GeneralDeveloping a Mobile App? Tips to effective logging

Developing a Mobile App? Tips to effective logging

Mobile tech has come a long way, and there is a lot more that one can do with a mobile phone than just calling and sending short messages thanks to the smartphone technology.
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The success of the smartphone can largely be attributed to the various applications that they offer in their app stores. These apps run into millions. This simply means that there is almost an app for everything ranging from the ones previously known as phone features like alarm clock and calendar to the bizarre ones, like the ones that tell you where you parked your car, places you’ve pooped and even find people to cuddle with in your area.

With the knowledge of software tech, you can actually develop any kind of mobile app that you want. Just know that the number of apps out there is so high that you will need to come up with magnificent and exceptional ideas for your app to compete well in the market. Not only that but you also need a good quality app for your business enterprise.

The tech and process of mobile app development is the same as that of desktop and web applications or software. It starts with understanding the requirements, then planning, designing, coding, testing, and release.  Testing is a very important step because it ensures that your application has no errors and it is performing as intended.

It is through logging that developers can get visibility into the errors, performance, and usage as well as the configuration compatibility of their mobile apps. For this to happen, you need an effective logging mechanism, and the following tips will help you get exactly that.

What should be in your log?

The answer to this question is actually everything that matters be it data, behavior or decision. Without all the details, it will be impossible to follow the events through your code. For instance, you need logs of network connection paths, file paths, request and response data, devices and record IDs among other things. Do not log passwords or any personal information though.

Be consistent with your logging

Finding the required information in your log can be very hard without having a structured log message format. So, choose a standard format for your log messages and be consistent with it. Regardless of the format that you use, your log message should contain the current time, the component writing the log, the actor, the action, what the action is performed and the relevant data records. Remember to make your log files readable, clean and descriptive so that they do not appear to be just a random sequence of characters.

Log at the proper level

In your application, you can use a different log level per log statement, but you should ensure that each log entry is logged at the right level. Such levels include trace, debug, info, notice, warn, error and fatal but may differ depending on your logging framework.

Collect all your mobile app logs

Once you have all your mobile app logs, it is important to collect them using a good logging service. In this way, you will be able to use your log data for a variety of tech purposes other than troubleshooting application problems. A good logging service should offer support for a variety of logging frameworks, structured logging, log tailing and log monitoring and alerting among others.

As a mobile app tech developer, you need a robust way of troubleshooting your application problems because you want to deliver a quality product to the users. Make that process simple by having an effective logging management strategy that will save you time and hassle as well as give you the much-needed confidence.

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