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Traces

Custom traces allow you to measure the duration of specific operations in your app, providing insights into performance and behavior of code paths that matter to your business. Traces are implemented using spans from the OpenTelemetry standard.

What are Traces and Spans?​

In OpenTelemetry:

  • A trace represents the entire journey of a request or operation through your system
  • Spans are the building blocks of a trace, representing individual units of work or operations

Each span:

  • Has a name and type
  • Tracks when the operation started and ended
  • Can include attributes (key-value pairs) that provide context
  • Can record errors that occurred during the operation
  • Can have parent-child relationships with other spans
  • Must be ended to properly capture the operation's duration and avoid memory leaks

Embrace uses spans to visualize and analyze the performance of operations in your app.

Required Imports​

To use custom traces in your Swift code, you need the following imports:

import Foundation
import EmbraceIO
import OpenTelemetryApi  // Only required for parent-child span relationships

Note: The OpenTelemetryApi import is only required when:

  • Creating parent-child span relationships using .setParent()
  • Storing spans as class properties or variables with explicit Span type annotations
  • Using advanced span manipulation methods

For basic span creation and recordSpan usage, only EmbraceIO is needed.

Creating Spans​

Embrace provides several ways to create custom spans depending on your needs:

Basic Span Creation​

Create a span using the buildSpan method:

let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "image_processing",
    type: .performance
).startSpan()

// Your code here
performImageProcessing()

span.end()

Using Closures​

For operations contained within a single function, you can use the closure-based API:

let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "data_calculation",
    type: .performance,
    attributes: [
        "input_size": String(inputData.count),
        "algorithm": "fast_math"
    ]
).startSpan()

// Your code here
let result = performCalculation()

// Add dynamic attributes to the span
span.setAttribute(key: "calculation_result", value: result.description)

span.end()

Important:

  • The span parameter in the closure is optional (Span?), so always use optional chaining (span?.setAttribute) when calling methods on it.
  • Never call span?.end() within a recordSpan closure - the span is automatically ended when the closure completes. Calling end() manually can cause undefined behavior.

Async Operations​

For asynchronous operations, start the span before the operation begins and end it when the operation completes:

let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "network_request",
    type: .performance
).startSpan()

performAsyncOperation { result, error in
    if let error = error {
        span.end(error: error)
    } else {
        span.setAttribute(key: "result_count", value: result.count.description)
        span.end()
    }
}

Span Attributes​

Add context to your spans with attributes. You can set attributes in two ways:

Setting Multiple Attributes at Creation​

let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "checkout_process",
    type: .performance,
    attributes: [
        "cart_item_count": "5",
        "total_amount": "99.99",
        "payment_method": "credit_card"
    ]
).startSpan()

// Complete checkout process
span.end()

Setting Individual Attributes​

// Create the span
let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "checkout_process",
    type: .performance
).startSpan()

// Add some attributes relevant to the checkout
span.setAttribute(key: "cart_item_count", value: "5")
span.setAttribute(key: "total_amount", value: "99.99")
span.setAttribute(key: "payment_method", value: "credit_card")

// Complete checkout process
span.end()

Hybrid Approach​

// Set known attributes upfront
let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "api_request",
    type: .performance,
    attributes: [
        "endpoint": "/users/profile",
        "method": "GET",
        "user_id": userId
    ]
).startSpan()

// Add dynamic attributes during execution
span.setAttribute(key: "response_size", value: String(responseData.count))
span.setAttribute(key: "cache_status", value: cacheHit ? "hit" : "miss")

span.end()

Best Practices:

  • Use the attributes dictionary for static values known at span creation
  • Use setAttribute() for dynamic values computed during span execution
  • Attribute values must be strings - convert numbers and booleans to strings
  • You can add attributes at any point before the span is ended

Span Hierarchy​

Create parent-child relationships between spans to represent nested operations:

let parentSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "data_sync",
    type: .performance
).startSpan()

// Start a child span
let fetchSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "fetch_remote_data",
    type: .performance
).setParent(parentSpan).startSpan()

let result = fetchRemoteData()
fetchSpan.end()

// Create another child span
let processSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "process_data",
    type: .performance
).setParent(parentSpan).startSpan()

processData(result)
processSpan.end()

parentSpan.end()

This creates a hierarchy that helps visualize the relationship between operations.

Custom Span Types​

You can specify a span type to categorize different kinds of operations:

let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "payment_processing",
    type: .performance // Use SpanType enum values like .performance, .ux, .system
).startSpan()

// Process payment

span.end()

Available span types include:

  • .performance - For performance monitoring (default if not specified)
  • .ux - For user experience tracking
  • .system - For system-level operations

Note: If you don't specify a type parameter, .performance is used by default.

Span links correlate one or more spans together that are causally related but don't have a typical parent-child relationship. These links may correlate spans within the same trace or across different traces.

