Should RecordException(this Activity activity, Exception? ex, in TagList tags) set the attributes error.type and otel.status_code?

[joegoldman2]

Feature Request

When an exception is thrown but not properly caught, HttpInListener records it and sets the attributes error.type and otel.status_code:

opentelemetry-dotnet/src/OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.AspNetCore/Implementation/HttpInListener.cs

Lines 312 to 319 in 303ab7a

	activity.SetTag(SemanticConventions.AttributeErrorType, exc.GetType().FullName);
	if (this.options.RecordException)
	{
	activity.RecordException(exc);
	}
	activity.SetStatus(ActivityStatusCode.Error);

When the exception is caught and manually recorded using activity.RecordException(ex), the attributes error.type and otel.status_code are not set:

opentelemetry-dotnet/src/OpenTelemetry.Api/Trace/ActivityExtensions.cs

Lines 81 to 104 in 303ab7a

	public static void RecordException(this Activity activity, Exception? ex, in TagList tags)
	{
	if (ex == null || activity == null)
	{
	return;
	}
	var tagsCollection = new ActivityTagsCollection
	{
	{ SemanticConventions.AttributeExceptionType, ex.GetType().FullName },
	{ SemanticConventions.AttributeExceptionStacktrace, ex.ToInvariantString() },
	};
	if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(ex.Message))
	{
	tagsCollection.Add(SemanticConventions.AttributeExceptionMessage, ex.Message);
	}
	foreach (var tag in tags)
	{
	tagsCollection[tag.Key] = tag.Value;
	}
	activity.AddEvent(new ActivityEvent(SemanticConventions.AttributeExceptionEventName, default, tagsCollection));

Should they also be set in this case?

[vishweshbankwar]

RecordException follows specification and only records exceptions as an event.

It looks like whether RecordException should also set the Span Status is still an open question (open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification#1008).

Regarding error.type - this attribute is specific to http conventions https://github.com/open-telemetry/semantic-conventions/blob/main/docs/http/http-spans.md#common-attributes and that is why its only used with http instrumentations.

[joegoldman2]

Thank you for your feedback, it's clear.

error.type is also available for messaging convention https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/semconv/messaging/messaging-spans/ and maybe others.

[vishweshbankwar]

error.type is also available for messaging convention https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/semconv/messaging/messaging-spans/ and maybe others.

I see. Was not up to date with messaging conventions. Thanks for letting me know.

Since there is no action need right now on this from .NET. I am closing this issue.