@mangos/debug

@mangos/debug

@mangos/debug is an esm (and also a commonjs) ultra fast mini-logger written in typescript.

It was created because the current version of npm debug does not have an esm module.

Highlights

• turn on/off logging namespace/scope logging in real time.
• works in web agent as-well in node
• optional tty colors or css colors separating different namespaces
• optional shows ms (humanized time) difference between logs
• optional shows full date time (for log files)
• lazy conversion from data to log string (only evaluates when it logs);

Installation

npm i @mangos/debug

Quick Example

This example shows the main features

index.js

import debug from '@mangos/debug';

// logger for namespace "worker#1"
const printer1 = debug('worker#1');

// logger for namespace "worker#2"
const printer2 = debug('worker#2');

const obj1 = { name: 'Frank', lastName: 'Herbert' };
const obj2 = { name: 'Sandra', lastName: 'Smith' };

printer1('person: %o', obj1); // first time "worker#1" logs

// wait 1 sec
await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));

printer2('person: %o', obj2); // first time "worker#2" logs

// wait 1 sec
await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));

printer1('person: %o', obj1); // second time "worker#1" logs, (2s after the prev log)
printer2('person: %o', obj2); // second time "worker#2" logs, (1s after the prev log)

Run it with:

env DEBUG=* node index.js

output:

Concepts

Terms

term	description
printer	a instance of a logger scoped by a namespace name on creation of the printer
namespace	a human identifiable name partitioning logging in your program

Namespace & Printer

A printer is always associated with a namespace, and is created via the function debug.

A printer is an implementation of interface Printer.

How to create a printer

function debug(ns: string): Printer;

Arguments:

• ns: namespace

Returns:

export interface Printer {
  // the interface is callable
  (formatter: string, ...args: any[]): void;
  get color(): string;
  get diff(): number;
  get enabled(): boolean;
  get namespace(): string;
}

Properties on Printer:

• color: css or tty color for this logger, unless configuration option DEBUG_COLORS is set to false.
• diff: time difference (ms) since the last time this Printer was called.
• enabled: If this logger (namespace) is enabled or not. Enabling of a namespace depends on configuration option DEBUG.
• namespace: The namespace this logger belongs to.

NOTE: The single namespace can have multiple Printer instances, they all refer to the same Printer.

index.js

import debug from '@mangos/debug';

import assert from 'node:assert';

const printer1 = debug('#worker1'); // same namespace
const printer2 = debug('#worker1'); // same namespace

printer1('some logging');
await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 500));

printer1('some logging');

assert(printer1.diff === printer2.diff); // same 0.5 sec
assert(printer1.enabled === printer2.enabled);
assert(printer1.color === printer2.color);
assert(printer1.namespace === printer2.namespace);

output:

Configuration

DEBUG

specify as:

• shell environment variable DEBUG
• entry in localStorage in window.localStorage.setItem("DEBUG", "*,-queue")

Contains a list of comma separated names or patterns of namespaces to allow logging for.

value	description
*	wildcard:
	* matches everything
	worker* matches namespaces starting with worker
	*.disk matches namespaces ending with .disk
-	negation:
	-accounts does not match namespaces ending with accounts

Example: allow all logging for all namespaces, except the ones ending with "accounts"

env DEBUG="*,-accounts" node index.js

Runtime override (web)

Change the value of DEBUG in localStorage and call the function evalAllNS() to re-evaluate the enabling of all existing printers.

import { evalAllNS } from '@mangos/debug';

window.localStorage.setItem('DEBUG', '*,-login'); // or do this manually in dev console
// must call this afterwards to effect changes
evalAllNS(); // re-evaluate currently existing Printers/Namespaces

Runtime override (node)

The DEBUG environment variable value is copied to an internal state at process startup. This internal value can be changed via setConfig

import { setConfig } from '@mangos/debug';

setConfig({ namespaces: '*,!-blog123' }); //this will override the value of "DEBUG".

DEBUG_COLORS

Printers should use ansi colors (tty) or css colors (web dev console)

specify as:

• shell environment variable DEBUG_COLORS
• entry in localStorage in window.localStorage.setItem("DEBUG_COLORS", "F")

the value is a boolean string

Value will be regarded as true if it matches case insensitive comparison "T", "TRUE" and false if it matches case insensitive comparison "F", "FALSE".

If DEBUG_HIDE_DATE is false, setting this value will have no effect.

The default value of DEBUG_COLORS will be taken as "true".

Runtime override (web)

Change the value of DEBUG_COLORS in localStorage and call the function evalAllNS() to re-evaluate the enabling of all existing printers.

import { evalAllNS } from '@mangos/debug';

window.localStorage.setItem('DEBUG_COLORS', 'F'); // or do this manually in dev console

// must call this afterwards to effect changes
evalAllNS(); // re-evaluate currently existing Printers/Namespaces

Runtime override (node)

The DEBUG_COLORS environment variable value is copied to an internal state at process startup. This internal value can be changed via setConfig.

import { setConfig } from '@mangos/debug';

setConfig({ useColors: false }); //this will override the value of "DEBUG_COLORS".

DEBUG_HIDE_DATE

Printers should prefix any logging line with an ISO 8601 string.

specify as:

• shell environment variable DEBUG_HIDE_DATEZ
• entry in localStorage in window.localStorage.setItem("DEBUG_HIDE_DATE", "F")

the value is a boolean string

Value will be regarded as true if it matches case insensitive comparison "T", "TRUE" and false if it matches case insensitive comparison "F", "FALSE".

Runtime override (web)

Change the value of DEBUG_HIDE_DATE in localStorage and call the function evalAllNS() to re-evaluate the enabling of all existing printers.

import { evalAllNS } from '@mangos/debug';

window.localStorage.setItem('DEBUG_HIDE_DATE', 'F'); // or do this manually in dev console

// must call this afterwards to effect changes
evalAllNS(); // re-evaluate currently existing Printers/Namespaces

Runtime override (node)

The DEBUG_HIDE_DATE environment variable value is copied to an internal state at process startup. This internal value can be changed via setConfig.

import { setConfig } from '@mangos/debug';

// equal to DEBUG_HIDE_DATE=true
setConfig({ showDate: false }); //this will override the value of "DEBUG_COLORS".

Query actively used config

Use the function getConfig to query the actively used config, (including runtime overrides)

type Config = {
  namespaces: string; // see DEBUG
  showDate: boolean; // see DEBUG_HIDE_DATE
  useColors: boolean; // see DEBUG_COLORS
  web: boolean;
};

function getConfig(): Config;

Example:

import { setConfig, getConfig } from '@mangos/debug';

setConfig({ namespace: 'worker*' });

getConfig();
// ->
// {
//  namespaces: 'worker*',
//  showDate: false,
//  useColors: true,
//  web: false
// }