Rails spinoffs - Sep 2005 - Logging to the server

I could never get the hang of logging to an area on the current page. 
Also, there are cases where I want to keep track of logged information. 
Fortunately, there''s a surprisingly simple alternative: logging to the 
server. Below is my first stab using prototype.js (of course) and 
Rails.

Michael


Logger = {
  loggingUrl: ''/myapp/admin/log'',
  debug: false,

  log: function(msg, level) {
    if (!loggingUrl) {
      return;
    }
    try {
      new Ajax.Request(Logger.loggingUrl, {
        parameters: ''msg='' + encodeURIComponent(msg) +
          ''&level='' + encodeURIComponent(level),
        method: ''post'',
        asynchronous: true
      });
    } catch (e) {
      if (Logger.debug) {
        alert("Logging error\nMessage: " + msg +
          "\nError: " + Object.inspect(e));
      }
    }
  },
  debug: function(msg) {
    Logger.log(msg, ''debug'');
  },
  error: function(msg) {
    Logger.log(msg, ''error'');
  },
  warn: function(msg) {
    Logger.log(msg, ''warn'');
  }
}


class Admin::LogController < ActionController::Base
  def log
    severity = LEVELS.index(params[:level].to_s.upcase) || Logger::DEBUG
    logger.log(severity, params[:msg])
    render :nothing => true
  end

  private

  LEVELS = %w( DEBUG INFO WARN ERROR FATAL UNKNOWN )
end

-- 
Michael Schuerig                            You can twist perceptions
mailto:michael@schuerig.de                        Reality won''t budge
http://www.schuerig.de/michael/               --Rush, Show Don''t Tell