server.error(errorMessage)
Posts an error message to the impCentral device log
Availability
Device + Agent
Parameters
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| errorMessage | String |
The error to be logged
|
Returns
Integer — 0 on success, or a Send Error Code on failure
Description
This method logs an error message to the server-side, per-device log file. The message is automatically timestamped by the server, highlighted as an error, and displayed in impCentral’s device log.
server.error() assumes that you are passing valid UTF-8 code sequences. If it doesn’t recognize the string as UTF-8, it will convert it to binary.
Whereas server.log() is a generic message-logging method, server.error() is intended to help developers by highlighting error messages in the log. It prefixes the passed error message with ERROR: with a blue background, to help such messages stand out in a way that is impossible to achieve with server.log(). It also simplifies the process of locating error messages in the log when using textual searches:
If the imp has been disconnected from the server and its current network interface disabled, typically with a server.disconnect() call, any subsequent use of server.error() may cause the imp’s current network interface hardware to be powered back on and a connection to be established with the Electric Imp impCloud™. This occurs when SUSPEND_ON_ERROR has been selected as the imp’s timeout policy. If the policy has been set to RETURN_ON_ERROR, however, the current network interface will not be re-enabled until your code calls server.connect(). Log messages posted between the disconnection and subsequent re-connection will be lost; the method will return the value SEND_ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED.
- For more information on debugging disconnected devices, see Debugging Disconnected Applications.
Example Code
The following examples show contexts for the use of server.error(). The second example highlights where you might use server.error() alongside server.log().