Plugin logger

- Create log_plugin_message() to prevent plugin logs from spamming the core logs
- Create ability to log to different logs or a base log if parameter is not specified.
- Update README.md
- Change BasePlugin::log() wrapper function to log to log_plugin_message() and add logTo() to log to a specific plugin log.
- Add plugin logger service to keep the logger loaded.

Signed-off-by: objec <objecttothis@gmail.com>

app/Config/Services.php

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 namespace Config;
 
 use App\Libraries\MY_Language;
+use App\Libraries\Plugins\PluginLogger;
 use App\Libraries\Plugins\PluginManager;
 use Locale;
 use HTMLPurifier;
@@ -62,6 +63,15 @@ class Services extends BaseService
         return new MY_Language($locale);
     }
 
+    public static function pluginLogger(bool $getShared = true): PluginLogger
+    {
+        if ($getShared) {
+            return static::getSharedInstance('pluginLogger');
+        }
+
+        return new PluginLogger();
+    }
+
     public static function pluginManager(bool $getShared = true): PluginManager
     {
         if ($getShared) {

app/Helpers/plugin_helper.php

@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 
 use CodeIgniter\Events\Events;
 
+if (!function_exists('log_plugin_message')) {
+    function log_plugin_message(string $pluginId, string $level, string $message, ?string $logName = null): void
+    {
+        service('pluginLogger')->log($pluginId, $level, $message, $logName);
+    }
+}
+
 if (!function_exists('pluginContent')) {
     function pluginContent(string $section, array $data = []): string
     {

app/Libraries/Plugins/BasePlugin.php

@@ -68,7 +68,12 @@ abstract class BasePlugin implements PluginInterface
 
     protected function log(string $level, string $message): void
     {
-        log_message($level, "[Plugin:{$this->getPluginName()}] {$message}");
+        log_plugin_message($this->getPluginId(), $level, $message);
+    }
+
+    protected function logTo(string $logName, string $level, string $message): void
+    {
+        log_plugin_message($this->getPluginId(), $level, $message, $logName);
     }
 
     protected function renderView(string $viewName, array $data = []): string

app/Plugins/README.md

@@ -68,7 +68,8 @@ class MyPlugin extends BasePlugin
 |--------|-----------|-------------|
 | `getSetting` | `(string $key, mixed $default = null): mixed` | Read one plugin setting |
 | `setSetting` | `(string $key, mixed $value): bool` | Write one plugin setting |
-| `log` | `(string $level, string $message): void` | Write to CI4 log with plugin prefix |
+| `log` | `(string $level, string $message): void` | Write to plugin-specific log file (`writable/logs/plugin-{id}-{date}.log`) |
+| `logTo` | `(string $logName, string $level, string $message): void` | Write to a named plugin log file (`writable/logs/plugin-{id}-{logName}-{date}.log`) |
 | `renderView` | `(string $viewName, array $data = []): string` | Render a view from the plugin's own `Views/` directory |
 
 #### `renderView()`
@@ -543,14 +544,30 @@ added as a feature. Specify the event, where it should be triggered, and what da
 If a plugin event trigger exists but the data you need is not passed to the callback, please open an issue in the
 opensourcepos repository requesting the data to be added as a feature.
 
-## Testing
+## Logging
 
-Enable plugin logging to debug:
+Plugins have two logging paths:
+
+**Standard CI4 log** — use `log_message()` directly; goes to `writable/logs/log-{date}.log` only:
 
 ```php
 log_message('debug', 'Debug message');
-log_message('info', 'Info message');
-log_message('error', 'Error message');
+```
+
+**Plugin-specific log** — goes to a dedicated plugin file in `writable/logs/`, NOT the CI4 log:
+
+```php
+// From inside a plugin class (pluginId inferred automatically):
+$this->log('debug', 'Debug message');
+// → writable/logs/plugin-{id}-{date}.log
+
+// Named log channel (useful for separating API calls, sync events, etc.):
+$this->logTo('api', 'debug', 'API response received');
+// → writable/logs/plugin-{id}-api-{date}.log
+
+// From library classes inside a plugin (pass pluginId explicitly):
+log_plugin_message('myplugin', 'debug', 'Sync started');
+log_plugin_message('myplugin', 'debug', 'API call', 'api');
 ```
 
 Check logs in `writable/logs/`.