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Add table summarizing sampler properties and processing #871

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28 changes: 19 additions & 9 deletions specification/trace/sdk.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -24,18 +24,18 @@ latest sampling could happen on the Collector which is out of process.

The OpenTelemetry API has two properties responsible for the data collection:

* `IsRecording` field of a `Span`. If `true` the current `Span` records
tracing events (attributes, events, status, etc.), otherwise all tracing
events are dropped. Users can use this property to determine if expensive
trace events can be avoided. [Span Processors](#span-processor) will receive
all spans with this flag set. However, [Span Exporter](#span-exporter) will
not receive them unless the `Sampled` flag was set.
* `IsRecording` field of a `Span`. If `true` the current `Span` records tracing
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Suggested change
* `IsRecording` field of a `Span`. If `true` the current `Span` records tracing
* `IsRecording` field of a `Span`. If `true` the current `Span` records in memory tracing

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@Oberon00 Oberon00 Aug 25, 2020

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What is "in memory data"? I think the current wording (== the old wording) is more clear here. What would be more clear IMHO would be:

Suggested change
* `IsRecording` field of a `Span`. If `true` the current `Span` records tracing
* `IsRecording` field of a `Span`. If `false` the current `Span` discards all tracing

and remove the "otherwise ...".

events (attributes, events, status, etc.), otherwise all tracing events are
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dropped. Users can use this property to determine if expensive trace events
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can be avoided. [Span Processors](#span-processor) will receive only those
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spans which has this field set to `true`. However, [Span
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Exporter](#span-exporter) will not receive them unless the `Sampled` flag was
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also set.
* `Sampled` flag in `TraceFlags` on `SpanContext`. This flag is propagated via
the `SpanContext` to child Spans. For more details see the [W3C Trace Context
specification][trace-flags]. This flag indicates that the `Span` has been
`sampled` and will be exported. [Span Processor](#span-processor) and [Span
Exporter](#span-exporter) will receive spans with the `Sampled` flag set for
processing.
`sampled` and will be exported. [Span Exporters](#span-exporter) will receive
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only those spans with the `Sampled` flag set.
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The flag combination `SampledFlag == false` and `IsRecording == true`
means that the current `Span` does record information, but most likely the child
Expand All @@ -45,6 +45,16 @@ The flag combination `SampledFlag == true` and `IsRecording == false`
could cause gaps in the distributed trace, and because of this OpenTelemetry API
MUST NOT allow this combination.

The following table summarizes the expected behavior for each combination of
`IsRecording` and `SampledFlag`.

| IsRecording | Sampled Flag | Span Processor receives Span? | Span Exporter receives Span? |
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| ----------- | ------------ | ----------------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| true | true | true | true |
| true | false | true | false |
| false | true | Not allowed | Not allowed |
| false | false | false | false |

The SDK defines the interface [`Sampler`](#sampler) as well as a set of
[built-in samplers](#built-in-samplers).

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