[logback-user] DBAppender and timestmp as big int

[Ceki Gulcu]

Hello Mel,



The DB schema is modeled after ILoggingEvent and it so happens that
the timestamp field is a long representing the value returned by
System.currentMillis(). With DBAppender which is comparatively slow,
the cost of converting timestamp (milliseconds since 1970-01-01) to a
proper date would be acceptable. However, when reading back from the
database you would need a data structure other than or extending
ILoggingEvent to make use of the additional date column, which is
certainly feasible.

I encourage you to play around with the enhancement you have in mind
and file a bug report including your changes in the form of a
patch. If you wait a little you might even be able to use github.

Cheers,

Mel T wrote:
> 
> We need to write our own DBAppender. I want us to have it very similar to
> the logback DBAppender (i.e. use the same DB schema plus our own fields).
> 
> I wonder why this appender defines the date columns as big int. Are these
> some of the reasons ?
> 
>  - native dates are hard to support accross multiple DBs
> 
>  - timezone and DST can really hurt us.
> 
>  - it is faster to write a big int than a date where a clendar would have to
> be passed into the ps.setTimestamp calls.
> 
> or are there other reasons?
> 
> Mel T. 

-- 
Ceki Gülcü
Logback: The reliable, generic, fast and flexible logging framework for Java.
http://logback.qos.ch