Customize the iOS Instrumentation

Related pages:

Once you have instrumented your iOS application with the Mobile iOS SDK, you can also use the APIs exposed by the SDK to customize the data for your app that appears in the Controller UI.

The following sections show you how to use the iOS SDK to customize your instrumentation.

Because the agent stores data about events in a local buffer before reporting the information, you are recommended to use the APIs with discretion.

Collect Additional Types of Data

You can use methods available in the ADEUMInstrumentation class to collect six additional types of data:

Type of Data	Description	Specifications	Where Data is Displayed
Info points	How often a method is invoked, and how long it takes to run.	Data is numeric Names must consist of alphanumeric characters and/or spaces	Metric Browser Custom Data Network Request Snapshots Mobile Sessions Network Request Analyze
Custom timers	Any arbitrary sequence of events within your code timed, even spanning multiple methods.	Data is numeric Metric names must consist of alphanumeric characters and/or spaces	Metric Browser Custom Data
Custom metrics	Any integer-based data you wish to collect.	Data is numeric Metric names must consist of alphanumeric characters and/or spaces	Metric Browser Custom Data
User data	Any string key/value pair you think might be useful.	Data can be any type Metric names have no restrictions	Network Request Snapshots Mobile Sessions Network Request Analyze Crash Snapshots
Breadcrumbs	The context for a crash.	Data can be any data type Metric names have no restrictions	Network Request Snapshots Mobile Sessions Network Request Analyze Crash Snapshots
User interaction	Capture when users press buttons, click on lists, and select text.	Data can be any data type Metric names have no restrictions	Network Request Snapshots Mobile Sessions Network Request Analyze

When you have set up additional data types, the Mobile Agent packages that data in a mobile beacon. Normally, the beacon is transmitted when the instrumented app sends an HTTP request or when the app is restarted following a crash, but if custom data has been collected and neither of those events has occurred for at least five minutes, the custom data is sent at that time.

Info Points

Information points allow you to track how your own code is running. You can see how often a method is invoked, and how long it takes to run, by using beginCall and endCall, something like the following:

- (void)myMethod
    {
        id tracker = [ADEumInstrumentation beginCall:self selector:_cmd];
        // Implementation of method here ...
        [ADEumInstrumentation endCall:tracker];
    }

OBJ-C

func myMethod() {
    let tracker = ADEumInstrumentation.beginCall(self, selector: #function)
    // Implementation of method here ...
    ADEumInstrumentation.endCall(tracker)
}

SWIFT

If an exception is thrown, it is also reported. This information appears in the Custom Data view in the Controller UI.

Custom Timers

Custom timers allow you to time any arbitrary sequence of events within your code, even spanning multiple methods, by using startTimer and stopTimer. For example, to track the time a user spends viewing a screen, the instrumentation could look like this:

- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
      [super viewDidAppear:animated];
      [ADEumInstrumentation startTimerWithName:@"View Lifetime"];
  }
- (void)viewDidDisappear:(BOOL)animated {
      [super viewDidDisappear:animated];
      [ADEumInstrumentation stopTimerWithName:@"View Lifetime"];
  }

OBJ-C

func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidAppear(animated)
    ADEumInstrumentation.startTimer(withName: "View Lifetime")
}
func viewDidDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidDisappear(animated)
    ADEumInstrumentation.stopTimer(withName: "View Lifetime")
}

SWIFT

This information appears in the Custom Data view of the Controller UI.

Calling startTimerWithName again with the same name value resets a named timer.

Custom Metrics

Any integer-based data can be passed to the agent. The first parameter to the report.MetricWithName call is the name you want the metric to appear under in the Controller UI. The metric name should only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces. Illegal characters are replaced by their ASCII hex value.

Reporting a metric called "My custom metric", for example, would look something like this:

[ADEumInstrumentation reportMetricWithName:@"My custom metric" value:<#VALUE HERE#>];

OBJ-C

This information appears in the Custom Data view of the Controller UI.

Custom User Data

You can set and later remove any string key/value pair you think might be useful with the following methods:

setUserData(key, value, success, error)
removeUserData(key)

Parameters

The following table describes the parameters:

Name	Type	Description
key	string	The key identifying the key-value pair.
value	string	The value associated with the key.
success	function	The user-defined callback for successful cases.
error	function	The user-defined callback for failed cases.

Example

The code example below shows how to set user data with the SDK API:

- (void) onUserLoggedIn:(NSString *)userid { 
    [ADEumInstrumentation setUserData:@"User ID" value:userid];
    ...
  }

OBJ-C

func onUserLogged(in userid: String?) {
    ADEumInstrumentation.setUserData("User ID", value: userid)
}

SWIFT

The code example below shows how to remove user data with the SDK API:

- (void) onUserLoggedIn:(NSString *)userid { 
    [ADEumInstrumentation removeUserData:@"User ID"];
    ...
  }

OBJ-C

func onUserLogged(in userid: String?) {
    ADEumInstrumentation.removeUserData("User ID")
}

SWIFT

You can also set user data with values of other types (Long, Boolean, Double, Date) using the following methods:

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs allow you to situate a crash in the context of your user's experience. Set a breadcrumb when something interesting happens. If your application crashes at some point in the future, the breadcrumb will be displayed along with the crash report.

There are two ways of leaving breadcrumbs:

Crash Reports Only
Modal

Using this method means that breadcrumbs are reported in crash reports only.

