How to write Application Logs to File and get them

Question

I´m taking baby steps in iOS development and searching for a method to use logging in iOS.

I found these docs about logging with swift 3 : https://developer.apple.com/documentation/os/logging#1682426

The Docs say that the logs aren´t saved on disk. What is the typical way to get the logs and process the file?

Answer 1

put this file to your project

//
//  log.swift
//  logtest
//

import Foundation

struct Log: TextOutputStream {

    func write(_ string: String) {
        let fm = FileManager.default
        let log = fm.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)[0].appendingPathComponent("log.txt")
        if let handle = try? FileHandle(forWritingTo: log) {
            handle.seekToEndOfFile()
            handle.write(string.data(using: .utf8)!)
            handle.closeFile()
        } else {
            try? string.data(using: .utf8)?.write(to: log)
        }
    }
}

var logger = Log()

and if you need something to be logged, just use print function like

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
        // Override point for customization after application launch.
        print("started:", Date(), to: &logger)
        return true
    }

or

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
    print(#file, #function, "my own text", 1, [1,2], to: &logger)
}

in your application's 'Documents' folder you could find 'log.txt' file which you could examine later.

while running my test application twice, the content looks like

started: 2017-06-14 09:58:58 +0000
/Users/ivo_vacek/Documents/logtest/logtest/ViewController.swift viewDidLoad() my own text 1 [1, 2]
started: 2017-06-14 09:59:15 +0000
/Users/ivo_vacek/Documents/logtest/logtest/ViewController.swift viewDidLoad() my own text 1 [1, 2] 

if you don't like 'globals' define Log as singletone class

class Log: TextOutputStream {

    func write(_ string: String) {
        let fm = FileManager.default
        let log = fm.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)[0].appendingPathComponent("log.txt")
        if let handle = try? FileHandle(forWritingTo: log) {
            handle.seekToEndOfFile()
            handle.write(string.data(using: .utf8)!)
            handle.closeFile()
        } else {
            try? string.data(using: .utf8)?.write(to: log)
        }
    }
    static var log: Log = Log()
    private init() {} // we are sure, nobody else could create it
}

and use it like

print("started:", Date(), to: &Log.log)

Answer 2

Swift 3.0 version

Create a new swift file "TextLog.swift" in your project

import Foundation

struct TextLog: TextOutputStream {

    /// Appends the given string to the stream.
    mutating func write(_ string: String) {
        let paths = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .allDomainsMask)
        let documentDirectoryPath = paths.first!
        let log = documentDirectoryPath.appendingPathComponent("log.txt")

        do {
            let handle = try FileHandle(forWritingTo: log)
            handle.seekToEndOfFile()
            handle.write(string.data(using: .utf8)!)
            handle.closeFile()
        } catch {
            print(error.localizedDescription)
            do {
                try string.data(using: .utf8)?.write(to: log)
            } catch {
                print(error.localizedDescription)
            }
        }

    }

}

Initialize the logger at bottom in the AppDelegate.swift file

var textLog = TextLog()

Use it anywhere in the application like below

textLog.write("hello")