console-dictation

PROJECT GOALS

The goal of this project was to make a convenient way to have persistent terminal logging.

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Installation

npm i console-dictation

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Quick Start (CommonJS)

1. Require the package

const dictator = require('console-dictation')

2. Use package methods to start logging

dictator.system("Hello, world!")

Quick Start (ESModule)

1. Require the package

import dictator from 'console-dictator'

2. Use package methods to start logging

dictator.system("Hello, world!")

Usage

Documentation below, for examples please see examples and demos

Configuration

Paths

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By default the paths where the logs are stored are as follows:

System log	Error log	Miscellaneous log
<CWD>/logs/sys/sys.log	<CWD>/logs/error/err.log	<CWD>/logs/misc/misc.log

You can use the config method to overwrite or create new logging paths:

const { config } = require('console-dictation')

config({ 
  paths: { <SOME_PATH_KEY>: string, ... }, 
  log_names: { <SOME_PATH_KEY>: string, ... } 
})

Where paths indicated the log folder path (excluding the file), and the log_names indicate the log filename.

Indexing

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console-dictation comes with a disabled indexer out of the box. Enable indexing functionality through the config method:

const { config } = require('console-dictation')

config({ 
  indexing_config: {
    indexing: true
  }
})

Indexing has a built-in dependancy array (i.e., X makes a log whenever a log is made in Y):

System log	Error log	Miscellaneous log
none	[system]	[system]

You can pass a new dependancy array of callable logging methods (i.e., system, error, and misc) to replace the dependancies stored in local memory through the config method:

const { config } = require('console-dictation')

config({
  indexing_config: {
    dependencies: {
      SYS: ['misc', 'error'],
      ERR: []
    }
  }
})

Retrieving Configuration

Dictator configuration is stored in local memory. You can use the following commands to find the local configuration.

const { getPaths, getLogNames, getConfig } = require('console-dictation')

let paths = getPaths()          // { PATH_KEY: PATH, ... }

let log_names = getLogNames()   // { LOG_KEY: LOG_FILENAME, ... }

let config = getConfig()        // {PATHS: { PATH_KEY: PATH, ... }, LOG_NAMES: { LOG_KEY: LOG_FILENAME, ... }}, INDEXING_CONFIG: {indexing: boolean, dependencies: {LOG_KEY: []}}

Logs

System log	Error log	Miscellaneous log
system( message: string )	error( message: string )	misc( message: string )
report({ type: 0, message: string })	report({ type:1, message: string })	report({ type:2, message: string })

Note: report with missing type parameter or unknown type parameter will default to a miscellaneous log.

Each log type includes an optional path parameter. This can be used to manually change log path of that specific message:

const { system } = require('console-dictation')

system( message: string, path ?: { PATH: string, LOG_NAME: string } )

Examples

Example 1: simple express logging

const dictator = require('console-dictation')
const express = require('express')

const app = express()

app.listen(3000, () => dictator.system(`connected to booking server: port ${port}`))

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Example 2: utilize destructuring

const { system } = require('console-dictation')
const express = require('express')

const app = express()

app.listen(3000, () => system(`connected to booking server: port ${port}`))

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Demos

This module has two demos prepared for an ESModule/MJS enviroment and a CommonJS enviromment.

ESModule

ESM demo code can be found here.

1. Clone this repo

git clone https://github.com/spiltbeans/console-dictation.git

2. CD into demo folder

cd ./demos/mjs

3. Run start script

npm start

5. Inspect logs

CommonJS

CJS demo code can be found here.

1. Clone this repo

git clone https://github.com/spiltbeans/console-dictation.git

2. CD into demo folder

cd ./demos/cjs

3. Run start script

npm start

5. Inspect logs