NXLog Legacy Documentation

Ruby (im_ruby)

This module provides support for collecting log data with methods written in the Ruby language. See also the xm_ruby and om_ruby modules.

To examine the supported platforms, see the list of installer packages in the Available Modules chapter.

The Nxlog module provides the following classes and methods.

Nxlog.log_debug(msg): Send the message msg to the internal logger at DEBUG log level. This method does the same as the core log_debug() procedure.
Nxlog.log_info(msg): Send the message msg to the internal logger at INFO log level. This method does the same as the core log_info() procedure.
Nxlog.log_warning(msg): Send the message msg to the internal logger at WARNING log level. This method does the same as the core log_warning() procedure.
Nxlog.log_error(msg): Send the message msg to the internal logger at ERROR log level. This method does the same as the core log_error() procedure.

class Nxlog.Module

This class will be instantiated by NXLog and passed to the method specified by the Call directive.

logdata_new(): This method returns a new LogData object.
set_read_timer(delay): This method sets a trigger for another read after a specified delay in seconds (float).

class Nxlog.LogData

This class represents an event.

field_names(): This method returns an array with the names of all the fields currently in the event record.
get_field(name): This method returns the value of the field name in the event.
post(): This method will submit the event to NXLog for processing by the next module in the route.
set_field(name, value): This method sets the value of field name to value.

Configuration

The im_ruby module accepts the following directives in addition to the common module directives. The RubyCode directive is required.

RubyCode: This mandatory directive specifies a file containing Ruby code. The im_ruby instance will call the method specified by the Call directive. The method must accept an Nxlog.Module object as its only argument.

Call: This optional directive specifies the Ruby method to call. The default is read_data.

Examples

Example 1. Using im_ruby to generate events

In this example, events are generated by a simple Ruby method that increments a counter. Because this Ruby method does not set the $raw_event field, it would be reasonable to use to_json() or some other way to preserve the fields for further processing.

nxlog.conf

<Input in>
    Module      im_ruby
    RubyCode    ./modules/input/ruby/input2.rb
    Call        read_data
</Input>

input2.rb

$index = 0

def read_data(mod)
  Nxlog.log_debug('Creating new event via input.rb')
  $index += 1
  event = mod.logdata_new
  event.set_field('Counter', $index)
  event.set_field('Message', "This is message #{$index}")
  event.post
  mod.set_read_timer 0.3
end