Future Issues

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Requirements for this Issue

The source code in this issue is designed for all versions of Visual Basic 4.0 or greater. It should work in 16-bit and 32-bit modes. Similiar techniques can be used in VB 3.0.

In this Issue

We will introduce the first version of a logging class (this is an issue that will probably be enhanced later on this year depending on user feedback). There are several instances where having a log file of the events that occur, procedures called and variable values while running your application are useful. This logging class lets you include statements throughout your code to be written out to a log file.

A couple of situations where this is useful are:

• While debugging Visual Basic applications the order of events and procedures called can be different in the IDE (integrated development environment) and the compiled EXE. This can make debugging very difficult. Using the log file can let you see exactly what was called when.
• Debugging a released application. You can turn on the logging function through a menu choice or an INI file option. Have the end-user run the portion of code that is causing a problem and then have them email or fax you the log file.

cLogFile Class

Properties

• Filename - (String) - The name of the log file that is written to disk. This defaults to DEBUG.LOG in the application directory.
• IndentAmount - (Integer) - This is the additional amount each line gets indented when using the Push/Pop methods. This defaults to 3 spaces.
• Active - (Boolean) - This property would be set to activate or deactivate writing to the log file. Setting this to TRUE will force the Output, Push, Pop methods to write data to the output file. If this is FALSE, it will not write any data to the log file.

Methods

• Output sMsg - Writes a line to the log file. This method automatically puts the date/time at the beginning of each line. sMsg is the text that will be written to the log file.
• Push sMsg - Increases the indent level and writes a line to the log file. sMsg is the text that will be written to the log file.
• Pop sMsg - Decreases the indent level and writes a line to the log file. sMsg is the text that will be written to the log file.
• Remove - Erases the log file. Uses the filename specified by the Filename property. Returns True if no errors occurred during the erasing of the log file.

Sample Log File

Sample Usage

Public gLogFile as New cLogFile

gLogFile.Active = True
gLogFile.Output "Here's a line for the log file"
gLogFile.Push "This should be indented one level"
gLogFile.Push "This should be indented another level"
gLogFile.Pop "This should be unindented one level"
gLogFile.Pop "This should be unindented another level"
gLogFile.Active = False

Putting the Public definition in a BAS module probably makes the most sense since it can then be used throughout your entire application.

Source Code

To see the source code for this issue you must be a subscriber to Code of the Week. If you are a subscriber the source code is available at the following address: http://www.codeoftheweek.com/membersonly/bi/0008.html

Comments on the Source Code

If you would like to see this class module enhanced to include additional features, drop us an email at info@codeoftheweek.com and if we get some good response we will enhance the source code shown in this issue. Some enhancements are including an option to show available memory and resources to help find places in your code where resources are being lost.

Summary

That concludes this issue of COTW. We hope you find the source code useful in your development.

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