+ (void)leaveBreadcrumb:(NSString *)breadcrumb

OBJ-C

Using this method lets you fine tune where the breadcrumbs are reported, either only in crash reports or in crash reports and sessions.

+ (void)leaveBreadcrumb:(NSString *)breadcrumb mode:(ADEumBreadcrumbVisibility)mode

OBJ-C

Where mode is either:

ADEumBreadcrumbVisibilityCrashesOnly
ADEumBreadcrumbVisibilityCrashesAndSessions

If the breadcrumb is over 2048 characters, it is truncated. If it is empty or nil, no breadcrumb is recorded. Each crash report displays the most recent 99 breadcrumbs.

Capture User Interactions

You can enable the iOS Agent to track certain UI events triggered by user interactions. Once user interactions have been captured, you can sort sessions by UI event and view UI events in the timeline of the session waterfall.

You can capture when users do one or all of the following:

press buttons
select table cells
select text fields
select text views

Security and Privacy Concerns

The interaction capture mode is disabled by default for security and privacy reasons as user interactions may contain sensitive information. Moreover, this potential security and privacy issue may be compounded if you enable both the capturing of UI interactions and screenshots.

Enable User Interaction Capture Mode

To enable user interaction capture mode, you assign the capture mode to the property interactionCaptureMode of the ADEumAgentConfiguration object. The instrumentation code example below configures the iOS Agent to capture all the supported types of user interactions.

ADEumAgentConfiguration *config = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>];
config.interactionCaptureMode = ADEumInteractionCaptureModeAll;
[ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:config];

OBJ-C

You can also configure the iOS Agent to only capture one type of user interaction:

ADEumAgentConfiguration *config = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>];
config.interactionCaptureMode = ADEumInteractionCaptureModeButtonPressed;
[ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:config];

OBJ-C

Programmatically Take Screenshots

By default, mobile screenshots are enabled on the agent-side but disabled on the Controller-side. To programmatically take manual screenshots, you must enable screenshots in the Controller UI and add the following API:

[ADEumInstrumentation takeScreenshot];

OBJ-C

ADEumInstrumentation.takeScreenshot()

SWIFT

Disable Screenshots

You can disable screenshots from the Controller UI or with the iOS SDK. To disable screenshots with the iOS SDK, set the property screenshotsEnabled of the ADEumAgentConfiguration object to NO for Objective-C and false for Swift as shown below.

ADEumAgentConfiguration *config = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>];
config.screenshotsEnabled = NO;
[ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:config];

OBJ-C

let config = ADEumAgentConfiguration(appKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>);
config.screenshotsEnabled = false;
ADEumInstrumentation.initWith(config);

SWIFT

Block and Unblock Screenshots

You can also use the iOS SDK to block screenshots from being taken during the execution of a code block. This just temporarily blocks screenshots from being taken until you unblock screenshots. This enables you to stop taking screenshots in situations where users are entering personal data, such as on login and account screens.

The ADEumInstrumentation class provides the methods blockScreenshots and unblockScreenshots to block and unblock screenshots. If screenshots are disabled through the property screenshotsEnabled of the ADEumAgentConfiguration object or through the Controller UI, these methods have no effect. You can also call screenshotsBlocked to check if screenshots are being blocked.

The following example demonstrates how you could use the API to block and unblock screenshots for a user login.

#import "ADEumInstrumentation.h"
...

- (IBAction)loginUser:(id)sender {
    if(![ADEumInstrumentation screenshotsBlocked]) {
      [ADEumInstrumentation blockScreenshots];
    }
    LoginCredentials creds = [UserLogin getUserCreds];
    if(creds.authorized) {
       [LoginUser redirectToProfile:creds.user]
       [ADEumInstrumentation unblockScreenshots];
    }
}
...

OBJ-C

import ADEumInstrumentation
...

@IBAction func loginUser(_ sender: UIButton) {
    if(!ADEumInstrumentation.screenshotsBlocked()) {
        ADEumInstrumentation.blockScreenshots()
    }
    let creds = UserLogin.getUserCreds()
    if(creds.authorized) {
        LoginUser.redirectToProfile(credits.user)
        ADEumInstrumentation.unblockScreenshots()
    }
}
...

SWIFT

Disable the Agent to Stop Sending User Data to the Collector

You can disable the agent to stop sending all data to the collector while the agent is initialized and running. For example, you can disable the agent if your app has an option for users to opt-out of monitoring for privacy reasons.

`shutdownAgent`

The shutdownAgent call stops outgoing data to the collector, and does not persist data on the device.

[ADEumInstrumentation shutdownAgent];

OBJ-C

ADEumInstrumentation.shutdownAgent()

SWIFT

The call only stops the traffic out of the agent.
Once the agent has been initialized, the call cannot be removed, and a license will have been consumed.
If you want to make this state permanent for a device, add code in UserDefaults to save the state and use that flag to conditionally initialize the agent in your code.

`restartAgent`

To re-enable the agent and reverse shutdownAgent, use restartAgent.

[ADEumInstrumentation restartAgent];

OBJ-C

ADEumInstrumentation.restartAgent();

SWIFT

This call will respect the server side calls that can remotely shutdown the agent in a similar way.
The call is only in effect while the app is running.
The call will be ignored if the agent has been remotely disabled.
If the call is removed from memory and the app restarts, or the device is rebooted, the agent will be initialized as normal.

