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General Concepts

In this part the concepts used throughout OpenKit are explained. A short sample how to use OpenKit is also provided. For detailed code samples have a look into example.md.

String Handling in OpenKit

All strings to OpenKit's C and C++ API are passed as NULL terminated const char*.
Internally OpenKit makes a copy of the passed parameters. Therefore developers using OpenKit C/C++ do not need to care about the lifetime of the passed arguments.

The passed const char* can be encoded in UTF-8 if characters outside the ASCII range are needed.
Using UTF-8 encoding has the advantage that all ASCII strings can be used without encoding them. If characters outside the ASCII range are used (e.g. German Umlaut characters), the developer using OpenKit's API is responsible for appropriate encoding.
When OpenKit encounters invalid characters in the passed const char* they are replaced using the Unicode Replacement Character (U+FFFD) in the internal copy.

DynatraceOpenKitBuilder

A DynatraceOpenKitBuilder instance is responsible for setting application relevant information, e.g. the application's version and device specific information, and to create an IOpenKit instance.

OpenKit

An IOpenKit instance is responsible for creating user sessions (see ISession).

Although it would be possible to have multiple IOpenKit instances connected to the same endpoint (Dynatrace) within one process, there should be one unique instance. IOpenKit is designed to be thread safe and therefore the instance can be shared among threads.

On application shutdown, shutdown() needs to be called on the IOpenKit instance.

Session

An ISession represents kind of a user session, similar to a browser session in a web application. However the application developer is free to choose how to treat an ISession.
The ISession is used to create IRootAction instances, report application crashes and can be used for tracing web requests.

When an ISession is no longer required, it's highly recommended to end it, using the ISession::end() method.

RootAction and Action

The IRootAction and IAction are named hierarchical nodes for timing and attaching further details. An IRootAction is created from the ISession and it can create IAction instances. Both, IRootAction and IAction, provide the possibility to attach key-value pairs, named events and errors, and can be used for tracing web requests.

When an IRootAction or IAction is no longer required, it's highly recommended to close it, using the IAction::leaveAction() or IRootAction::leaveAction() method.

WebRequestTracer

When the application developer wants to trace a web request, which is served by a service instrumented by Dynatrace, an IWebRequestTracer should be used, which can be requested from an ISession or an IAction.

Named Events

A named Event is attached to an IAction and contains a name.

Key-Value Pairs

For an IAction key-value pairs can also be reported. The key is always a UTF-8 encoded String (const char*) and the value may be an Integer (int32_t), a floating point (double) or a UTF-8 encoded String (const char*).

Errors & Crashes

Errors are a way to report an erroneous condition on an IAction.
Crashes are used to report (unhandled) exceptions on an ISession.

Identify Users

OpenKit enables you to tag sessions with unique user tags. The user tag is an UTF-8 encoded String (const char*) that allows to uniquely identify a single user.

GDPR Compliance

When creating an OpenKit instance, it is also possible to set the GDPR compliant mode where you can specify which data is collected. For detailed description and samples refer to example.md. Getting user consent must be handled within the application itself.

Example

This small example provides a rough overview how OpenKit can be used.
Detailed explanation is available in example.md.

const char* applicationID = "application-id";                       // Your application's ID
uint64_t deviceID = 42;                                             // Replace with a unique value per device/installation
const char* endpointURL = "https://tenantid.beaconurl.com/mbeacon"; // Dynatrace endpoint URL

std::shared_ptr<openkit::IOpenKit> openKit = 
    DynatraceOpenKitBuilder(endpointURL, applicationID, deviceID)
    .withApplicationVersion("1.0.0.0")
    .withOperatingSystem("Windows 10")
    .withManufacturer("MyCompany")
    .withModelID("MyModelID")
    .build();

// Wait up to 10 seconds for OpenKit to complete initialization
int64_t timeoutInMilliseconds = 10 * 1000;
bool success = openKit->waitForInitCompletion(timeoutInMilliseconds);

const char* clientIP = "8.8.8.8";
std::shared_ptr<openkit::ISession> session = openKit->createSession(clientIP);

session->identifyUser("[email protected]");

const char* rootActionName = "rootActionName";
RootAction rootAction = session->enterAction(rootActionName);

const char* childActionName = "childAction";
std::shared_ptr<IAction> childAction = rootAction->enterAction(childActionName);

childAction->leaveAction();
rootAction->leaveAction();
session->end();
openKit->shutdown();