# Using a Logger Object

Once you retrieve a logger object from LogBox, you are ready to start sending messages. We already covered how to dynamically add/remove/list/check appenders from a logger, so let's look at the other methods we have available:

## Instance Members

Every logger has access to the following public variables:

| Property         | Description                                                 |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| `this.logLevels` | A reference to the `logbox.system.logging.LogLevels` class. |

## Utility Methods

| Method                          | Description                                                                                                                 |
| ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `boolean canLog(numeric level)` | Checks if this logger can log a certain type of severity. There is also a `can{severity}()` method for each severity level. |
| `boolean can{severity}()`       | Checks if this logger can log a certain type of severity.                                                                   |
| `void setCategory(category)`    | Set the category name.                                                                                                      |
| `Logger getRootLogger()`        | Get the root logger.                                                                                                        |
| `numeric getLevelMin()`         | Get the minimum severity level.                                                                                             |
| `void setLevelMin(level)`       | Set the minimum severity level.                                                                                             |
| `numeric getLevelMax()`         | Get the maximum severity level.                                                                                             |
| `void setLevelMax(level)`       | Set the maximum severity level.                                                                                             |

## Logging Methods

| Method                                                             | Description                 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------- |
| `fatal(string message, [any extraInfo=""])`                        | Log a fatal message.        |
| `error(string message, [any extraInfo=""])`                        | Log an error message.       |
| `warn(string message, [any extraInfo=""])`                         | Log a warning message.      |
| `info(string message, [any extraInfo=""])`                         | Log an information message. |
| `debug(string message, [any extraInfo=""])`                        | Log a debug message.        |
| `logMessage(string message, numeric severity, [any extraInfo=""])` | Log any kind of message.    |

As you can probably tell, all logging methods take in a message string an a second argument called `extraInfo`. This `extraInfo` argument can be anything from a string, a structure, a query or whatever. This way you can send in a complex structure that the appenders will serialize into message form or log into the appropriate channel. Thus, `extraInfo` can be very handy when you are building your own custom appenders.

```javascript
// setting some messages
myLogger = logBox.getLogger( this ); // "com.model.dao"

myLogger.info( "I just created my first logger" );

try{
    data = dao.getDBData();
}
catch( any e ){
    myLogger.error(
        "Something really died on my dbdata method: #e.message# #e.detail#",
        e.tagContext
    );
}
```

I hope that by now you understand the basics of loggers and how easy it is to use them.