You can add links to other spans when building a span:

// Build a new span
let builder = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(name: "mySpan")

// Set a SpanLink
builder?.addLink(spanContext: linkContext, attributes: linkAttributes)

// Start the span
let span = builder?.startSpan()

// End the span
// ...
span?.end()

Best Practices​

Naming Conventions​

Use clear, descriptive names for your spans. Consider a naming convention such as:

  • Use camelCase for span names to maintain consistency with Swift naming conventions
  • Include the general category followed by the specific operation
  • Be consistent across your codebase

Good examples:

  • networkFetchUserProfile
  • databaseSavePreferences
  • renderingProductList

Granularity​

Choose an appropriate level of granularity for your spans:

  • Too coarse: app_startup (better to break into component parts)
  • Too fine-grained: increment_counter (likely too small to be useful)
  • Just right: image_cache_lookup, user_authentication

Resource Management​

Always end your spans to avoid memory leaks. Consider using Swift's defer statement for safety:

let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
    name: "important_operation",
    type: .performance
).startSpan()
defer { span.end() }

// Your code here, even if it throws an exception, span will be ended

Capturing Meaningful Data​

Add attributes that would be useful for troubleshooting:

let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(name: "data_operation").startSpan()

span.setAttribute(key: "user_tier", value: "premium")
span.setAttribute(key: "data_size", value: dataSize.description)
span.setAttribute(key: "retry_count", value: retryCount.description)

span.end()

Common Use Cases​

API Client Instrumentation​

func fetchUserProfile(userId: String, completion: @escaping (Result<UserProfile, Error>) -> Void) {
    let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
        name: "api_fetch_user_profile",
        type: .performance
    ).startSpan()

    span.setAttribute(key: "user_id", value: userId)

    apiClient.get("/users/\(userId)") { result in
        switch result {
        case .success(let data):
            span.setAttribute(key: "data_size", value: data.count.description)
            span.end()
            // Process data and call completion
        case .failure(let error):
            span.setAttribute(key: "error.message", value: error.localizedDescription)
            span.end(error: error)
            completion(.failure(error))
        }
    }
}

Database Operations​

func saveUserPreferences(preferences: Preferences) throws {
    let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
        name: "db_save_preferences",
        type: .performance
    ).startSpan()
    defer { span.end() }

    span.setAttribute(key: "preference_count", value: preferences.count.description)

    do {
        try database.write { transaction in
            transaction.setObject(preferences, forKey: "user_preferences")
        }
    } catch let error {
        span.setAttribute(key: "error.message", value: error.localizedDescription)
        span.end(error: error)
        throw error
    }
}

Performance-Critical Algorithms​

func processFeed(posts: [Post]) -> [ProcessedPost] {
    let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
        name: "algorithm_feed_processing",
        type: .performance
    ).startSpan()
    defer { span.end() }

    span.setAttribute(key: "post_count", value: posts.count.description)

    // Measure the main processing algorithm
    let result = performFeedProcessing(posts)

    span.setAttribute(key: "processed_count", value: result.count.description)

    return result
}

Complex User Flow Examples​

Track user navigation through your app with hierarchical spans:

class NavigationFlowTracker {
    private var userJourneySpan: Span?

    func startUserJourney(from startScreen: String) {
        userJourneySpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "user_journey",
            type: .ux,
            attributes: [
                "journey.start_screen": startScreen,
                "journey.session_id": EmbraceIO.shared.currentSessionId ?? "unknown"
            ]
        ).startSpan()
    }

    func trackScreenTransition(from: String, to: String) {
        let transitionSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "screen_transition",
            type: .ux,
            attributes: [
                "transition.from": from,
                "transition.to": to
            ]
        ).setParent(userJourneySpan).startSpan()

        // Add transition-specific events
        transitionSpan?.addEvent(name: "transition_started")

        // Simulate transition work
        let success = performTransition(from: from, to: to)

        if success {
            transitionSpan?.addEvent(name: "transition_completed")
        } else {
            transitionSpan?.addEvent(name: "transition_failed")
        }

        transitionSpan?.end()
    }

    func endUserJourney(reason: String) {
        userJourneySpan?.setAttribute(key: "journey.end_reason", value: reason)
        userJourneySpan?.end()
        userJourneySpan = nil
    }
}

Game or Interaction Flow Measurement​

Track complex multi-stage user interactions:

class GameFlowTracker {
    private var gameSpan: Span?
    private var roundSpan: Span?
    private var currentRound = 0

    func startGame(gameType: String) {
        gameSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "game_session",
            type: .ux,
            attributes: [
                "game.type": gameType,
                "game.start_time": ISO8601DateFormatter().string(from: Date())
            ]
        ).startSpan()
    }

    func startRound() {
        currentRound += 1

        // End previous round if exists
        roundSpan?.end()

