console.log does not log to the dev tools console window

[bughit]

• Electron version: debug version built from master (7e2f760)
• Operating system: win7 sp1 x64

Expected behavior

node --inspect-brk -e console.log('hello') logs to stdout and the dev tools console
so one expects electron to do the same

Actual behavior

electron with attached dev tools only logs to stdout

How to reproduce

console_log.js with console.log('hello');
electron.exe --inspect-brk console_log.js

[bughit]

"dev tools" is referring to the external chrome dev tools inspecting/debugging the electron main process.

[natew]

+1, seeing this as of 2.0, wasn't happening in 1.8.

[bughit]

@zcbenz

On windows, console.log is redirected to process.log

if (process.platform === 'win32') {
  // Redirect node's console to use our own implementations, since node can not
  // handle console output when running as GUI program.
  var consoleLog = function (...args) {
    return process.log(util.format(...args) + '\n')
  }

which is implemented in AtomBindings::Log

#if defined(OS_WIN)
    process.SetMethod("log", &AtomBindings::Log);
#endif

which only logs to stdout

// static
void AtomBindings::Log(const base::string16& message) {
  std::cout << message << std::flush;
}

so can't the new console.log simply call both, the orginal console.log and process.log?

if (process.platform === 'win32') {
  // Redirect node's console to use our own implementations, since node can not
  // handle console output when running as GUI program.
  const origLog = console.log
  var consoleLog = function (...args) {
    origLog.call(console, ...args);
    return process.log(util.format(...args) + '\n')
  }

[zcbenz]

@bughit The problem with original implementation is, it would throw exception when stdout is not available. We should probably find out which call is actually printing the message to devtools and then invoke it.

[bughit]

@zcbenz I actually got around to trying my suggestion a while ago and saw that it was double logging, though I did not see exceptions, should have posted that.

[natew]

This is painful, how are people debugging electron apps without repl working? Any workarounds?

I tested in 1.8.8 and it's broken there too. It was working at some point, anyone know a version?

Edit: On OS X Mojave, tried 1.8.8, 2.0 latest and 3.0 latest beta.

[mb8z]

I have never experience this until today. What a weird behaviour :/

[noe132]

Any update on this? Is there any workaround?

[sofianguy]

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Electron better.

The version of Electron you reported this on has been superseded by newer releases.

If you're still experiencing this issue in Electron v4.2.x or later, please add a comment specifying the version you're testing with and any other new information that a maintainer trying to reproduce the issue should know.

I'm setting the blocked/need-info label for the above reasons. This issue will be closed 7 days from now if there is no response.

Thanks in advance! Your help is appreciated.

[natew]

Still happens on 6 and 5 for me.

[jpoppe]

It's also still not working on version 6 for me, bug seems obvious and is easy to replicate.

Update: I only see the Windows label, to clarify it also does not work on Linux distributions.

[bughit]

@sofianguy Does the author of the bug need to reply to clear this need-info?

Yes, it's still present in 6.

[CynicalBusiness]

I can confirm this is happening in v6.0.x (namely v6.0.7) on Windows 10 (1809).

It also appears to not happen to console.info, but other console methods (like log, warn, and error) are afflicted. What makes that one special?

For example:

// index.js
console.log('log')
console.info('info')

.\node_modules\.bin\electron --inspect index.js
> 'info'

node --inspect index.js
> 'log'
> 'info'

Serves as a work-around I guess, but still annoying.

[ghost]

Same. Electron version v8.2.5, Win7 64. console.info works, but console.log doesn't.
So the workaround for now is:

console.log(`shouldn't work`)
console.log = console.info;
console.log('should work')

[m4heshd]

I'm on v11.1.1 and the issue is still here.

[MasterIO02]

Can confirm this issue is still here, but only on Windows for me, not on Linux. I can log nothing in the browser, no matter what I try with console.log, console.info, using '' instead of ``, the only thing that can log something for me on Windows is myConsole that logs in the nodejs process, but that's not what I want.

[deepak1556]

@m4heshd for issue with Electron 11 please update to 11.2.0 which got fixed by #27102