Add a Crash Reporting Callback

You may want to make crash report information that Mobile RUM collects available to other parts of your code, for example, to Google Analytics, if you are using it. To enable you to pass on summary crash information, you can set up a crash report runtime callback. To get a callback when the iOS Agent detects and then reports a crash, you need to implement the following protocol in your code:

@protocol ADEumCrashReportCallback <NSObject>
  
- (void)onCrashesReported:(NSArray<ADEumCrashReportSummary *> *)crashReportSummaries;
  
@end

OBJ-C

This callback is invoked on your app's UI thread, so any significant work should be done on a separate work thread.

Each ADEumCrashReportSummary passed in has the following properties:

@interface ADEumCrashReportSummary : NSObject
 
/** Uniquely defines the crash, can be used as key to find full crash report. */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSString *crashId;
 
/** The exception name, may be `nil` if no `NSException` occured. */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSString * ADEUM_NULLABLE exceptionName;
 
/** The exception reason, may be `nil` if no `NSException` occured. */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSString * ADEUM_NULLABLE exceptionReason;
 
/** The Mach exception signal name */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSString *signalName;
 
/** The Mach exception signal code */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSString *signalCode;
 
@end

OBJ-C

If you are sending the information to another analytics tool, such as Google Analytics, it is best to include all five properties:

exceptionName and exceptionReason are optional and useful for a quick identification of what the crash is. These are only present if the crash cause occurred within an exception reporting runtime, such as Objective-C.
signalName and signalCode are useful for quick identification of the crash. These are from the system and are independent of the runtime.
For additional information, crashId can be used to look up the crash in the AppDynamics Controller UI.

For example, to print the crash information to iOS's logger, you could implement an ADEumCrashReportCallback class like this:

// assumes the containing object has "adopted" the protocol
- (void)onCrashesReported:(NSArray<ADEumCrashReportSummary *> *)summaries {
    for (ADEumCrashReportSummary *summary in summaries) {
        NSLog(@"Crash ID: %@", summary.crashId);
        NSLog(@"Signal: %@ (%@)", summary.signalName, summary.signalCode);
        NSLog(@"Exception Name:\n%@", summary.exceptionName);
        NSLog(@"Exception Reason:\n%@", summary.exceptionReason);
    }
}

OBJ-C

You set the object that implements the ADEumCrashReportCallback protocol during agent configuration:

ADEumAgentConfiguration *config = [ADEumAgentConfiguration new];
config.crashReportCallback = myCrashReportCallback;

OBJ-C

Your callback is invoked, on the main/UI thread, if a crash from a previous run is detected and collected. See the latest iOS SDK documentation.

Disable Crash Reporting

Crash reporting is enabled by default, but you can manually disable crash reporting through the instrumentation configuration. If you are using other crash reporting tools, you might disable crash reporting to minimize conflicts and optimize the crash report results.

You can disable crash reporting by configuring the instrumentation with the crashReportingEnabled property as shown in the following code example:

ADEumAgentConfiguration *config = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey:appKey];
config.crashReportingEnabled = No
[ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:config];

OBJ-C

let config = ADEumAgentConfiguration(appKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>);
config.crashReportingEnabled = false;
ADEumInstrumentation.initWith(config);

SWIFT

Report Errors and Exceptions

The domain: String used to initialize the standard NSError object used for reportError should not use unique string such as Hashes, StackTraceID or ThreadID. Including those will create an infinite number of Error Group which will impact performance.

To add unique error strings and values, you have two data collection options:

Add a string value as a breadcrumb. If the event/error, you are reporting has a single value attached, add the value to leaveBreadcrumb. See Breadcrumbs
Add string name and integer values. If the event/error, you are reporting has both name and integer values attached, add the values to reportMetricWithName. See Custom Metrics.

You can report exceptions using the method reportError from the ADEumInstrumentation class. Reported exceptions will appear in session details.

The method can have the following two signatures:

Objective-C Function Signature Description

(void)reportError:(NSError *)error withSeverity (ADEumErrorSeverityLevel)severity;

Use this signature to report errors, set the severity level of the issue, and send the stack trace.

This function signature sends the stack trace by default. If you don't want to send the stack trace, use the function signature below with the additional argument andStackTrace and set its value to NO.

The domain: String used to initialize the standard NSError object used for reportError should not use unique string such as Hashes, StackTraceID or ThreadID. Including those will create an infinite number of Error Group which will impact performance.

To add unique error strings and values, you have two data collection options:

Add a string value as a breadcrumb. If the event/error, you are reporting has a single value attached, add the value to leaveBreadcrumb. See Breadcrumbs
Add string name and integer values. If the event/error, you are reporting has both name and integer values attached, add the values to reportMetricWithName. See Custom Metrics.

(void)reportError:(NSError *)error withSeverity:(ADEumErrorSeverityLevel)severity andStackTrace:(BOOL)stacktrace;

Use this signature to report errors, set the severity level of the issue, and explicitly specify whether the stack trace should be included.

If you include the stack trace with the reported error by setting stacktrace to YES, you can view the stack trace in the Code Issues Details dialog.

To report the error without the stack trace, set stacktrace to NO.

The string message used to construct a new throwable used for reportError should not use unique string such as hashes, StackTraceID or ThreadID. Including those will create an infinite number of Error Group which will impact performance.

To add unique error strings and values, you have two data collection options:

Add a string value as a breadcrumb. If the event/error, you are reporting has a single value attached, add the value to leaveBreadcrumb. See Breadcrumbs
Add string name and integer values. If the event/error, you are reporting has both name and integer values attached, add the values to reportMetricWithName. See Custom Metrics.

Severity Levels

You can also set one of the following severity levels for an issue. With the severity level, you can filter errors in the Code Issues Dashboard or Code Issues Analyze.

