HTML Logger, Portable and Thread-Safe

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Environment: VC++ 6.0, XP

Introduction

I needed to create an HTML logger that would be portable across Win32 and VXWorks OSs. This code was written in a weekend, so don’t judge it severely.

What the Code Does

This code will help you create colored, clear-to-read HTML logs from any C++ applications. The HTML log generated will be easy to present to a user: You just need to give a browser the generated file URL and refresh the browser when the log changes.

This code does not use MFC or any other library. To provide thread safety, there are a couple of classes (namely CLock and CGuard) that help make the code safe.

Furthermore, there are additional helper classes that hide nasty details:

1. CGenFile—hides the file access details.
2. CLogFont—generally an implementation of the HTML font tag.
3. CLogColor—an implementation of the HTML color.
4. CSmartString—a string class.

Using the Code

Instantiate CHtmlLogger in your code, create the log, and then create as many HTML tables (reports) as you wish.

  CHtmlLogger Log;
  Log.Create( "FirstHMLLog.htm" );

  //Create a table with three columns
  Log.CreateTable( 3, "First HTML log" );

  //Fill the columns
  Log.SetColumn( 0, "Heading1" );
  Log.SetColumn( 1, "Heading2" );
  Log.SetColumn( 2, "Heading3" );

  //Add the line specifying the line type (header in this case)
  Log.AddLine( 0, CHtmlLogger::LT_Header );

Kindergarten stuff, right? The return values validation was removed for clarity. You should look at the sample provided to see the full API. The sample will create the sample log you see in the picture.

Enjoy…

Downloads

Download demo project – 32 Kb