org.apache.log4j
Class FileAppender

java.lang.Object
  org.apache.log4j.AppenderSkeleton
      org.apache.log4j.WriterAppender
          org.apache.log4j.FileAppender

All Implemented Interfaces:

Appender, OptionHandler

Direct Known Subclasses:

DailyRollingFileAppender, RollingFileAppender

public class FileAppender

extends WriterAppender

FileAppender appends log events to a file.

Support for java.io.Writer and console appending has been deprecated and then removed. See the replacement solutions: WriterAppender and ConsoleAppender.

fileAppend

protected boolean fileAppend

Append to or truncate the file? The default value for this variable is true, meaning that by default a FileAppender will append to an existing file and not truncate it.

This option is meaningful only if the FileAppender opens the file.

fileName

protected String fileName

The name of the log file.

bufferedIO

protected boolean bufferedIO

Do we do bufferedIO?

bufferSize

protected int bufferSize

How big should the IO buffer be? Default is 8K.

FileAppender

public FileAppender()

The default constructor does not do anything.

FileAppender

public FileAppender(Layout layout,
                    String filename,
                    boolean append,
                    boolean bufferedIO,
                    int bufferSize)
             throws IOException

Instantiate a FileAppender and open the file designated by filename. The opened filename will become the output destination for this appender.

If the append parameter is true, the file will be appended to. Otherwise, the file designated by filename will be truncated before being opened.

If the bufferedIO parameter is true, then buffered IO will be used to write to the output file.

FileAppender

public FileAppender(Layout layout,
                    String filename,
                    boolean append)
             throws IOException

Instantiate a FileAppender and open the file designated by filename. The opened filename will become the output destination for this appender.

If the append parameter is true, the file will be appended to. Otherwise, the file designated by filename will be truncated before being opened.

FileAppender

public FileAppender(Layout layout,
                    String filename)
             throws IOException

Instantiate a FileAppender and open the file designated by filename. The opened filename will become the output destination for this appender.

The file will be appended to.

setFile

public void setFile(String file)

The File property takes a string value which should be the name of the file to append to.

Note that the special values "System.out" or "System.err" are no longer honored.

Note: Actual opening of the file is made when activateOptions() is called, not when the options are set.

getAppend

public boolean getAppend()

Returns the value of the Append option.

getFile

public String getFile()

Returns the value of the File option.

activateOptions

public void activateOptions()

If the value of File is not null, then setFile(java.lang.String) is called with the values of File and Append properties.

Specified by:

activateOptions in interface OptionHandler

Overrides:

activateOptions in class WriterAppender

Since:

0.8.1

closeFile

protected void closeFile()

Closes the previously opened file.

getBufferedIO

public boolean getBufferedIO()

Get the value of the BufferedIO option.

BufferedIO will significatnly increase performance on heavily loaded systems.

getBufferSize

public int getBufferSize()

Get the size of the IO buffer.

setAppend

public void setAppend(boolean flag)

The Append option takes a boolean value. It is set to true by default. If true, then File will be opened in append mode by setFile (see above). Otherwise, setFile will open File in truncate mode.

Note: Actual opening of the file is made when activateOptions() is called, not when the options are set.

setBufferedIO

public void setBufferedIO(boolean bufferedIO)

The BufferedIO option takes a boolean value. It is set to false by default. If true, then File will be opened and the resulting Writer wrapped around a BufferedWriter. BufferedIO will significatnly increase performance on heavily loaded systems.

setBufferSize

public void setBufferSize(int bufferSize)

Set the size of the IO buffer.

setFile

public void setFile(String fileName,
                    boolean append,
                    boolean bufferedIO,
                    int bufferSize)
             throws IOException

Sets and opens the file where the log output will go. The specified file must be writable.

If there was already an opened file, then the previous file is closed first.

Do not use this method directly. To configure a FileAppender or one of its subclasses, set its properties one by one and then call activateOptions.

Parameters:

fileName - The path to the log file.

append - If true will append to fileName. Otherwise will truncate fileName.

Throws:

IOException

setQWForFiles

protected void setQWForFiles(Writer writer)

Sets the quiet writer being used. This method is overriden by RollingFileAppender.

reset

protected void reset()

Close any previously opened file and call the parent's reset.

Overrides:

reset in class WriterAppender