Andre Lewis on Tech

Why doesn't it persist messages between pageviews?

The short answer is that for my purposes, I haven't had the need for it to do so. For all the programming I've been doing, a pageview is the right duration for relevancy of the logged messages.

Originally, I envisioned it with two modes: first, a display panel, with no persistence between pageviews (as it is now); second, a "persistant logging" mode, in which logged messages would be sent back to the server via XMLHTTP, and persisted in a database table. A separate page would poll the database and provide the "log viewer," complete with filters for date, severity, and IP/machine name of the browser where the message was logged. However, when I got as far as I did, I realized I had an extremely useful tool which I was using all the time. Honestly, I'm not sure how much more I would use the persistent log mode, if I created it. In addition, it would make it more complex to deploy and use (would have to make sure the DB was there, etc.), so in terms of a lightwight, reusable, easy-to-deploy tool, it's better as-is.

All that said, let me know if you think the persistent logging mode would be useful.

This doesn't use XMLHTTP! How can you say it's an AJAX logging tool?

Because it's most useful when you're creating AJAX applications. Stringly speaking, the technologies used in JSLog itself are pre-AJAX (if you consider XMLHTTP to be the prime enabler of AJAX), i.e., it's really a DHTML application.

OK I'm using it. Why can't I drag the logger panel?

You need to install the script.aculo.us libraries for drag and drop to work. And for Scriptaculous, you need Prototype. Both of these are extremely easy to install.

If you haven't experimented with these libraries, you're in for a treat -- they are great tools for AJAX programming.

What version of Scriptaculous do I need?

JSLog is currently working with Scriptaculous version 1.6.1 and Prototype version 1.5.0_rc0. Earlier versions of scriptaculous should work, although I have seen some sketchiness with drag and drop on some versions.

I'm getting this error:

Most likely you have an older version of Scriptaculous, and updating to the latest version will solve the problem. If not, drop me an email at andre{at}earthcode{dot}com, and I will try to fix the problem!

Nice tool! Can I use it in my commercial project/environment?

Yes you can -- JSLog is available for use under a BSD-style license. Please drop me an email at andre{at}earthcode{dot}com, and let me know you are using it.