ADEumErrorSeverityLevelInfo
ADEumErrorSeverityLevelWarning
ADEumErrorSeverityLevelCritical

Examples of Reporting Errors

The example below uses the API to report possible exceptions and set the severity level to ADEumErrorSeverityLevelCritical for a failed attempt to perform a file operation:

NSError *err = nil;
[[NSFileManager defaultManager] contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:@"pathToFile" error:&err];
if (err) {
   [ADEumInstrumentation reportError:err withSeverity:ADEumErrorSeverityLevelCritical, andStackTrace: NO];
} else {
   ...
}

OBJ-C

var err: Error? = nil
try? FileManager.default.contentsOfDirectory(atPath: "pathToFile")
if err != nil {
    ADEumInstrumentation.reportError(err, withSeverity: ADEumErrorSeverityLevelCritical, andStackTrace: false)
} else {
  ...
}

SWIFT

You can also create and report custom errors with the following. Note that because reportError is not passed the argument andStackTrace, by default, the stack trace is automatically included with the error.

The domain: String used to initialize the standard NSError object used for reportError should not use unique string such as Hashes, StackTraceID or ThreadID. Including those will create an infinite number of Error Group which will impact performance.

To add unique error strings and values, you have two data collection options:

Add a string value as a breadcrumb. If the event/error, you are reporting has a single value attached, add the value to leaveBreadcrumb. See Breadcrumbs
Add string name and integer values. If the event/error, you are reporting has both name and integer values attached, add the values to reportMetricWithName. See Custom Metrics.

NSString *domain = @"com.YourCompany.AddUsers.ErrorDomain";
NSString *desc = NSLocalizedString(@"Unable to add user.", @"");
NSDictionary *userInfo = @{ NSLocalizedDescriptionKey : desc };
NSError *error = [NSError errorWithDomain:domain
                                         code:-101
                                     userInfo:userInfo];
[ADEumInstrumentation reportError:error withSeverity: ADEumErrorSeverityLevelWarning];

OBJ-C

var domain = "com.YourCompany.AddUsers.ErrorDomain"
var desc = NSLocalizedString("Unable to add user.", comment: "")
var userInfo = [NSLocalizedDescriptionKey: desc]
var error = NSError(domain: domain, code: -101, userInfo: userInfo)
ADEumInstrumentation.reportError(error, withSeverity: ADEumErrorSeverityLevelWarning)

SWIFT

Configure Application-Not-Responding (ANR) Detection

By default, the iOS Agent does not detect ANR issues, and when ANR detection is enabled, the ANR issues are reported without stack traces. You must manually enable ANR detection and set a flag to include stack traces through the iOS Agent configuration. For more information about ANR monitoring, see Code Issues. To specify thresholds for ANR issues, see Configure Application Not Responding Thresholds.

Enable ANR Detection

You enable the detection of ANR issues by configuring the instrumentation with the anrDetectionEnabled property as shown below.

 ADEumAgentConfiguration *adeumAgentConfig = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>];
// Enable ANR detection
adeumAgentConfig.anrDetectionEnabled  = YES;
[ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:adeumAgentConfig];

OBJ-C

let config = ADEumAgentConfiguration(appKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>);
// Enable ANR detection
config.anrDetectionEnabled = true;
ADEumInstrumentation.initWith(config);

SWIFT

Report Stack Traces with ANRs

In addition to enabling ANR detection, you set the property anrStackTraceEnabled to YES (Objective-C) or true (Swift) to report stack traces with the ANRs.

 ADEumAgentConfiguration *adeumAgentConfig = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>];
// Enable ANR detection
adeumAgentConfig.anrDetectionEnabled  = YES;
// Set the flag to include stack traces with ANRs
adeumAgentConfig.anrStackTraceEnabled  = YES;
[ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:adeumAgentConfig];

OBJ-C

let config = ADEumAgentConfiguration(appKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>)
// Enable ANR detection
config.anrDetectionEnabled = true
// Set the flag to include stack traces with ANRs
config.anrStackTraceEnabled = true
ADEumInstrumentation.initWith(config)

SWIFT

Configure Hybrid Application Support

By default, the iOS Agent instruments iOS WKWebViews, but does not collect and report Ajax calls. See Hybrid Application Support for an overview and an explanation of how it works.

You can configure the static or runtime configuration to disable hybrid application support or modify its behavior. The sections below show you how to change the defaults for hybrid support through either runtime or static configuration.

Runtime Configuration for Hybrid Application Support

The code example below disables the injection of the JavaScript Agent. By disabling the injection, the WKWebViews in your application will not be instrumented and Ajax calls will not be reported.

ADEumAgentConfiguration *adeumAgentConfig = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>];
// Disable the JavaScript Agent Injection
adeumAgentConfig.jsAgentEnabled = NO;
[ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:adeumAgentConfig];

OBJ-C

The JavaScript Agent injection is enabled by default. To also enable the collection and reporting of Ajax calls:

ADEumAgentConfiguration *adeumAgentConfig = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>];
// Enable the collection and reporting of Ajax calls
adeumAgentConfig.jsAgentAjaxEnabled  = YES;
[ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:adeumAgentConfig];

OBJ-C

Static Configuration for Hybrid Application Support

You should use static configuration for the following reasons:

force the instrumentation of WKWebViews and/or Ajax calls (override the runtime configuration)
disable hybrid support and override the runtime configuration
set the URL to your self-hosted JavaScript Extension file

The table below describes the supported properties and provides the default value for the info.plist file.

