Logging in Unreal made simple with helper macros

Logging is one of the most useful things one can do while developing a complex piece of software such as a video game. When it comes to c++ and unreal there’s a small collection of macros I use to make tracing simpler and more informative. These logging helpers give you access to information about current class, function and/or line number. They also allow you to show a debug message on the screen or log it to the console. Each has an alternative printf version that allows for generating the message with a format string.  I prefixed all macros with TRACE to avoid naming conflictions with existing macros.

#pragma once

//Current Class Name + Function Name where this is called!
#define TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC (FString(__FUNCTION__))

//Current Class where this is called!
#define TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS (FString(__FUNCTION__).Left(FString(__FUNCTION__).Find(TEXT(":"))) )

//Current Function Name where this is called!
#define TRACE_STR_CUR_FUNC (FString(__FUNCTION__).Right(FString(__FUNCTION__).Len() - FString(__FUNCTION__).Find(TEXT("::")) - 2 ))

//Current Line Number in the code where this is called!
#define TRACE_STR_CUR_LINE  (FString::FromInt(__LINE__))

//Current Class and Line Number where this is called!
#define TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_LINE (TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS + "(" + TRACE_STR_CUR_LINE + ")")

//Current Class Name + Function Name and Line Number where this is called!
#define TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE (TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC + "(" + TRACE_STR_CUR_LINE + ")")

//Current Function Signature where this is called!
#define TRACE_STR_CUR_FUNCSIG (FString(__FUNCSIG__))


//Screen Message
#define TRACE_SCREENMSG(OutputMessage) (GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage(-1, 10.0f, FColor::Yellow, *(TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE + ": " + OutputMessage)) )
#define TRACE_SCREENMSG_PRINTF(FormatString , ...) (GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage(-1, 10.0f, FColor::Yellow, *(TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE + ": " + (FString::Printf(TEXT(FormatString), ##__VA_ARGS__ )))) )

//UE LOG!
#define TRACE_LOG(LogCategory, OutputMessage) UE_LOG(LogCategory,Log,TEXT("%s: %s"), *TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE, *FString(OutputMessage))
#define TRACE_LOG_PRINTF(LogCat, FormatString , ...) UE_LOG(LogCat,Log,TEXT("%s: %s"), *TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE, *FString::Printf(TEXT(FormatString), ##__VA_ARGS__ ) )

#define TRACE_WARNING(LogCategory, OutputMessage) UE_LOG(LogCategory,Warning,TEXT("%s: %s"), *TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE, *FString(OutputMessage))
#define TRACE_WARNING_PRINTF(LogCategory, FormatString , ...) UE_LOG(LogCategory,Warning,TEXT("%s: %s"), *TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE, *FString::Printf(TEXT(FormatString), ##__VA_ARGS__ ) )

#define TRACE_ERROR(LogCategory, OutputMessage) UE_LOG(LogCategory,Error,TEXT("%s: %s"), *TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE, *FString(OutputMessage))
#define TRACE_ERROR_PRINTF(LogCategory, FormatString , ...) UE_LOG(LogCategory,Error,TEXT("%s: %s"), *TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE, *FString::Printf(TEXT(FormatString), ##__VA_ARGS__ ) )

#define TRACE_FATAL(LogCategory, OutputMessage) UE_LOG(LogCategory,Fatal,TEXT("%s: %s"), *TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE, *FString(OutputMessage))
#define TRACE_FATAL_PRINTF(LogCategory, FormatString , ...) UE_LOG(LogCategory,Fatal,TEXT("%s: %s"), *TRACE_STR_CUR_CLASS_FUNC_LINE, *FString::Printf(TEXT(FormatString), ##__VA_ARGS__ ) )
#pragma once

#include "Kismet/BlueprintFunctionLibrary.h"
#include "TraceHelper.h"
#include "DateTime.h"
#include "TraceTester.generated.h"


UCLASS()
class YOURGAMES_API UTraceTester : public UBlueprintFunctionLibrary
{
	GENERATED_BODY()
	
public:	
	UFUNCTION(BlueprintCallable, Category = "Traceing")
	static void TestTraceHelper()
	{
		FDateTime startTime = FDateTime::Now();

		TRACE_SCREENMSG(TEXT("Current Unix Timestamp: ") + FString::SanitizeFloat((startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds()));
		TRACE_SCREENMSG_PRINTF("Current Unix Timestamp: %f", (startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds());

		TRACE_LOG(GeneralLog, FString::SanitizeFloat((startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds()));
		TRACE_LOG_PRINTF(GeneralLog, "Time since Function start: %f", (startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds());

		TRACE_WARNING(GeneralLog, FString::SanitizeFloat((startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds()));
		TRACE_WARNING_PRINTF(GeneralLog, "Time since Function start: %f", (startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds());

		TRACE_ERROR(GeneralLog, FString::SanitizeFloat((startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds()));
		TRACE_ERROR_PRINTF(GeneralLog, "Time since Function start: %f", (startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds());


		// This crashes your game
		// TRACE_FATAL(GeneralLog, FString::SanitizeFloat((startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds()));
		// TRACE_FATAL_PRINTF(GeneralLog, "Time since Function start: %d", (startTime - FDateTime::Now()).GetTotalMicroseconds()); 
	}
	
};

For information on how to setup log categories take a look at the unreal engine wiki.