Controlling log messages from the JSF implementation and Facelets

The JSF implementation and Facelets both use java.util.logging instead of Log4J.  So all java.util.logging messages from JSF and Facelets will be converted to Log4J on the fly.

For JBoss 5, JBoss 4.3, and JBoss 4.2 EAP, it is possible to control the logging messages that come from the JSF implementation.  This can be especially useful in debugging.

Currently, the JSF implementation uses only 8 loggers.  The names are as follows:

So, assuming I have an appender called JSFLOG, I can edit jboss-log4j.xml to change the priority level for loggers in the JSF implementation like this:

   <category name="javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.config">
     <priority value="ALL" ></priority>
     <appender-ref ref="JSFLOG"></appender-ref>
   </category>

   <category name="javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.lifecycle">
     <priority value="WARN" ></priority>
     <appender-ref ref="JSFLOG"></appender-ref>
   </category>

We automatically detect if you are using Facelets.  If so, we do the same kind of conversion to Log4J.  The logger names are as follows:

You can control the priority level in jboss-log4j.xml.  In this example, we restrict all Facelets message to ERROR level by setting the category name to "facelets".  We could have done the same sort of thing in the example above by setting the category name to "javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf".

   <category name="facelets">
     <priority value="ERROR" ></priority>
     <appender-ref ref="JSFLOG"></appender-ref>
   </category>

Note: If you change a category's priority after your JSF application is loaded then you will need to hot-deploy the JSF application for the new priority to take effect.

Log4J to java.util.logging mappings

When you change a Log4J priority level via jboss-log4j.xml, the corresponding java.util.logging Logger is also changed.  However, there is not a one-to-one mapping of priorities between Log4J and java.util.logging.  Here is how priority levels will be mapped:

java.util.logging to Log4J mappings

Conversely, when JSF or Facelets logs a message using java.util.logging, the priority level must be mapped to a Log4J priority.  Here are those mappings:

Referenced by: