lightstep-tracer-java

The LightStep distributed tracing library for Android and the standard Java runtime environment.

• Getting Started
  • Android
  • JRE
• API documentation
• Options

Getting started: Android

The Android library is hosted on Bintray, jcenter, and Maven Central. The Bintray lightstep-tracer-android project contains additional installation and setup information for using the library with various build systems such as Ivy and Maven.

Gradle

In most cases, modifying your build.gradle with the below is all that is required:

repositories {
    jcenter() // OR mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
    compile 'com.lightstep.tracer:lightstep-tracer-android:VERSION'
}

• Be sure to replace VERSION with the current version of the library
• The artifact is published to both jcenter() and mavenCentral(). Use whichever you prefer.

Update your AndroidManifest.xml

Ensure the app's AndroidManifest.xml has the following (under the <manifest> tag):

<!-- Permissions required to make http calls -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />

Initializing the LightStep Tracer

// Import the OpenTracing interfaces
import io.opentracing.Span;
import io.opentracing.Tracer;

// ...

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    // Initialize LightStep tracer implementation in the main activity
    // (or anywhere with a valid android.content.Context).
    this.tracer = new com.lightstep.tracer.android.Tracer(
         this,
         new com.lightstep.tracer.shared.Options.OptionsBuilder()
            .withAccessToken("{your_access_token}")
            .build()
    );

    // Start and finish a Span
    Span span = this.tracer.buildSpan("my_span").start();
    this.doSomeWorkHere();
    span.finish();

Getting started: JRE

The JRE library is hosted on Bintray, jcenter, and Maven Central. The Bintray lightstep-tracer-jre project contains additional installation and setup information for using the library with various build systems such as Ivy and Maven.

Maven

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.lightstep.tracer</groupId>
  <artifactId>lightstep-tracer-jre</artifactId>
  <version> VERSION </version>
</dependency>

• Be sure to replace VERSION with the current version of the library

Gradle

In most cases, modifying your build.gradle with the below is all that is required:

repositories {
    mavenCentral() // OR jcenter()
}
dependencies {
    compile 'com.lightstep.tracer:lightstep-tracer-jre:VERSION'
}

• Be sure to replace VERSION with the current version of the library
• The artifact is published to both jcenter() and mavenCentral(). Use whichever you prefer.

Initializing the LightStep Tracer

// Important the OpenTracing interfaces
import io.opentracing.Span;
import io.opentracing.Tracer;

// ...

// Initialize the OpenTracing Tracer with LightStep's implementation
Tracer tracer = new com.lightstep.tracer.jre.JRETracer(
         new com.lightstep.tracer.shared.Options.OptionsBuilder()
            .withAccessToken("{your_access_token}")
            .build()
);

// Start and finish a Span
Span span = this.tracer.buildSpan("my_span").start();
this.doSomeWorkHere();
span.finish();

API Documentation

Tracing instrumentation should use the OpenTracing APIs to stay portable and in sync with the standard:

• OpenTracing API (javadoc)

For reference, the generated LightStep documentation is also available:

• lightstep-tracer-android (javadoc)
• lightstep-tracer-jre (javadoc)

Options

Setting a custom component name

To set the name used in the LightStep UI for this instance of the Tracer, call withComponentName() on the OptionsBuilder object:

options = new com.lightstep.tracer.shared.Options.OptionsBuilder()
                      .withAccessToken("{your_access_token}")
                      .withComponentName("your_custom_name")
                      .build();

Disabling the reporting loop

By default, the Java library does a report of any buffered data on a fairly regular interval. To disable this behavior and rely only on explicit calls to flush() to report data, initialize with:

options = new com.lightstep.tracer.shared.Options.OptionsBuilder()
                      .withAccessToken("{your_access_token}")
                      .withDisableReportingLoop(true)
                      .build();

To then manually flush by using the LightStep tracer object directly:

// Flush any buffered tracing data
((com.lightstep.tracer.android.Tracer)tracer).flush();

Flushing the report at exit

In order to send a final flush of the data prior to exit, clients should manually flush by using the LightStep tracer object as described above.

Development info

See DEV.md for information on contributing to this instrumentation library.