README

conx aka consoleX is an elegant extension to native Javascript console API which allows you to decorate your consoles and adept them to your project style. conx provides group logging similar to debug which allows you to see only specific logs instead of logging all of them at the same time.

conx is tiny, zero dependencies module.

Compared to extremly popular module colors, conx allows you to fully customize your output by using your own CSS.

Besides customization, conx comes with various custom methods that will make your usage of Console feel better than ever.

Motivation

If you are wondering why another console module, it's simple, improvements. conx uses all the native browser functionality, empowering it further and filling in the gaps. Regardless of the built-in browser debugger, most developers are still using Console as the main tool for debugging and figuring out the data. conx brings visibility improvements as well as several extremely useful methods for working with JSON-like data. Lastly, if you are a creative individual, you will love your new shiny Console view.

Installation

npm install conx --save

Usage

window.logger = require('conx')('groupName', { options });

logger.error('An error occurred..');
logger.success('Yay, everything is awesome..');
logger.warn('Be warned..');

conx is disabled by default. To enable it, do the following your in your Console:

logger.toggle();

You can disable it in the same fashion.

Since we want to persist our state so conx knows what to log and what not, we are storing in in the localStorage.

Group Name

conx uses a concept of grouping consoles from different instances.

// file 1: app.js
const logger = require('conx')('application');
logger.success('Yay!');

// file 2: server.js
const logger = require('conx')('server');
logger2.warn('Beware champion!');

When you start using the conx methods, you will notice that nothing shows up in the console. That's because you have to toggle them before they show up. If we want our application logs to be shown, we simply toggle them:

logger.toggleGroup('groupName');

Calling the same methods will toggle them off.

This functionality allows you to group your messages by type and toggle them on and off when needed. Essentially, this enables us to focus on the logs we really care about.

Options

conx constructor takes two parameters, a name of the group and optionally, an options object.

{
    theme: {},
    classes: {}
}

theme

theme option allows you to set your conx theme by passing the CSS directly into the options literal. This key has the highest precedence which means that if you pass both, theme and classes properties, theme values will be applied. This is for the sake of performances and recommended way of using CSS. The reason is, this.readCSSStyles method will have to iterate through your entire CSS file or files, looking for the provided classes.

{
    error: "color: #ffffff; background: red;",
    warn: "...",
    success: "..."
}

classes

classes option accepts class names as values where conx will iterate over your CSS files and grab values from there. This can be super handy if you want to use your SASS/LESS default layout to style your logs. This is not the recommended way of using CSS with conx.

Your CSS file

.error_class {
    color: #ffffff;
    background: red;
}
.warn_class {...}
.success_class {...}

Logger instance

{
    classes: {
        error: '.error_class',
        warn: '.warn_class'
        success: '.success_class'
    }
}

If none are passed (theme nor classes), conx will fallback to its default values

{
   error: 'color: #ffffff; background-color: #f44283; padding: 10px;',
   success: 'color: #ffffff; background-color: #41f491; padding: 10px;',
   warn: 'color: #444; background-color: #d0d628; padding: 10px;'
}

Methods

Most methods are self-explanatory and they don't differ from original naming conventions from native console API so if you have used them before, you will have an easy time using them with conx.

.error(String | Number)

.warn(String | Number)

.success(String | Number)

.table(Array | Object)

.rainbow(String)

Examples

Example with default properties

window.log = new conx('group-name');
log.success('Everything is awesome!');

Example with theme property

window.log = new conx('group-name', {
  theme: {
    error: 'color: #fff; background-color: red;',
    success: 'color: #fff; background-color: green;',
    warn: 'color: #444; background-color: yellow;',
  },
});

log.error('The dark side.');

Example with classes property

window.conx = new conx('group-name', {
  classes: {
    error: '.errorClass from your CSS file',
    success: '...',
    warn: '...',
  },
});

Demo

clone the repository
npm install
npm run demo
open http://localhost:8080/demo/index.html
open the console and enjoy conx :-)

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.

Usage no npm install needed!