Property	Default Value	Description
`serverJsAgentEnabled`	true	If the client receives a `false` for this flag, then the JavaScript Agent will be disabled. Thus, the WKWebViews and Ajax requests will not be monitored. The injection occurs during the creation of a new WKWebView. So, if a WKWebView is created when this flag is set to `false`, that particular WKWebView won't be instrumented even if the flag is subsequently set to `true`.
`ForceWebviewInstrumentation`	false	When set to `true`, the iOS Agent will inject the JavaScript Agent into the WKWebViews regardless of the runtime configuration.
`ForceAjaxInstrumentation`	`true`	When set to `true`, Ajax operations will always be collected and reported regardless of the runtime configuration.
`ADRUMExtUrlHttp`	http://cdn.appdynamics.com	The JavaScript Agent consists of two components: the base JavaScript Agent and the JavaScript Agent extension. The base JavaScript Agent is built into the Mobile Agent binary and injected according to the rules above. After initialization, the JavaScript Agent fetches the JavaScript Agent extension from the URLs specified by these properties.
`ADRUMExtUrlHttps`	https://cdn.appdynamics.com/

Example Configuration

The example info.plist below forces the instrumentation of WKWebViews (overriding the runtime configuration), but does not force the collection and reporting of Ajax requests. The configuration also sets the URL where the JavaScript Extension file is obtained.

<plist>
  <dict>
    ...
    <key>ADEUM_Settings</key>
    <dict>
      <key>ForceWebviewInstrumentation</key>
      <true/>
      <key>ForceAjaxInstrumentation</key>
      <false/>
      <key>ADRUMExtUrlHttp</key>
      <string>http://<your-domain>/adrum.cdn</string>
      <key>ADRUMExtUrlHttps</key>
      <string>https://<your-domain>/adrum.cdn</string>
    </dict>
    ...
 </dict>
</plist>

OBJ-C

Programmatically Control Sessions

By default, a mobile session ends after a period of user inactivity. For example, when a user opens your application, the session begins and only ends after the user stops using the app for a set period of time. When the user begins to use the application again, a new session begins.

Instead of having a period of inactivity to define the duration of a session, however, you can use the following API to programmatically control when sessions begin and end:

 - (void)startNextSession

OBJ-C

When you call the method startNextSession from the ADEumInstrumentation class, the current session ends and a new session begins. The API enables you to define and frame your sessions so that they align more closely with business goals and expected user flows. For example, you could use the API to define a session that tracks a purchase of a product or registers a new user.

Excessive use of this API will cause sessions to be throttled (excessive use is >10 calls per minute per iOS Agent, but is subject to change). When not using the API, sessions will fall back to the default of ending after a period of user inactivity.

Example of a Programmatically Controlled Session

In the example below, the current session ends and a new one begins when the check out is made.

-(void) checkout {
    AppDelegate *appDelegate = (AppDelegate *) [[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate];
    NSString *checkoutUrl = [appDelegate.url stringByAppendingString:@"rest/cart/co/"];
    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:checkoutUrl];
    NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:url cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy timeoutInterval:60.0];
    NSURLResponse *response = nil;
    NSError *error = nil;
    
    NSData *body = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:&response error:&error];
    const char *responseBytes = [body bytes];
    if (responseBytes == nil)
        checkoutResponse = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:"Could not connect to the server"];
    else {
        checkoutResponse = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:responseBytes];
        [ADEumInstrumentation startNextSession];
    }
}

OBJ-C

func checkout() {
    let appDelegate = UIApplication.shared.delegate as? AppDelegate
    let checkoutUrl = appDelegate?.url ?? "" + ("rest/cart/co/")
    let url = URL(string: checkoutUrl)
    var request: NSMutableURLRequest? = nil
    if let url = url {
        request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: url, cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy, timeoutInterval: 60.0)
    }
    var response: URLResponse? = nil
    var error: Error? = nil
    var body: Data? = nil
    if let request = request {
        body = try? NSURLConnection.sendSynchronousRequest(request, returning: &response)
    }
    let responseBytes = Int8(body?.bytes ?? 0)
    if responseBytes == nil {
        checkoutResponse = String(utf8String: "Could not connect to the server")
    } else {
        checkoutResponse = String(utf8String: &responseBytes)
        ADEumInstrumentation.startNextSession()
    }
}

SWIFT

Start and End Session Frames

You can use the SessionFrame API to create session frames that will appear in the session activity. Session frames provide context for what the user is doing during a session. With the API, you can improve the names of user screens and chronicle user flows within a business context.

Use Cases

The following are common use cases for the SessionFrame API:

One ViewController performs multiple functions and you want more granular tracking of the individual functions.
A user flow spans multiple ViewController or user interactions. For example, you could use the API to create the session frames "Login", "Product Selection", and "Purchase" to chronicle the user flow for purchases.
You want to capture dynamic information based on user interactions to name session frames, such as an order ID.

SessionFrame API

The table below lists the three methods you can use with session frames. In short, you start a session frame with startSessionFrame and then use the returned ADeumSessionFrame object to rename and end the session frame.

Class	Method	Description
`ADEumInstrumentation`	`+ (ADEumSessionFrame )startSessionFrame:(NSString )name`	Use this to start and name your session frame. Naming session frames enable you to easily identify and track the frames in the Sessions Dialog.
`ADEumSessionFrame`	`- (void)updateName:(NSString *)name`	Rename the session frame name. You call this method from the `ADEumSessionFrame` object returned from `startSessionFrame`.
`ADEumSessionFrame`	`- (void)end`	End the session frame. You call this method from the `ADEumSessionFrame` object returned from `startSessionFrame`.

