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I tried to use LogCat on my Android device (which is using Android 1.5, and no, it's not possible to update it, not yet anyway) and found that it only tracks log events that happen while it's running.

Is it possible for an application to keep track of all events that are logged during its runtime and save them to a file? (even the ones not triggered by itself)

Raceimaztion
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  • You can do it manually, [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8982263/how-to-write-entire-logcat-in-to-sdcard/8982342#8982342) will be helpful. – Lalit Poptani Jan 27 '12 at 05:41

2 Answers2

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As it turns out, this tutorial describes a method for dumping a copy of the system logs to a StringBuilder object.

Code as copied from the tutorial:

public class LogTest extends Activity {
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        try {
            Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -d");
            BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(
            new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));

            StringBuilder log=new StringBuilder();
            String line;
            while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
                log.append(line);
            }
            TextView tv = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.textView1);
            tv.setText(log.toString());
        } catch (IOException e) { }
    }
}

Note that you'll need to include a permission for reading logs:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_LOGS" />.

The important part of the code is the Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -d") part. The -d switch is the part that tosses out the current log and quits. If I'm reading the documentation correctly, leaving that switch off should, in theory, leave logcat running, dumping successive lines of the log to its stdout as they show up.

Raceimaztion
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0

Create a database and a IntentService that can write to it.

Start this service using an Intent whenever any component wants to log anything.

Am I missing something?

Vikram Bodicherla
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  • It's a system event I want to watch for. There's something going on between the time I trigger an Intent to launch an Activity and the time the Activity (should) appear. – Raceimaztion Jan 27 '12 at 06:18