4.0.0 Custom Instrumentation spans not working

[sysmat]

Platform:

• Android -> If yes, which Device API (and compileSdkVersion/targetSdkVersion/Build tools) version?
• Java -> If yes, which Java (and sourceCompatibility/targetCompatibility) version?
• Kotlin -> If yes, which Kotlin (and jvmTarget) version?
• NDK -> If yes, which NDK/CMake version?
• React-Native -> If yes, which version?
• Timber -> If yes, which version?
• Log4j2 -> If yes, which version?
• Logback -> If yes, which version?
• Spring -> If yes, which version?

IDE:

• Android Studio -> If yes, which version?
• IntelliJ -> If yes, which version?
• Other -> NetBaens 12?

Build system:

• Gradle -> If yes, which version?
• Buck -> If yes, which version?
• Bazel -> If yes, which version?
• Maven -> If yes, which version?
• Other -> If yes, which one?

Android Gradle Plugin:

• Yes -> If yes, which version?
• No

Sentry Android Gradle Plugin:

• Yes -> If yes, which version?
• No

Proguard/R8:

• Enabled
• Disabled

Platform installed with:

• JCenter
• Bintray
• Maven Central
• Manually

The version of the SDK:
io.sentry:sentry:4.0.0

---

I have the following issue:

• documentation is not up to date https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/java/performance/custom-instrumentation/
• when using 4.0.0-alpha.3 it was working
• I'm trying to work with spans

Steps to reproduce:

public List<Org> getOrgsFamaly() {        
        ITransaction transaction = Sentry.startTransaction("getOrgsFamaly()");
        transaction.setOperation("famaly");

        List<Org> result = new ArrayList<>();
        result.add(build(4, 2));
        result.add(build(2, 3));

        transaction.finish();
        return result;
}

private Org build(int childrens, int leafs){
        ISpan span = Sentry.getSpan();
       // span is always null
        if(nonNull(span)){
            ISpan innerSpan = span.startChild("famaly", "childes_"+childrens+"::leafs_"+leafs);
            Org org = new Org(childrens, leafs);
            innerSpan.finish();
            return org;
        }

        return null;
    }

Actual result:

• span is always null

Expected result:

• To have spans inside one transaction

[marandaneto]

@sysmat indeed, if you are not using the transaction object to create child spans, you've to set the transaction to the current scope.

Sentry.configureScope(
          scope -> {
            scope.setTransaction(transaction);
          });

so after that, Sentry.getSpan() will return the given transaction/span

[sysmat]

Uf, this is ugly, was any particular reason to change this

[sysmat]

So for every transaction I start I have to do

Sentry.configureScope(
          scope -> {
            scope.setTransaction(transaction);
          });

• So If I have 10 transactions in service and do configureScope it will not be very clean code and spans will be clear

[sysmat]

If I do this spans not shown in sentry UI, only transaction and no spans in the transaction, this is not ok

[marandaneto]

@sysmat auto instrumentations like Spring boot does it automatically, so you don't have to.
Scopes are thread-local, so you are the best one to decide if it should go to the current's Scope or not, when using the manual instrumentation.

other option would be passing your transaction object around and using it to transaction.startChild(...)

[marandaneto]

So for every transaction I start I have to do

Sentry.configureScope(
          scope -> {
            scope.setTransaction(transaction);
          });

• So If I have 10 transactions in service and do configureScope it will not be very clean code and spans will be clear

well, not really, if you start 10 transactions in the same thread, you are gonna overwrite them, be aware of that.
maybe just use the transaction object if so?

[sysmat]

this is very disappointment , 4.0.0-alpha.3 was very useful, so if I pass the transaction to other functions, then we need to change the signature of those functions(not the way to go)

[marandaneto]

this is very disappointment , 4.0.0-alpha.3 was very useful, so if I pass the transaction to other functions, then we need to change the signature of those functions(not the way to go)

it's a trade-off, if you have a single-threaded application or a single scope in the whole App's lifecycle (Mobile), you'd not want your transactions overwritten.

just create a method wrapper that does both calls at once, as simple as:

startMyTransaction(name, op) {
  ITransaction transaction = Sentry.startTransaction(name);
  transaction.setOperation(op);
  Sentry.configureScope(
          scope -> {
            scope.setTransaction(transaction);
          });
}

and start using startMyTransaction

[sysmat]

It is not that, you want manually start a span in nested functions, like a distributed trace

create(User user){
 // start transaction
 persistance(user); // want to have span
 notify(user);  // want to have span
 // finish transaction
}

persistance(User user){
  saveDB(user); // want to have span
  saveLdap(user); // want to have span
}

[marandaneto]

I don't see any problems when doing that, before & after the breaking change, what is blocking you to do that?

[sysmat]

in all functions, I need to pass ITransaction as a parameter, so changing the signature of all these functions

[marandaneto]

nope, you don't, see this comment:

#1223 (comment)

[sysmat]

Sentry.configureScope(
          scope -> {
            scope.setTransaction(transaction);
          });

when doing this there are NO spans in transactions getOrgsFamaly, I write it before #1223 (comment)