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.

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 DataDescriptionSpecificationsWhere Data is Displayed
Info pointsHow often a method is invoked, and how long it takes to run.
  • Data is numeric
  • Names must consist of
    alphanumeric characters and/or spaces
Custom timersAny 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
Custom metricsAny integer-based data you wish to collect.
  • Data is numeric
  • Metric names must consist of
    alphanumeric characters and/or spaces
User dataAny string key/value pair you think might be useful.
  • Data can be any type
  • Metric names have no restrictions
BreadcrumbsThe context for a crash.
  • Data can be any data type
  • Metric names have no restrictions
User interactionCapture when users press buttons, click on lists, and select text.
  • Data can be any data type
  • Metric names have no restrictions

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];
    }
CODE
func myMethod() {
    let tracker = ADEumInstrumentation.beginCall(self, selector: #function)
    // Implementation of method here ...
    ADEumInstrumentation.endCall(tracker)
}
RUBY
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"];
  }
CODE
func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidAppear(animated)
    ADEumInstrumentation.startTimer(withName: "View Lifetime")
}
func viewDidDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidDisappear(animated)
    ADEumInstrumentation.stopTimer(withName: "View Lifetime")
}
RUBY

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#>];
CODE

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

User Data

You can set any string key/value pair you think might be useful. The first parameter to the setUserData call is the key you want to use, which must be unique across your application. The second is the value that you want to be assigned to the key.

For example: 

- (void) onUserLoggedIn:(NSString *)userid { 
    [ADEumInstrumentation setUserData:@"User ID" value:userid];
    ...
  }
CODE
func onUserLogged(in userid: String?) {
    ADEumInstrumentation.setUserData("User ID", value: userid)
}
RUBY
This information is available in Network Request Analyze and is added to any crash snapshots that may be taken. Keys and values are limited to 2048 characters each. 

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:

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

+ (void)leaveBreadcrumb:(NSString *)breadcrumb
CODE
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
CODE

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.


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
CODE

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
CODE

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);
    }
}
CODE

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

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

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 for more information.

Report Errors and Exceptions

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 SignatureDescription
(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.

(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.

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

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

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];
CPP
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)
RUBY
 

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

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];
CPP

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];
CPP

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.

PropertyDefault ValueDescription

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.

ForceWebviewInstrumentationfalseWhen set to true, the iOS Agent will inject the JavaScript Agent into the WKWebViews regardless of the runtime configuration.
ForceAjaxInstrumentationtrueWhen 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>
CPP

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
CPP

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];
    }
}
CPP
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()
    }
}
RUBY

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. 

ClassMethodDescription

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.

ClassMethodDescription

ADEumInstrumentation

startSessionFrame(_ name: String?) -> ADEumSessionFrameUse 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.
ADEumSessionFrameend()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;
}
CPP
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
}
RUBY

Configure the Agent for Custom App Names

By default, AppDynamics automatically detects the name of your application. The application name is a string form of the bundle ID. Thus, if the bundle ID is com.example.appdynamics.HelloWorld, the application name will be "com.example.appdynamics.HelloWorld". 

There may be cases, however, where you deploy essentially 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.

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *applicationName; 
CODE

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 for more information.

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSSet * excludedUrlPatterns;
CPP

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 and complete 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;
CPP

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;
CPP


Properties to be set

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;
CPP

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

@property (copy, nonatomic) NSNumber *statusCode;
CPP


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;
    CPP

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; 
  }
CPP

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; 
  }
CPP

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
CPP

You must:

  1. Call the generate method and set the generated headers before sending a request to the backend.

  2. 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.

  1. 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
    CPP
  2. 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 for more information.

    @property (nonatomic, strong) id<ADEumCollectorChannel> collectorChannel;
    CPP

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];
CPP

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];
CPP

Configure and Take Screenshots

Mobile screenshots are enabled by default. You can configure the Controller UI to automatically take screenshots or use the iOS SDK to manually take a screenshot as shown below:

[ADEumInstrumentation takeScreenshot];
CPP
ADEumInstrumentation.takeScreenshot()
RUBY

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

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];
    }
}
...
CPP
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()
    }
}
...
CPP

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:

  1. Implement a network request callback that modifies or ignores specific URLs. 
  2. 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
CPP

 Transforming URLs

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

  1. Identify specific URLs using techniques such as regex or pattern matching.
  2. Modify the url property of the ADEumHTTPRequestTracker object. (Modifying other properties of the ADEumHTTPRequestTracker object will be ignored.)
  3. Assign a valid URL to the url property. 
  4. 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;
} 
CPP
func networkRequestCallback(_ networkRequest: ADEumHTTPRequestTracker?) -> Bool {
    let maskURL = "http://networkrequest-mask.com"
    let url = URL(string: maskURL)
    networkRequest?.url = url
    return true
}
RUBY
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;
}
CPP
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
}
RUBY

Ignoring URLs

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

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

  2. 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;
}
CPP
func networkRequestCallback(_ networkRequest: ADEumHTTPRequestTracker?) -> Bool {
    return false
}
RUBY
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;
}
CPP
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
}
RUBY

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

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];
    ...
}
CPP
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
}
RUBY

iOS SDK Documentation

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

After 4.5.6, the iOS Agent started using a version number different from that of the Controller and the other AppDynamics platform components. See Mobile Agent Version and Deployment Support Matrix for the minimum version of the Controller and the EUM Server required for complete support of all the iOS Agent features.