Remove RoleInstance from data sent to Azure Application Insights from WPF

Question

I'm trying to add Application Insights to a WPF app using this documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/app/windows-desktop. The basic integration is working. I am now trying to remove the RoleInstance property from the submitted data, as described in the documentation, as this contains the user's computer name (personally identifiable information). Here's my code, based on the documentation above:

Telemetry.cs

public static class Telemetry
{
    public static TelemetryClient Client;

    public static void Close()
    {
        if (Client != null)
        {
            Client.Flush();
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
        }
    }

    public static void Initialize()
    {
        TelemetryConfiguration.Active.InstrumentationKey = "xxxxxxxx";
        TelemetryConfiguration.Active.TelemetryInitializers.Add(new MyTelemetryInitializer());

        Client = new TelemetryClient(TelemetryConfiguration.Active);

        Client.Context.Session.Id = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
        Client.Context.Device.OperatingSystem = Environment.OSVersion.ToString();
    }

    private class MyTelemetryInitializer : ITelemetryInitializer
    {
        public void Initialize(ITelemetry telemetry)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(telemetry.Context.Cloud.RoleName))
            {
                telemetry.Context.Cloud.RoleInstance = null;
            }
        }
    }
}

App.xaml.cs

public partial class App : Application
{
    protected override void OnExit(ExitEventArgs e)
    {
        Telemetry.Close();

        base.OnExit(e);
    }

    protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnStartup(e);

        Telemetry.Initialize();
    }
}

When I call Telemetry.Client.TrackEvent(), Telemetry.Initialize() runs, and RoleInstance is null from the start. But, the data sent to AI contains my computer name as the RoleInstance. Not sure how to debug further.

Note: the documentation describes integration into WinForms, and I'm in WPF, so I've guessed at using App.OnStartup instead of Main.

Is this a .net core or .net framework wpf? – Ivan Glasenberg Jun 04 '20 at 02:06 — Ivan Glasenberg, Jun 04 '20 at 02:06

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 04 '20 at 08:39

I just found something interesting, if you set a dummy value for RoleInstance, it really takes effect. Maybe the null/empty value will be checked and replaced by the real RoleInstance in the backend. As a workaround, you can just specify a dummy value instead of null/empty value.

Here is my test result with a dummy value:

in azure portal:

Remove RoleInstance from data sent to Azure Application Insights from WPF

1 Answers1