ofLog default level does not match description in comments

[bilderbuchi]

Comments say that the default log level is OF_LOG_NOTICE.
The source says the default is OF_LOG_WARNING.
This can be easily checked - adding ofLog(OF_LOG_NOTICE, "Test"); does not produce output.

So, should the source or the docs be corrected? Should the default level be notice or warning?

[danomatika]

I noticed this as well and agree, the default should be notice as long as the core dosen't print any notices by default ... most of it's stuff is verbose I believe.

[bilderbuchi]

I'm not sure. I think I prefer Warning as default. Here is why:
A warning (and above) is triggered when something is wrong, so the user has to be notified about it at default settings.
If the user wants to know more about what goes on under the hood, he can always switch to Notice, or if he prefers to catch all output, even Verbose.
As to default-Notice, but the core shouldn't print any: doesn't that make the notice level absurd? The error level should be determined by the message "severity"/content, not by location in the code.
This could all be argued of course; that's what this issue report is about...

[danomatika]

Sure. Except that you end up having to explicitly send warning level logs or, as I do, just us cout if you want something to be printed.

You misunderstand me. I know what the log levels are there for. My interpretation of log notice is that it is the normal (cout, printf, etc) level for sending messages to the console. As you say, its not used in the core, only warnings, errors, and verbose. To me notice is what I would use for regular log status messages, prints, etc and to use it in this way, I have to set the log level to notice in every project. I have been lazy and just use cout, so it seems kind of pointless from a use case perspective NOT to have notice as the default level.

[bilderbuchi]

When you put it that way, I agree, default Notice does sound more sensible. :-)
Would be great to hear what TAZ think about this. I'll happily make a PR (for the one line of code, ha!) when we reach a decision.
Then I could also finalise #854, at last.

[danomatika]

Also, when I rewrote ofLog, I assumed notice would be the default level. Even now running this:

ofLog() << "a test string";

Prints at the notice level and is not printed since warning is set by default.

[danomatika]

One more point.

Since notice is a default level where you just want to print something normally, I think it shouldn't print the header at all, or at least the log level string.

So you'd have this:

a test string

instead of this

OF: OF_LOG_NOTICE: a test string

Perhaps that breaks the convention, but I dont see the need for the header beyond the error, warning, and verbose levels. The log topic should stay in all log level headers.

[bilderbuchi]

If you strip the header from Notice level output, it's much more difficult to distinguish between log output and output the program generates, although this would probably only be relevant for programs outputting to the command line, and those are admittedly few and far between in OF :-P). For example, you couldn't parse away log output anymore (if anybody needs it). Also, it's not clear where the output comes from - the header clearly marks output as log messages.

I think I'd vote for consistency here.

[danomatika]

Ok. But how about at least removing the level from notice prints. It stays for all other levels.

OF: a test string

instead of

OF: OF_LOG_NOTICE: a test string

[bilderbuchi]

That sounds better.
I think we have touched enough ideas now. I'd say let's wait for input from the core, we're gonna need that in any case, before proceeding.

[danomatika]

Also, I see that the verbose log level define is OF_VERBOSE instead of OF_LOG_VERBOSE. The others have _LOG in the string.

In fact, why not remove the explicit string and make this:

OF: Verbose: a test string
// or
OF: VERBOSE: a test string

instead of

OF: OF_LOG_VERBOSE: a test string

I think the OF_LOG part is redundant and wastes valuable line space ...

[bilderbuchi]

huh, I never looked at that. I always assumed it just took the enum entries for that part. :-P good catch! I agree about the wasted space, just OF: Verbose: test should be sufficient, at all levels.

[danomatika]

It's here: https://github.com/openframeworks/openFrameworks/blob/master/libs/openFrameworks/utils/ofLog.cpp#L167

[bilderbuchi]

@ofTheo, @arturoc @ofZach: What's your position on this? Are you OK with NOTICE as default log level, and/or with slimming down the log message headers?

[danomatika]

Here are my suggestions to reiterate:

• notice should be default; as it is now, a notice level message is not printed by default so everyone uses cout/printf when they could be using ofLog() (which is how I designed it)

// this prints at the notice level
ofLog() << "a string";

• we could save some console space by slimming down the log headers