

Log.stepVars("Record Found", bFound, " Account Id", sId);

The expected arguments are name/value pairs where the name is a descriptive string (could just be the name of the variable) and the value is the variable itself that we want to track. There is no limit to the number of pairs. There is an optional last parameter to indicate the enterprise logging level (stored in system parameters) above which this line should be written.

The results will be written to the log file as:

06/29/2010 13:33:53 ................Record Found: Y
06/29/2010 13:33:53 ..................Account Id: 1-ADR45

The script to implement follows. This is meant to be added as a new method in the 'eScript Log Framework' business service.

function stepVars () {
  var Args = arguments.length;
  var iLvl = (Args % 2 == 0 ? 0 : arguments[Args - 1]);
  var iParams = (Args % 2 == 0 ? Args : Args - 1;
  var sProp, sValue;

  for (var i=0; i < iParams; i++) {
    sProp = arguments[i++]+": ";
    sValue = arguments[i];
    Log.step(sProp.lPad(30, ".")+sValue, iLvl);
  }
}

Also, a new line will need to be added to the Init section to instantiate this function on Application start:

Log.prototype.stepVars = stepVars;

I want to draw particular attention to two java features which may be useful in other applications. The first is how to reference a variable number of arguments in a function call. Notice the special array variable, 'arguments'. This array is defined as all of the arguments passed to this function with no special declarations. It can be referenced just like any other array. There are some exceptions with how this array can be manipulated though with push() and pop() not working as you might expect.

The second, is how to assign a variable using an inline if, ( condition ? value if true : value if false). The condition is any expression that will evaluate to either true or false. The first expression after the ? is the value returned if the condition evaluates to true, and the last expression is what is returned if the consition evaluates to false.