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        businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-customization
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Business Bloomer
 * @testedwith    WooCommerce 4.4
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

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        businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-customization
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Business Bloomer
 * @testedwith    WooCommerce 4.4
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

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 custom PHP in functions.php and custom CSS in style.css of your child theme: where to place WooCommerce customization?

This code still works, unless you report otherwise. To exclude conflicts, temporarily switch to the Storefront theme, disable all plugins except WooCommerce, and test the snippet again: WooCommerce troubleshooting 101

Related content

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. Follow @rmelogli

Questions? Feedback? Customization? Leave your comment now!
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