I’m finding the current implementation of error logs somewhat frustrating. I don’t have much experience with Java, and all I’m seeing is a stack trace with line numbers, but no runtime data. It would be much more helpful for me to know the current values of the fields and variables causing the error. Is there any way to achieve this with little or no intervention in the project itself, and without constantly switching to debug mode?
No, what is logged is in the code. You cannot change what gets logged without changing an recompiling the code.
But you do have a lot of control over what you change the level to debug for. Rarely does it make sense to turn all logging to DEBUG level. You usually just turn it up for one component or another depending on what you are working with.
If it’s a rule you have problems with, well you do have control over what gets logged there.
As of 4.2, you can change the logging level of any component through the UI. Individual bindings can be configured from the third column in Settings and other loggers can be configured from Developer Tools → Log Viewer.
Usually, errors that include stack traces though means something has gone wrong that is outside your control so posting them to the forum and asking for help or filing issues might be the best course of action.