Class	Method	Description
`ADEumInstrumentation`	`startSessionFrame(_ name: String?) -> ADEumSessionFrame`	Use this to start and name your session frame. Naming session frames enable you to easily identify and track the frames in the Sessions Dialog.
ADEumSessionFrame	`updateName(_ name: String?)`	Rename the session frame name. You call this method from the `ADEumSessionFrame` object returned from `startSessionFrame`.
`ADEumSessionFrame`	`end()`	End the session frame. You call this method from the `ADEumSessionFrame` object returned from `startSessionFrame`.

Session Frame Example

In the following example, the SessionFrame API is used to track user activity during the checkout process:

#import "ADEumSessionFrame.h"
...
@property (nonatomic, strong) ADEumSessionFrame *checkoutSessionFrame;

- (IBAction)checkoutCartButtonClicked:(id)sender {
    // The user starting to check out starts when the user clicks the checkout button
    // this may be after they have updated quantities of items in their cart, etc.
    checkoutSessionFrame = [ADEumInstrumentation startSessionFrame:@"Checkout"];
}

- (IBAction)confirmOrderButtonClicked:(id)sender {
    // Once they have confirmed payment info and shipping information, and they
    // are clicking the "Confirm" button to start the backend process of checking out
    // we may know more information about the order itself, such as an Order ID.
    NSString *newSessionName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Checkout: Order ID %@",orderId];
    [checkoutSessionFrame updateName:newSessionName];
}

- (void)processOrderCompleted {
    // Once the order is processed, the user is done "checking out" so we end
    // the session frame
    [checkoutSessionFrame end];
    checkoutSessionFrame = nil;
}

- (void)checkoutCancelled {
    // If they cancel or go back, you'll want to end the session frame also, or else
    // it will be left open and appear to have never ended.
    [checkoutSessionFrame end];
    checkoutSessionFrame = nil;
}

OBJ-C

import ADEumSessionFrame
...

var checkoutSessionFrame: ADEumSessionFrame?
@IBAction func checkoutCartButtonClicked(_ sender: UIButton) {
    // The check out starts when the user clicks the checkout button.
    // This may be after they have updated quantities of items in their cart, etc.
    checkoutSessionFrame = ADEumInstrumentation.startSessionFrame("Checkout")
}

@IBAction func confirmOrderButtonClicked(_ sender: UIButton) {
    // Once users have confirmed payment info and shipping information, and they
    // are clicking the "Confirm" button to start the backend process of checking out,
    // we may know more information about the order itself, such as an order ID.
    let newSessionName = "Checkout: Order ID \(orderId)"
    checkoutSessionFrame.updateName(newSessionName)
}

func processOrderCompleted() {
    // Once the order is processed, the user is done "checking out", so we end the session frame.
    checkoutSessionFrame.end()
    checkoutSessionFrame = nil
}

func checkoutCancelled() {
    // If they cancel or go back, you'll want to end the session frame also, or else it will be
    // left open and appear to have never ended.
    checkoutSessionFrame.end()
    checkoutSessionFrame = nil
}

SWIFT

Configure the Agent for Custom App Names

By default, AppDynamics detects the application name by extracting the last segment from the bundle ID. There may be cases, however, where you deploy the same app binary with different bundle IDs to various regional app stores. To make sure all the data belonging to one app is collected and displayed together, despite varying bundle IDs, you can set a common name by giving the apps a custom name. To do this, set the application name property in the ADEumAgentConfiguration instance that you use to set up ADEumInstrumentation. See the latest iOS SDK documentation for more information.

By default, AppDynamics stores the application name from the bundle ID string. However, the Controller UI only displays the last segment of the bundle ID string, which is after the last dot (if present). For example, if the bundle ID is com.example.appdynamics.HelloWorld, the application name in the UI will display "HelloWorld." This applies to both default and custom app names.

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *applicationName;

OBJ-C

Configure the Agent for Ignoring Some HTTP Requests

In some cases, HTTP requests using NSURL are used for internal purposes in an application and do not represent actual network requests. Metrics created based on these requests are not normally useful in tracking down issues, so preventing data on them from being collected can be useful. To ignore specific NSURL requests, set the excluded URL patterns property in the ADEumAgentConfiguration instance that you use to set up ADEumInstrumentation. Use the simplest regex possible. See the latest iOS SDK documentation.

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSSet * excludedUrlPatterns;

OBJ-C

Use the Agent with a Custom HTTP Library

The iOS Agent automatically detects network requests when the underlying implementation is handled by either by the NSURLConnection or the NSURLSession classes. This covers the great majority of iOS network requests. In some cases, however, mobile applications use custom HTTP libraries.

To have the iOS Agent detect requests from a custom library, add request tracking code to your application manually, using the ADEumHTTPRequestTracker class.
To set headers to allow correlation with server-side processing, use the ADEumServerCorrelationHeaders class.
To configure the agent to use your custom library to deliver its beacons over HTTP, use the ADEumCollectorChannel protocol and the ADEumAgentConfiguration class.

Add Request Tracking

To add request tracking manually, you tell the agent when the request begins and when it ends. You also set properties to tell the agent the status of the response.

Start Tracking a Request

To begin tracking an HTTP request, call the following method immediately before sending the request.

