Integrating FTXUI in an application with an existing logging system

[w8floosh]

Hello, I would like to know if it is possible to use this library with existing C++ applications that already use an own logging system. I am extending the functionalities of some SDK application which outputs lots of logs into stdout (and stderr sometimes). When I use these functionalities, I would like to use FTXUI to split the terminal in two sections, one just prints the logs generated by the application in the standard output/error and the other one prints some stats I choose.

Is it possible to "redirect" the existing application's standard output without modifying the way the application logs things and print it in that separate section of the terminal?

Thank you in advance.

[Epixu]

I wanted to do something similar, see #778 so you know what kind of issues I encountered while doing so
I will start work on some optimizations that will hopefully make this feasible by december - it has been long overdue
There are probably alternative ways to display the log, but you shouldn't use paragraphs for it at this point

On the topic of redirection: I suspect it isn't possible to separate regular stdout from what FTXUI uses to draw, but if the logging system allows for attachment points it should be fine. Alternatively, there's probably a way to run the program as a child process with its own stdout handle, which you can then forward somehow to FTXUI in the main process.

[ArthurSonzogni]

1. Call the wrapped app as a subprocess (example 1)
2. Pipe the wrapped app (example 2)

In particular, in (example 2), you see stdin is redirected:

  // Save the original stdin:
  int original_stdin_file_descriptor = dup(fileno(stdin))
  
  // Change stdin to handle user input instead of the piped software:
  stdin = freopen("/dev/tty", "r", stdin);

  // TODO("Do something with `original_stdin_file_descriptor")

Does (1) or (2) fits your intents?

[w8floosh]

I think creating a subprocess (example 1) would better suit my case.
I have write access to the logging source code but it is a SDK code and it wouldn't make sense to touch it at all, because my feature is secondary and I don't want it to alter the original source code used in the whole application.
Furthermore, as the SDK I am working on is multithreaded, I may need to work with locks and race conditions on the stdout, as both FTXUI and the SDK print there.

I will try this sooner or later, as it is not a high priority work at the moment.

Thank you all for such valuable information 🙏🏻
Have a nice day