Logger: build log-message as data, postpone actual logging

Ok, now I can write about it.

To be able to listen to the data for given process, then you need to instantiate your own handler. Simplest approach to that would be:

defmodule CaptureStructuredLogs do
  def capture_log(callback) do
    this = self()
    handler_id = :"handler_#{inspect(this)}"

    :ok = :logger.add_handler(handler_id, __MODULE__, %{config: %{pid: this}})
    try do
      callback.()
    after
      :logger.remove_handler(handler_id)
    end

    fetch_all_messages([])
  end

  defp fetch_all_messages(messages) do
    receive do
      {{__MODULE__, :log}, log_event} ->
        fetch_all_messages([log_event | messages])
    after
      0 -> Enum.reverse(messages)
    end
  end

  def adding_handler(%{config: %{pid: pid}} = config) when is_pid(pid), do: {:ok, config}
  def adding_handler(_), do: {:error, :required_pid}

  def log(log_event, %{config: %{pid: pid}}) do
    send(pid, {{__MODULE__, :log}, log_event)
  end
end

Now you can use it like “old” function:

test "capture log" do
  import CaptureStructuredLogs
  require Logger
  assert [%{msg: {:report, %{key: "value"}}}] = capture_log(fn -> Logger.error(%{key: "value"}) end)
end

I would just slap logging in place. While this mean that there is a little of “impurity” in “core” that doesn’t really matter, as that “impurity” do not affect the overall system. So unless there are other considerations that you do not listed in your post, then I would just do not care about it.

However if you want to have it just in case when you need debugging, then you probably would prefer setup dynamic tracing on that function.

If you just want to test logging, can use CaptureLog:

  test "capture error log" do
    import ExUnit.CaptureLog
    require Logger
    assert capture_log(fn -> Logger.error("?") end) =~ "?"
  end