You must initialize the agent using one of the ADEumInstrumentation's initWithKey methods before using this method.

@interface ADEumHTTPRequestTracker : NSObject
... 
+ (ADEumHTTPRequestTracker *)requestTrackerWithURL:(NSURL *)url;

OBJ-C

Where url is the URL being requested. This parameter must not be nil.

To complete tracking an HTTP request, immediately after receiving a response or an error, set the appropriate properties on the tracker object and call the following method to report the outcome of the request back to the agent. You should not continue to use this object after calling this method. To track another request, call requestTrackerWithURL again.

- (void)reportDone;

OBJ-C

Set Request Tracker Properties

The following properties should be set on the requestTrackerWithURL object to describe to the agent the results of the call:

@property (copy, nonatomic) NSError *error;

OBJ-C

Indicates the failure to receive a response, if this occurred. If the request was successful, this should be nil.

@property (copy, nonatomic) NSNumber *statusCode;

OBJ-C

Reports the HTTP status code of the response, if one was received.

If a response was received, this should be an integer.
If an error occurred and a response was not received, this should be nil.
```
@property (copy, nonatomic) NSDictionary *allHeaderFields;
```
CODE

Provides a dictionary representing the keys and values from the server’s response header. The format of this dictionary should be identical to the allHTTPHeadersFields property of NSURLRequest. The dictionary elements consist of key/value pairs, where the key is the header key name and the value is the header value.

If an error occurred and a response was not received, this should be nil.

Example

Given a request snippet like this:

- (NSData *)sendRequest:(NSURL *) url error:(NSError **)error { 
      // implementation omitted 
      NSData *result = nil; 
      if (errorOccurred) { 
          *error = theError; 
      } else { 
          result = responseBody; 
      } 
      return result; 
  }

OBJ-C

Adding the tracker could look something like this:

- (NSData *)sendRequest:(NSURL *)url error:(NSError **)error { 
      ADEumHTTPRequestTracker *tracker = [ADEumHTTPRequestTracker requestTrackerWithURL:url]; 
      // implementation omitted 
      NSData *result = nil; 
      if (errorOccurred) { 
          *error = theError; 
          tracker.error = theError; 
      } else { 
          tracker.statusCode = theStatusCode; 
          tracker.allHeaderFields = theResponseHeaders; 
          result = responseBody; 
      } 
      [tracker reportDone]; 
      return result; 
  }

OBJ-C

Enable Server-Side Correlation

To enable correlation between your request and server-side processing, add specific headers to outgoing requests that the server-side agent can detect and return the headers obtained from the server-side agent in the response to make them available to the iOS Agent.

This is done automatically for standard HTTP libraries.

@interface ADEumServerCorrelationHeaders : NSObject 
+ (NSDictionary *)generate; 
@end

OBJ-C

You must:

Call the generate method and set the generated headers before sending a request to the backend.
Report back the response headers, using the allHeaderFields property shown above.

Configure Agent to Use Custom HTTP Library

The iOS Agent uses HTTP to deliver its beacons. To have the agent use your custom HTTP library for this purpose, do the following.

Implement a class that conforms to this protocol:

/** 
* Protocol for customizing the connection between the agent SDK and the collector. 
*/ 
@protocol ADEumCollectorChannel <NSObject> 
 
/** 
* Sends a request synchronously and returns the response received, or an error. 
* 
* The semantics of this method are exactly equivalent to NSURLConnection's 
* sendSynchronousRequest:returningResponse:error: method. 
* 
* @param request The URL request to load. 
* @param response Out parameter for the URL response returned by the server. 
* @param error Out parameter used if an error occurs while processing the request. May be NULL. 
*/ 
- (NSData *)sendSynchronousRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request returningResponse:(NSURLResponse **)response error:(NSError **)error; 
@end

OBJ-C

Set the collectorChannel property in ADEumAgentConfiguration before initializing ADEumInstrumentation, passing in an instance of your class that implements ADEumCollectorChannel. See the latest iOS SDK documentation.
```
@property (nonatomic, strong) id<ADEumCollectorChannel> collectorChannel;
```
OBJ-C

Attach Custom Data to a Network Request

You can attach custom data to a network request by calling one (or multiple) of the following methods to add attributes to ADEumHTTPRequestTracker:

Sample

- (NSData *)sendRequest:(NSURL *)url error:(NSError **)error { 
      ADEumHTTPRequestTracker *tracker = [ADEumHTTPRequestTracker requestTrackerWithURL:url]; 
      // implementation omitted 
      NSData *result = nil; 
      if (errorOccurred) { 
          *error = theError; 
          tracker.error = theError; 
      } else { 
          tracker.statusCode = theStatusCode; 
          tracker.allHeaderFields = theResponseHeaders; 
          result = responseBody; 
      } 

      // Custom data can be added to this one request.
      // Different types can be used.
      // The data added will only appear for this network request and will not persist.
      [tracker setUserData:@"trackerStringKey" value:@"Test String Value"];
      [tracker setUserDataLong:@"trackerLongKey" value:66004024];
      [tracker setUserDataBoolean:@"trackerBooleanKey" value:1];
      [tracker setUserDataDouble:@"trackerDoubleKey" value:5905400.6];
      [tracker setUserDataDate:@"trackerDateKey" value:[NSDate date]];

      [tracker reportDone]; 
      return result; 
  }

OBJ-C

Transform URLs for Network Requests

When your application makes network requests, you may not want to report URLs containing sensitive information to the EUM Server. You can instead transform the network request URL before reporting it or ignore it altogether.

