Emitting trace events in JavaScript

You can use the snowflake class in the Snowflake JavaScript API to emit trace events from a function or procedure handler written in JavaScript. The JavaScript API is already available to your JavaScript handler code.

Before emitting trace events, be sure you have the trace level set so that the data you want are stored in the event table. For more information, see Setting levels for logging, metrics, and tracing.

Note

Before you can begin emitting trace events, you must set up an event table. For more information, see Event table overview.

You can access stored trace event data by executing a SELECT command on the event table. For more information, see Viewing trace data.

For general information about setting up logging and retrieving messages in Snowflake, see Trace events for functions and procedures.

Note

For guidelines to keep in mind when adding trace events, see General guidelines for adding trace events.

Adding trace events

You can add trace events by calling the snowflake.addEvent function, passing a name for the event. You can also optionally associate attributes – key-value pairs – with an event.

The addEvent method is available in the following form:

snowflake.addEvent(name [, { key:value [, key:value] } ] );
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Handler code in the following example adds two events, name_a and name_b. With name_b, the code also adds two attributes, score and pass.

create procedure PI_JS()
  returns double
  language javascript
  as
  $$
    snowflake.addEvent('name_a');  // add an event without attributes
    snowflake.addEvent('name_b', {'score': 89, 'pass': true});
    return 3.14;
  $$
  ;
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Setting these attributes results in two rows in the event table, each with a different value in the RECORD column:

{
  "name": "name_a"
}
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{
  "name": "name_b"
}
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The name_b event row includes the following attributes in the row’s RECORD_ATTRIBUTES column:

{
  "score": 89,
  "pass": true
}
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Adding span attributes

You can set attributes – key-value pairs – associated with spans by calling the snowflake.setSpanAttribute function.

The setSpanAttribute function is available in the following form:

snowflake.setSpanAttribute(key, value);
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For details on spans, see How Snowflake represents trace events.

Code in the following example creates four attributes and sets their values:

// Setting span attributes.
snowflake.setSpanAttribute("example.boolean", true);
snowflake.setSpanAttribute("example.long", 2L);
snowflake.setSpanAttribute("example.double", 2.5);
snowflake.setSpanAttribute("example.string", "testAttribute");
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Setting these attributes results in the following in the event table’s RECORD_ATTRIBUTES column:

{
  "example.boolean": true,
  "example.long": 2,
  "example.double": 2.5,
  "example.string": "testAttribute"
}
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Adding custom spans

Note

Support for custom spans is a preview feature available to all accounts.

You can add custom spans that are separate from the default span created by Snowflake. For details on custom spans, see Adding custom spans to a trace.

Code in the following example uses the OpenTelemetry API to create a new example_custom_span span. It then adds an event and attribute to the new span. Finally, the code ends the span to have the span’s event data captured in the event table. If the code doesn’t call the Span.end method, data is not captured in the event table.

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION javascript_custom_span()
RETURNS STRING
LANGUAGE JAVASCRIPT
AS
$$
const { trace } = opentelemetry;
const tracer = trace.getTracer("example_tracer");
// Alternatively, const tracer = opentelemetry.trace.getTracer("example_tracer");

tracer.startActiveSpan("example_custom_span", (span) => {
  span.addEvent("testEventWithAttributes");
  span.setAttribute("testAttribute", "value");

  span.end();
});
$$;
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Language: English