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JSON log formatter
Here's a JSON log formatter for Python. I want to be able to log details of exceptions (and have some capability to debug-by-logs). I want to be able to log extra data in JSON format (in addition to a message string).
Is my approach sound, in general?
I distinguish between regular logging and exception logging by checking for presence of exc_info
. It works, but is it the right way to do it?
Am logging the exception info that I should be logging? Am I missing anything useful?
Here's what I wrote so far. (Work in progress, and I'm not married to this design.)
class JsonLogFormatter(logging.Formatter):
def __init__(self) -> None:
super().__init__()
def format(self, record):
log_record_dict = { "time": self.formatTime(record), "level": record.levelname, "message": record.message }
if record.exc_info is not None:
log_record_dict.update( {"exception": self.formatException(record.exc_info)} )
log_record_dict.update(record.args)
return json.dumps(log_record_dict, indent=None)
Log entry in the unhandled exception hook.
class UncaughtExceptionHook:
def __init__(self, logger):
self.logger = logger
sys.excepthook = self.exception_hook # It seemd sonvenient to register the hook with the system in the ctor. Future will show if this is future-proof.
def exception_hook(self, ex_type, ex_value, ex_traceback):
self.logger.critical(f"Unhandled exception.", exc_info=(ex_type, ex_value, ex_traceback))
sys.exit(1)
Calling code.
logger.info("hello JSON log entry")
logger.info("now with an attachment", {"foo": "Lorem ipsum"} )
#deliberate exception to check the UncaughtExceptionHook
raise ValueError("deliberate exception to check the UncaughtExceptionHook" )
Resulting log entries.
{"time": "2023-05-02 15:12:46,735", "level": "INFO", "message": "hello JSON log entry"}
{"time": "2023-05-02 15:12:53,643", "level": "INFO", "message": "now with an attachment", "foo": "Lorem ipsum"}
{"time": "2023-05-02 15:12:56,086", "level": "CRITICAL", "message": "Unhandled exception.", "exception": "Traceback (most recent call last):\n File \"C:\\Program Files\\WindowsApps\\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.11_3.11.1008.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\\Lib\\runpy.py\", line 198, in _run_module_as_main\n return _run_code(code, main_globals, None,\n ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n File \"C:\\Program Files\\WindowsApps\\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.11_3.11.1008.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\\Lib\\runpy.py\", line 88, in _run_code\n exec(code, run_globals)\n File \"c:\\Users\\User\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2023.6.1\\pythonFiles\\lib\\python\\debugpy\\adapter/../..\\debugpy\\launcher/../..\\debugpy\\__main__.py\", line 39, in <module>\n cli.main()\n File \"c:\\Users\\User\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2023.6.1\\pythonFiles\\lib\\python\\debugpy\\adapter/../..\\debugpy\\launcher/../..\\debugpy/..\\debugpy\\server\\cli.py\", line 430, in main\n run()\n File \"c:\\Users\\User\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2023.6.1\\pythonFiles\\lib\\python\\debugpy\\adapter/../..\\debugpy\\launcher/../..\\debugpy/..\\debugpy\\server\\cli.py\", line 284, in run_file\n runpy.run_path(target, run_name=\"__main__\")\n File \"c:\\Users\\User\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2023.6.1\\pythonFiles\\lib\\python\\debugpy\\_vendored\\pydevd\\_pydevd_bundle\\pydevd_runpy.py\", line 321, in run_path\n return _run_module_code(code, init_globals, run_name,\n ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n File \"c:\\Users\\User\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2023.6.1\\pythonFiles\\lib\\python\\debugpy\\_vendored\\pydevd\\_pydevd_bundle\\pydevd_runpy.py\", line 135, in _run_module_code\n _run_code(code, mod_globals, init_globals,\n File \"c:\\Users\\User\\.vscode\\extensions\\ms-python.python-2023.6.1\\pythonFiles\\lib\\python\\debugpy\\_vendored\\pydevd\\_pydevd_bundle\\pydevd_runpy.py\", line 124, in _run_code\n exec(code, run_globals)\n File \"C:\\Users\\User\\source\\repos\\KiCAD netlist reader\\test01.py\", line 59, in <module>\n raise ValueError(\"deliberate exception to check the UncaughtExceptionHook\" )\nValueError: deliberate exception to check the UncaughtExceptionHook"}
2 answers
I'd suggest using Black to format the code. While there are a number of formatters, it helps to pick one to make the code consistent. (See https://github.com/psf/black)
The use of .update({"exception": ...})
to insert a single item into a dictionary seems a bit of avoidable overhead.
The name log_record_dict
-- with a kind of type name at the end -- is something often called "Hungarian Notation". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_notation) This is something that is often avoided in Python programming.
1 comment thread
PEP 8
Four-space indentation is the community standard. There are many strategies for wrapping long lines; I have found that it's often best to just use temporary variables to avoid wrapping lines.
Avoid pointless classes
The UncaughtExceptionHook
class is a textbook example of the design Jack Diederich warns against in the provocatively-titled talk Stop Writing Classes. It really only exists to "bind" the logger
to later calls of exception_hook
; it doesn't conceptually represent any more than the callback function itself does, it doesn't need to modify internal state, and it only provides a single interface method. This makes it a prime candidate for refactoring to use a simple function with functools.partial
. As for registering the resulting exception hook, that can be done with a simple wrapper function.
import functools, sys
def log_uncaught_exception(logger, exc_type, exc_value, exc_traceback):
exc_info = (ex_type, ex_value, ex_traceback)
logger.critical(f"Unhandled exception.", exc_info=exc_info)
sys.exit(1)
def set_logging_exception_hook(logger):
sys.excepthook = functools.partial(log_uncaught_exception, logger)
Now there is a simple imperative interface for something that looks like an imperative task, rather than an object-oriented interface for something that doesn't look at all like a modeling task.
Avoid boilerplate
JsonLogFormatter.__init__
currently doesn't do anything different from the default. There is no benefit to writing anything here; wait until there is something to specify.
Simpler dict construction
Agreed that update
is overkill for adding a single key. Aside from that, dict unpacking can be used to simplify the syntax.
Putting the previous two hints together:
class JsonLogFormatter(logging.Formatter):
def format(self, record):
data = {
"time": self.formatTime(record),
"level": record.levelname,
"message": record.message
}
if record.exc_info is not None:
data["exception"] = self.formatException(record.exc_info)
return json.dumps({**data, **record.args}, indent=None)
1 comment thread