To do so:

Implement a network request callback that modifies or ignores specific URLs.
Register the network request callback in the initialization code.

Implement the Network Request Callback

The callback that modifies or ignore specific URLs is an implementation of the protocol below. The callback method networkRequestCallback is synchronous, so it is recommended that you return from the function quickly.

- (BOOL)networkRequestCallback:(ADEumHTTPRequestTracker *)networkRequest

OBJ-C

Transforming URLs

The networkRequestCallback method, in general, should follow the steps below to transform URLs:

Identify specific URLs using techniques such as regex or pattern matching.
Modify the url property of the ADEumHTTPRequestTracker object. (Modifying other properties of the ADEumHTTPRequestTracker object will be ignored.)
Assign a valid URL to the url property.
Return YES (Objective-C) or true (Swift).

The first step is optional as you could choose to transform the URLs of all network requests.

- (BOOL)networkRequestCallback:(ADEumHTTPRequestTracker *)networkRequest
{
    NSString *maskURL = @"http://networkrequest-mask.com";
    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:maskURL];
    networkRequest.url = url;
    return YES;
}

OBJ-C

func networkRequestCallback(_ networkRequest: ADEumHTTPRequestTracker?) -> Bool {
    let maskURL = "http://networkrequest-mask.com"
    let url = URL(string: maskURL)
    networkRequest?.url = url
    return true
}

SWIFT

In general, however, you would want to identify and transform URLs that contain sensitive information as implied in the example below:

- (BOOL)networkRequestCallback:(ADEumHTTPRequestTracker *)networkRequest
{
    NSString *urlString = networkRequest.url.absoluteString;
    BOOL returnBeacon = YES;
    NSString *maskURL = @"http://customer-account.com";
    if (!([urlString rangeOfString:@"accountInfo"].location == NSNotFound)) {
        networkRequest.url = [NSURL URLWithString:maskURL];
    }
    return returnBeacon;
}

OBJ-C

func networkRequestCallback(_ networkRequest: ADEumHTTPRequestTracker?) -> Bool {
    let urlString = networkRequest?.url.absoluteString
    returnBeacon = true
    let maskURL = "http://customer-account.com"
    if !(Int((urlString as NSString?)?.range(of: "accountInfo").location ?? 0) == NSNotFound) {
        networkRequest?.url = URL(string: maskURL)
    }
    return returnBeacon
}

SWIFT

Ignoring URLs

If the networkRequestCallback method returns false, the beacon is dropped. The general process for ignoring beacons is as follows:

Identify specific URLs using techniques such as regex or pattern matching.
Return false.

You could theoretically ignore all network requests by having the callback networkRequestCallback always return NO (Objective-C) or false (Swift):

- (BOOL)networkRequestCallback:(ADEumHTTPRequestTracker *)networkRequest
{
    return NO;
}

OBJ-C

func networkRequestCallback(_ networkRequest: ADEumHTTPRequestTracker?) -> Bool {
    return false
}

SWIFT

In general, though, you would identify network requests that you didn't want to monitor and return NO (Objective-C) or false (Swift) to ignore the network request as implied by this example.

- (BOOL)networkRequestCallback:(ADEumHTTPRequestTracker *)networkRequest
{
    NSString *urlString = networkRequest.url.absoluteString;
    BOOL returnBeacon = YES;
    if (!([urlString rangeOfString:@"avatar"].location == NSNotFound)) {
        returnBeacon = NO;
    }
    return returnBeacon;
}

OBJ-C

func networkRequestCallback(_ networkRequest: ADEumHTTPRequestTracker?) -> Bool {
    let urlString = networkRequest?.url.absoluteString
    var returnBeacon = true
    if !(Int((urlString as NSString?)?.range(of: "avatar").location ?? 0) == NSNotFound) {
        returnBeacon = false
    }
    return returnBeacon
}

SWIFT

Register the Callback

After implementing the callback, you register the object implementing the protocol method in the initialization code as shown below. When the iOS Agent is ready to create a network request beacon, it will first call the callback with an ADEumHTTPRequestTracker object.

ADEumAgentConfiguration *config = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>];
config.networkRequestCallback = self;
[ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:config];

OBJ-C

let config = ADEumAgentConfiguration(appKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>)
config.networkRequestCallback = self
ADEumInstrumentation.initWith(config)

SWIFT

Enable Logging and Set Logging Level

You use the method loggingLevel to enable and set the logging level. You can set logging to one of the following levels:

ADEumLoggingLevelOff
ADEumLoggingLevelAll
ADEumLoggingLevelVerbose
ADEumLoggingLevelDebug
ADEumLoggingLevelInfo
ADEumLoggingLevelWarn
ADEumLoggingLevelError

Use verbose, all, and debug levels of logging only for troubleshooting and be sure to turn off for production.

Examples

-(BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
    // appKey should be assigned your EUM app key
    ADEumAgentConfiguration *config = [[ADEumAgentConfiguration alloc] initWithAppKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>];
    config.loggingLevel = ADEumLoggingLevelAll;
    [ADEumInstrumentation initWithConfiguration:config];
    ...
}

OBJ-C

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
{
    // appKey should be assigned your EUM app key
    let config = ADEumAgentConfiguration(appKey: <#EUM_APP_KEY#>)
    config.loggingLevel = .all
    ADEumInstrumentation.initWithConfiguration(config)
    ...
    return true
}

SWIFT

iOS SDK Documentation

See the latest iOS SDK documentation or the previous versions listed below: