Logging

SKSE

Logging can be done via the IDebugLog class accessed using #include "common/IDebugLog.h". SKSE declares a global log extern IDebugLog gLog which must first open a log to print to. Use the member function OpenRelative to do this. Afterwards, gLog can be accessed directly, or through shortcut functions such as _FATALERROR, _MESSAGE, etc. These message functions take a formatting string const char* fmt and an optional number of variadic arguments (the ellipse ...). To use these message functions, call them just like you would call printf, and the logger will take care of the rest for you. Note that due to implementation details, the logger has a maximum message length of 8192.

CommonLib

CommonLib forgoes SKSE's logging implementation in favor of its own implementation that uses a more modern std::filestream rather than raw access to Windows file handles. As such, it uses its own class interface, and is entirely separate from SKSE's IDebugLog.

Class Interface

• OpenRelative: Opens a file at the relative location specified.
  • a_referenceID: This is a Windows type which the path will be opened relative to. Typically this is passed FOLDERID_Documents.
  • a_fileName: The is the relative path that will be opened. SKSE logs are typically opened in /My Games/Skyrim Special Edition/SKSE/. See std::filesystem::path for more details on constructing a valid argument.
  • a_mode: This is the ios mode the file will be opened in. See std::ios_base::openmode for more details on constructing a valid argument.
• OpenAbsolute: Opens a file at the absolute location specified.
  • a_fileName: This is the full path of the file to open. See std::filesystem::path for more details on constructing a valid argument.
  • a_mode: This is the ios mode the file will be opened in. See std::ios_base::openmode for more details on constructing a valid argument.
• SetPrintLevel: Sets the minimum level required to print a message to the log. Returns the previously set value.
  • a_printLevel: The minimum level required.
• SetFlushLevel: Sets the minimum level required to flush the log and synchronize with the copy on disk. Returns the previously set value.
  • a_printLevel: The minimum level required.
• UseLogStamp: Enables the logger to automatically prefix the type of the message to the message itself (e.g. _MESSAGE("Hello world!") prints as [MESSAGE] Hello world!). Returns the previously set value.
  • a_enable: Pass true to enable the feature, false to disable it.
• UseTimeStamp: Enables the logger to automatically prefix the message with the time the message was logged. Returns the previously set values.
  • a_enable: Pass true to enable the feature, false to disable it.
  • a_fmt: The format to pass to std::put_time.
• Print: Prints the string to the log.
  • a_level: The level of the message. The overload without this argument will print regardless of the required print level.
  • a_string: The message to print.
• VPrint: Formats and then prints the given string to the log.
  • a_level: The level of the message. The overload without this argument will print regardless of the required print level.
  • a_format: The format of the message to print.
  • ...: The variadic arguments to use with the given format.

Included in the file are the following macros:

• _DMESSAGE
• _VMESSAGE
• _MESSAGE
• _WARNING
• _ERROR
• _FATALERROR

These macros mimic the syntax of SKSE's IDebugLog shortcuts and redirect output to SKSE::Logger.