# Make Spans autoClosable

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/make-spans-autoclosable/161114>\
**Category:** APM\
**Created:** [December 17, 2018, 10:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/make-spans-autoclosable/161114 "2018-12-17T10:21:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wolfram\_Haussig](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wolfram_haussig/32/70528_2.png) [@Wolfram\_Haussig](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Wolfram_Haussig)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 10:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/make-spans-autoclosable/161114/1 "2018-12-17T10:21:03Z")

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Hello,

I am currently evaluating the APM API to enrich the apm data sown in kibana. I am currently following the guideline [createSpan](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/agent/java/1.x/public-api.html#api-transaction-start-span).  
Would it be possible to implement AutoClosable in Span/Transaction? I find it easier to read:  
try(Span span = parent.createSpan()) {  
span.setName("SELECT FROM customer");  
span.setType("db.mysql.query");  
}

In comparison to:  
Span span = parent.createSpan();  
try {  
span.setName("SELECT FROM customer");  
span.setType("db.mysql.query");  
} finally {  
span.end();  
}

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![felixbarny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/felixbarny/32/27341_2.png) [@felixbarny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/felixbarny)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 10:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/make-spans-autoclosable/161114/2 "2018-12-17T10:36:28Z")

</div>

Hi Wolfram and thanks for your question.

We did actually consider this but unfortunately, try-with-resources doesn't really work out nicely for spans. The reason is that the `close()` method gets executed before any exceptions are caught. So this would be invalid, for example:

```java
try (Span span = parent.createSpan()) {
    span.setName("SELECT FROM customer");
    span.setType("db.mysql.query");
} catch (Exception e) {
    // invalid, because span has already been ended
    span.captureException(e);
}

```

To simplify span creation you can also use the [`@CaptureSpan`](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/agent/java/current/public-api.html#api-capture-span) annotation.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Wolfram\_Haussig](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wolfram_haussig/32/70528_2.png) [@Wolfram\_Haussig](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Wolfram_Haussig)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 10:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/make-spans-autoclosable/161114/3 "2018-12-17T10:47:12Z")

</div>

Hello Felix,

Thanks for your response - I didn't see that coming! This order of events was really unexpected to me but good to know. I will try to use the Annotation way then.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![felixbarny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/felixbarny/32/27341_2.png) [@felixbarny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/felixbarny)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 10:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/make-spans-autoclosable/161114/4 "2018-12-17T10:51:05Z")

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AutoClosable is designed for resource management where this order of events makes sense but for Spans it unfortunately does not map nicely.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2019, 6:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/make-spans-autoclosable/161114/5 "2019-01-07T06:51:05Z")

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