NAME

       Log::LogLite - The "Log::LogLite" class helps us create simple logs for our application.

SYNOPSIS

         use Log::LogLite;
         my $LOG_DIRECTORY = "/where/ever/our/log/file/should/be";
         my $ERROR_LOG_LEVEL = 6;

         # create new Log::LogLite object
         my $log = new Log::LogLite($LOG_DIRECTORY."/error.log", $ERROR_LOG_LEVEL);

         ...

         # we had an error
         $log->write("Could not open the file ".$file_name.": $!", 4);

DESCRIPTION

       In order to have a log we have first to create a "Log::LogLite" object.  The
       c<Log::LogLite> object is created with a logging level. The default logging level is 5.
       After the "Log::LogLite" object is created, each call to the "write" method may write a
       new line in the log file. If the level of the message is lower or equal to the logging
       level, the message will be written to the log file. The format of the logging messages can
       be controled by changing the template, and by defining a default message.  The class uses
       the IO::LockedFile class.

CONSTRUCTOR

       new ( FILEPATH [,LEVEL [,DEFAULT_MESSAGE ]] )
           The constructor. FILEPATH is the path of the log file. LEVEL is the defined logging
           level - the LEVEL data member. DEFAULT_MESSAGE will define the DEFAULT_MESSAGE data
           member - a message that will be added to the message of each entry in the log
           (according to the TEMPLATE data member, see below).

           The levels can be any levels that the user chooses to use. There are, though,
           recommended levels:
                 0  the application is unusable
                 1  the application is going to be unusable
                 2  critical conditions
                 3  error conditions
                 4  warning conditions
                 5  normal but significant condition
                 6  informational
                 7+ debug-level messages

           The default value of LEVEL is 5.  The default value of DEFAULT_MESSAGE is "".  Returns
           the new object.

METHODS

       write( MESSAGE [, LEVEL ] )
           If LEVEL is less or equal to the LEVEL data member, or if LEVEL is undefined, the
           string in MESSAGE will be written to the log file.  Does not return anything.

       level( [ LEVEL ] )
           Access method to the LEVEL data member. If LEVEL is defined, the LEVEL data member
           will get its value.  Returns the value of the LEVEL data member.

       default_message( [ MESSAGE ] )
           Access method to the DEFAULT_MESSAGE data member. If MESSAGE is defined, the
           DEFAULT_MESSAGE data member will get its value.  Returns the value of the
           DEFAULT_MESSAGE data member.

       log_line_numbers( [ BOOLEAN ] )
           If this flag is set to true, the <called_by> string will hold the file that calls the
           subroutine and the line where the call is issued. The default value is zero.

       template( [ TEMPLATE ] )
           Access method to the TEMPLATE data member. The TEMPLATE data member is a string that
           defines how the log entries will look like. The default TEMPLATE is:

           '[<date>] <<level>> <called_by><default_message><message>'

           Where:

                 <date>           will be replaced by a string that represent
                                   the date. For example: 09/01/2000 17:00:13
                 <level>          will be replaced by the level of the entry.
                 <called_by>       will be replaced by a call trace string. For
                                   example:
                                   CGIDaemon::listen > MyCGIDaemon::accepted
                 <default_message> will be replaced by the value of the
                                   DEFAULT_MESSAGE data member.
                 <message>         will be replaced by the message string that
                                   is sent to the C<write> method.

           Returns the value of the TEMPLATE data member.

AUTHOR

       Rani Pinchuk, rani@cpan.org

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2001-2002 Ockham Technology N.V. & Rani Pinchuk.  All rights reserved.  This
       package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as
       Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

       IO::LockedFile(3)