Start a new workflow trace when triggered from UI

src/modules/Elsa.OpenTelemetry/Features/OpenTelemetryFeature.cs

@@ -2,16 +2,34 @@ using Elsa.Features.Abstractions;
 using Elsa.Features.Services;
 using Elsa.OpenTelemetry.Contracts;
 using Elsa.OpenTelemetry.Handlers;
+using Elsa.OpenTelemetry.Options;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 
 namespace Elsa.OpenTelemetry.Features;
 
 public class OpenTelemetryFeature(IModule module) : FeatureBase(module)
 {
+    /// <summary>
+    /// When active this will create a new root Activity if the current Activity has a remote parent.
+    /// </summary>
+    public bool UseNewRootActivityForRemoteParent { get; set; } = true;
+    
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Determines if instead of a empty parent, a dummy parent Activity should be used to create a new Root Activity.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>This is needed when middleware is active that uses the previous Parent Activity despite creating an Activity based on an empty Parent.</remarks>
+    public bool UseDummyParentActivityAsRootSpan { get; set; } = false;
+    
     public override void Configure()
     {
         Services
             .AddScoped<IErrorSpanHandler, DefaultErrorSpanHandler>()
             .AddScoped<IErrorSpanHandler, FaultExceptionErrorSpanHandler>();
+
+        Services.Configure<OpenTelemetryOptions>(options =>
+        {
+            options.UseNewRootActivityForRemoteParent = UseNewRootActivityForRemoteParent;
+            options.UseDummyParentActivityAsRootSpan = UseDummyParentActivityAsRootSpan;
+        });
     }
 }

src/modules/Elsa.OpenTelemetry/Middleware/OpenTelemetryTracingWorkflowExecutionMiddleware.cs

@@ -1,16 +1,12 @@
 using System.Diagnostics;
-using System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshalling;
-using System.Text.Json;
 using Elsa.Common;
-using Elsa.Expressions.Services;
-using Elsa.Extensions;
 using Elsa.OpenTelemetry.Helpers;
+using Elsa.OpenTelemetry.Options;
 using Elsa.Workflows;
-using Elsa.Workflows.Activities;
 using Elsa.Workflows.Models;
 using Elsa.Workflows.Pipelines.WorkflowExecution;
-using Elsa.Workflows.Serialization.Converters;
 using JetBrains.Annotations;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
 using Activity = System.Diagnostics.Activity;
 using ActivityKind = System.Diagnostics.ActivityKind;
 
@@ -20,37 +16,23 @@ namespace Elsa.OpenTelemetry.Middleware;
 /// Middleware that traces workflow execution using OpenTelemetry.
 /// </summary>
 [UsedImplicitly]
-public class OpenTelemetryTracingWorkflowExecutionMiddleware(WorkflowMiddlewareDelegate next, ISystemClock systemClock) : WorkflowExecutionMiddleware(next)
+public class OpenTelemetryTracingWorkflowExecutionMiddleware(WorkflowMiddlewareDelegate next, ISystemClock systemClock, IOptions<OpenTelemetryOptions> options) : WorkflowExecutionMiddleware(next)
 {
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public override async ValueTask InvokeAsync(WorkflowExecutionContext context)
     {
+        var workflowName = context.Workflow.WorkflowMetadata.Name;
         var workflowInstanceId = context.Id;
         var workflow = context.Workflow;
-        var startNewTrace = context.Properties.TryGetValue("StartNewTrace", out var startNewTraceValue) && (bool)startNewTraceValue;
-        var parentTraceContext = startNewTrace ? default : Activity.Current?.Context ?? default;
-        var linkedTraceContext = startNewTrace ? Activity.Current : null;
-        
-        if(startNewTrace)
-        {
-            Activity.Current?.Stop();
-            Activity.Current = null;
-        }
-        
-        using var span = ElsaOpenTelemetry.ActivitySource.StartActivity($"execute workflow {workflow.WorkflowMetadata.Name}", ActivityKind.Server, parentTraceContext);
 
-        if (span == null) // No listener is registered.
+        using var span = CreateTraceActivity(context, workflowName);
+
+        if (span == null)
         {
             await Next(context);
             return;
         }
 
-        if(startNewTrace)
-        {
-            if (linkedTraceContext != null)
-                span.AddLink(new(linkedTraceContext.Context));
-        }
-
         span.SetTag("operation.name", "elsa.workflow.execution");
         span.SetTag("span.type", "workflow");
         span.SetTag("workflow.definition.id", workflow.Identity.DefinitionId);
@@ -101,6 +83,38 @@ public class OpenTelemetryTracingWorkflowExecutionMiddleware(WorkflowMiddlewareD
             span.SetTag("workflow.correlation_id", context.CorrelationId);
     }
 
+    private Activity? CreateTraceActivity(WorkflowExecutionContext context, string? workflowName)
+    {
+        var startNewTraceOptionValue = context.Properties.TryGetValue("StartNewTrace", out var startNewTraceValue) && (bool)startNewTraceValue;
+        var startNewTraceForRemoteParent = options.Value.UseNewRootActivityForRemoteParent && Activity.Current?.HasRemoteParent == true;
+        var startNewTrace = startNewTraceOptionValue || startNewTraceForRemoteParent;
+        
+        ActivityContext contextToUse;
+        ActivityContext? linkedTraceContext = null;
+
+        if (startNewTrace)
+        {
+            linkedTraceContext = Activity.Current?.Context;
+            Activity.Current?.Stop();
+            Activity.Current = null;
+
+            contextToUse = options.Value.UseDummyParentActivityAsRootSpan
+                ? new ActivityContext(ActivityTraceId.CreateRandom(), ActivitySpanId.CreateRandom(), ActivityTraceFlags.Recorded)
+                : default;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            contextToUse = Activity.Current?.Context ?? default;
+        }
+
+        var span = ElsaOpenTelemetry.ActivitySource.StartActivity($"execute workflow {workflowName}", ActivityKind.Server, contextToUse);
+        
+        if (span != null && linkedTraceContext != null)
+            span.AddLink(new (linkedTraceContext.Value));
+        
+        return span;
+    }
+
     private ActivityTagsCollection CreateIncidentTags(ActivityIncident incident)
     {
         var tags = new ActivityTagsCollection(new Dictionary<string, object?>

src/modules/Elsa.OpenTelemetry/Options/OpenTelemetryOptions.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+namespace Elsa.OpenTelemetry.Options;
+
+public class OpenTelemetryOptions
+{
+    public bool UseNewRootActivityForRemoteParent { get; set; }
+    public bool UseDummyParentActivityAsRootSpan { get; set; }
+}