WooCommerce: How to Create Custom Logs

Logs or log files are a must for WooCommerce developers and store managers. Log files are basically an automatically generated collection of events that happen on a given store, based on certain logging criteria. For example, WooCommerce already creates a “fatal error” log for you, that you can easily access and read within the WordPress dashboard (WooCommerce > Status > Logs).

If you’re familiar with WordPress troubleshooting, you will know how important the debug.log file is while trying to identify website weaknesses, PHP errors or white screen of death. Well, today I’m going to teach you how to create your own log, so that you can record whatever event happens on your WooCommerce website and easily check the logs for troubleshooting purposes.

Specifically, I’ll show you how to create a log every time there is a customer failed order and every time there is a product price change made by the admin. Easy peasy – enjoy!

Here’s another default Log generated by WooCommerce. All logs can be accessed via WooCommerce > Status > Logs in the WordPress Dashboard. Our goal is to create and show here custom log files.

PHP Snippet 1: Create Failed Order Log @ WooCommerce Status

First of all we need to identify a trigger (after an order is marked as failed, so we will pick a “hook” that triggers on the Thank You page), and after that get the log and log the failed order details thanks to the wc_get_logger() WooCommerce function.

/**
 * @snippet       Log Failed Orders @ WC Status
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @testedwith    WooCommerce 4.4
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */

add_action( 'woocommerce_before_thankyou', 'bbloomer_log_failed_orders_wc_status' );

function bbloomer_log_failed_orders_wc_status( $order_id ) {

   // GET ORDER FROM ORDER ID @ THANK YOU PAGE
   $order = wc_get_order( $order_id );

   // EXIT IF ORDER HAS NOT FAILED
   if ( ! $order->has_status( 'failed' ) ) return;

   // LOAD THE WC LOGGER
   $logger = wc_get_logger();
	
   // LOG THE FAILED ORDER TO CUSTOM "failed-orders" LOG
   $logger->info( wc_print_r( $order, true ), array( 'source' => 'failed-orders' ) );

} 

PHP Snippet 2: Create Product Price Update Log @ WooCommerce Status

First of all we need to identify a trigger (after a product is saved, so we will pick the woocommerce_update_product hook trigger), and after that get the log and log the product price details thanks to the wc_get_logger() WooCommerce function.

/**
 * @snippet       Log Price Changes @ WC Status
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @testedwith    WooCommerce 4.4
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */

add_action( 'woocommerce_update_product', 'bbloomer_log_price_changes_wc_status', 9999, 2 );

function bbloomer_log_price_changes_wc_status( $product_id, $product ) {

   // GET PRODUCT PRICE
   $price = $product->get_price();

   // LOAD THE WC LOGGER
   $logger = wc_get_logger();
	
   // LOG NEW PRICE TO CUSTOM "price-changes" LOG
   $logger->info( 'Product ID ' . $product_id . ' price changed to: ' . $price, array( 'source' => 'price-changes' ) );

} 

Where to add custom code?

You should place PHP snippets at the bottom of your child theme functions.php file and CSS at the bottom of its style.css file. Make sure you know what you are doing when editing such files - if you need more guidance, please take a look at my guide "Should I Add Custom Code Via WP Editor, FTP or Code Snippets?" and my video tutorial "Where to Place WooCommerce Customization?"

Does this snippet (still) work?

Please let me know in the comments if everything went as expected. I would be happy to revise the snippet if you report otherwise (please provide screenshots). I have tested this code with Storefront theme, the WooCommerce version listed above and a WordPress-friendly hosting.

If you think this code saved you time & money, feel free to join 17,000+ WooCommerce Weekly subscribers for blog post updates and 250+ Business Bloomer supporters for 365 days of WooCommerce benefits. Thank you in advance!

Need Help with WooCommerce?

Check out these free video tutorials. You can learn how to customize WooCommerce without unnecessary plugins, how to properly configure the WooCommerce plugin settings and even how to master WooCommerce troubleshooting in case of a bug!

Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza.

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