        // Start new round as child of game span
        roundSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "game_round",
            type: .ux,
            attributes: [
                "round.number": String(currentRound),
                "round.start_time": ISO8601DateFormatter().string(from: Date())
            ]
        ).startSpan()
    }

    func recordUserAction(action: String, isCorrect: Bool, reactionTime: TimeInterval) {
        let actionSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "user_action",
            type: .ux,
            attributes: [
                "action.type": action,
                "action.correct": String(isCorrect),
                "action.reaction_time_ms": String(Int(reactionTime * 1000))
            ]
        ).setParent(roundSpan).startSpan()

        if !isCorrect {
            actionSpan?.setAttribute(key: "action.error", value: "incorrect_action")
        }

        actionSpan?.end()
    }

    func endRound(score: Int, success: Bool) {
        roundSpan?.setAttribute(key: "round.score", value: String(score))
        roundSpan?.setAttribute(key: "round.success", value: String(success))

        if !success {
            roundSpan?.setAttribute(key: "round.failure_reason", value: "round_failed")
        }

        roundSpan?.end()
        roundSpan = nil
    }

    func endGame(finalScore: Int, totalRounds: Int) {
        gameSpan?.setAttribute(key: "game.final_score", value: String(finalScore))
        gameSpan?.setAttribute(key: "game.total_rounds", value: String(totalRounds))
        gameSpan?.setAttribute(key: "game.average_score", value: String(finalScore / max(totalRounds, 1)))
        gameSpan?.end()
        gameSpan = nil
    }
}

E-commerce Checkout Flow​

Track a complete user purchase journey:

class CheckoutFlowTracker {
    private var checkoutSpan: Span?

    func startCheckout(cartValue: Double, itemCount: Int) {
        checkoutSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "checkout_flow",
            type: .ux,
            attributes: [
                "checkout.cart_value": String(format: "%.2f", cartValue),
                "checkout.item_count": String(itemCount),
                "checkout.started_at": ISO8601DateFormatter().string(from: Date())
            ]
        ).startSpan()
    }

    func trackCheckoutStep(step: String, duration: TimeInterval? = nil) {
        let stepSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "checkout_step",
            type: .ux,
            attributes: [
                "step.name": step,
                "step.timestamp": ISO8601DateFormatter().string(from: Date())
            ]
        ).setParent(checkoutSpan).startSpan()

        if let duration = duration {
            stepSpan?.setAttribute(key: "step.duration_ms", value: String(Int(duration * 1000)))
        }

        stepSpan?.end()
    }

    func trackPaymentFlow(paymentMethod: String) {
        let paymentSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "payment_processing",
            type: .ux,
            attributes: [
                "payment.method": paymentMethod
            ]
        ).setParent(checkoutSpan).startSpan()

        // Track payment validation as nested span
        let validationSpan = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "payment_validation",
            type: .performance
        ).setParent(paymentSpan).startSpan()

        // Simulate validation work
        Thread.sleep(forTimeInterval: 2.0)
        validationSpan?.end()

        // Track payment completion
        paymentSpan?.setAttribute(key: "payment.status", value: "completed")
        paymentSpan?.end()
    }

    func completeCheckout(orderId: String, success: Bool, error: Error? = nil) {
        if success {
            checkoutSpan?.setAttribute(key: "checkout.order_id", value: orderId)
            checkoutSpan?.setAttribute(key: "checkout.status", value: "completed")
        } else {
            checkoutSpan?.setAttribute(key: "checkout.status", value: "failed")
            if let error = error {
                checkoutSpan?.setAttribute(key: "error.message", value: error.localizedDescription)
                checkoutSpan?.end(error: error)
                return
            }
        }

        checkoutSpan?.end()
        checkoutSpan = nil
    }
}

SwiftUI Navigation with Embrace Integration​

Track navigation in SwiftUI apps with automatic and manual instrumentation:

struct ShoppingAppView: View {
    @State private var selectedTab = 0
    @State private var showingProductDetail = false

    var body: some View {
        TabView(selection: $selectedTab) {
            ProductListView()
                .tabItem { Label("Products", systemImage: "list.bullet") }
                .tag(0)
                .onAppear {
                    trackTabSelection("products")
                }

            CartView()
                .tabItem { Label("Cart", systemImage: "cart") }
                .tag(1)
                .onAppear {
                    trackTabSelection("cart")
                }
        }
        .onChange(of: selectedTab) { newTab in
            trackTabChange(to: newTab)
        }
    }

    private func trackTabSelection(_ tabName: String) {
        let span = EmbraceIO.shared.buildSpan(
            name: "tab_selection",
            type: .ux,
            attributes: [
                "tab.name": tabName,
                "tab.selection_time": ISO8601DateFormatter().string(from: Date())
            ]
        ).startSpan()

        // Tab tracking logic here

        span.end()
    }

    private func trackTabChange(to newTab: Int) {
        let tabNames = ["products", "cart"]
        guard newTab < tabNames.count else { return }

        try? EmbraceIO.shared.setProperty(
            key: "current_tab",
            value: tabNames[newTab],
            lifespan: .session
        )
    }
}

These examples demonstrate how to create comprehensive trace structures that provide deep insights into user behavior, performance bottlenecks, and application flow patterns.