thehelp-core

Basic logging, environment and error management functionality for javascript client/server applications.

Features

breadcrumbs to help with errors:
- add() tracking them propagating through your callbacks
- newError() ensuring callstacks on the client
- toString() preparing them for logs

Client-only:

Basic winston and util shims for use with requirejs

Server-only:

logs.setupFile()/setupConsole() for quick winston setup on the server (if winston is installed - if not, these methods do nothing. Tested with winston@0.7.x and winston@0.8.x)
env.merge() method to merge data from '<CWD>/env.js' (or '<CWD>/env.json', or a path you specify) with values already on process.env

Supported browsers

Sadly, IE9 and Safari5 are both unwilling to give us callstacks. We won't crash, but you'll get empty strings for stacks and breadcrumbs like this: '**breadcrumb: <empty>'. Android 4.0 has two extra keys printed out from exceptions: arguments and type.

(please pardon the sauce labs bug - errors in these downlevel browsers aren't resulting in highlights for the right versions...)

Setup

First install the project as a dependency:

npm install thehelp-core --save

Usage

On the server, just require it and start using it!

var core = require('thehelp-core');
core.env.merge();
core.logs.setupConsole();
core.logs.setupFile('./logs/server.log');

On the client side, you'll just need to tell requirejs a few things:

requirejs.config({
  baseUrl: '/',
  paths: {
    'thehelp-core': 'node_modules/thehelp-core/dist/thehelp-core',

    // you can use the provided shims like this:
    util: 'node_modules/thehelp-core/dist/shims/util_shim',
    winston: 'node_modules/thehelp-core/dist/shims/winston_shim'
  }
})

Then you can use thehelp-core in your client code (or code that works client/server):

if (typeof define !== 'function') {
  var define = require('amdefine')(module);
}

define(['thehelp-core'], function(core) {

  return function(param, cb) {
    asyncMethod(param, function(err, result) {
      if (core.breadcrumbs.add(err, cb, {param: param})) {
        return;
      }

      return cb(null, result):
    });
  };

});

Detailed Documentation

Detailed docs be found at this project's GitHub Pages, thanks to groc: http://thehelp.github.io/core

Contributing changes

The client-side dev and dist tests under 'test/integration' will be your friend. :0) They'll help you ensure that the client-side part of this library is working properly. Use grunt connect:keepalive to test it in your browser.

Please cover as many browsers as you can, or use grunt cross-browser with your Sauce Credentials in env.json. When you have some changes ready, please submit a pull request with:

Justification - why is this change worthwhile? Link to issues, use code samples, etc.
Documentation changes for your code updates. Be sure to check the groc-generated HTML with grunt doc
A description of how you tested the change. Don't forget about the very-useful npm link command :0)

I may ask you to use a git rebase to ensure that your commits are not interleaved with commits already in the history. And of course, make sure grunt completes successfully (take a look at the requirements for thehelp-project). :0)

License

(The MIT License)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.