APXOR Android API Guide

Initializing the Apxor SDK

To start tracking with the Apxor Android SDK, you must first initialize it with your project token. To initialize the SDK,

ApxorSDK.initialize(<APXOR_ID> , this.getApplicationContext());

Identifying Users

The Apxor SDK automatically captures device IDs which the Apxor backend uses to uniquely identify users.

If you want to, you can assign your own user IDs. This is particularly useful if you want to study a specific user with ease. To assign your own user ID, you can use

ApxorSDK.setUserIdentifier(<SOME_USER_ID>);

User Attributes

There is often additional user identifying information, such as name and email address, connected with the external IDs.

To add some more attributes that are specific to a particular user,

Attributes userInfo = new Attributes();
userInfo.putAttribute("age", 27);
userInfo.putAttribute("gender", "Male");
ApxorSDK.setUserCustomInfo(userInfo);

Session Attributes

A Session can be simply defined as user journey as he opens the app, until he closes the app. There can be various pieces of information that be very impactful when accumulated in a session. For example, location in a session can be useful to know exactly where, the user is utilizing the app most.

To add session attributes that are specific to a session,

ApxorSDK.setSessionCustomInfo("network", "4G");

Or if you have multiple key value pairs that need to be logged, you can simply put them in a hashmap like,

Attributes sessionInfo = new Attributes();
sessionInfo.putAttribute("network", "4G");
sessionInfo.putAttribute("city", "GAJ");
ApxorSDK.setSessionCustomInfo(sessionInfo);

Flatten Attributes

If you use Attributes.putAttributes API and pass a JSON object like:

{
  "key1": "a",
  "key2": 12,
  "key3": {
    "A": "a",
    "B": "b",
    "C": {
      "c": false
    }
  },
  "key4": [1, 2, 3],
  "key5": [
    {
      "a": "AA",
      "b": 1
    },
    {
      "a": "BB",
      "d": 100
    }
  ]
}

by default ApxorSDK will flatten the above JSON to:

{
  "key1": "a",
  "key2": 12,
  "key3": "{\"A\": \"a\", \"B\": \"b\", \"C\": \"{\"c\": false}\"}",
  "key4": [1, 2, 3],
  "key5": ["{\"a\": \"AA\", \"b\": 1}", "{\"a\": \"BB\", \"d\": 100}"]
}

If you want to analyse data on nested JSON objects or array of objects like key3 and key5, you have to use Attributes.flatten API which will extract the keys upto two levels from the JSON and make them as first level keys. Like,

{
  "key1": "a",
  "key2": 12,
  "key3_A": "a",
  "key3_B": "b",
  "key3_C": "{\"c\": false}",
  "key4": [1, 2, 3],
  "key5_a": ["AA", "BB"],
  "key5_b": 1,
  "key5_d": 100
}

Note:

If you use flatten API, ApxorSDK flatten JSONObjects upto two levels. key3_C is in third level and it's a JSONObject. So, ApxorSDK converts it to String by default.

Usage: You can use this flatten API while logging user or session attributes as well as for the attributes of app events and client events.

Attributes attributes = new Attributes();
attributes.flatten(yourJSONObject);
ApxorSDK.logAppEvent("ProductViewed", attributes);

Reporting Custom Errors

Custom errors describe situations like LOGIN_FAILED, NETWORK_CALL_FAILED and are to be treated differently compared to app events. So these are treated as errors and are shown on the issues page to let you know their impact.

A custom error takes the exception itself and some context (what? OR which?) to make it easy for you identify. To report a custom error,

Exception e = new Exception("LOGIN FAILED EXCEPTION");
HashMap<String, String> additionalInfo = new HashMap<>();
additionalInfo.put("email", "spock@vulcan.com");
additionalInfo.put("cause", "network failure");
ApxorSDK.reportCustomError("Null Value", additionalInfo, e);

App Events

App events make it easier to analyze user behavior and optimize your product and marketing around common business goals such as improving user retention or app usage. You can also add additional information for any event.

To track an event with the event name and properties.

Attributes additionalInfo = new Attributes();
additionalInfo.putAttribute("type", "Google");
additionalInfo.putAttribute("language", "Valyrian");
ApxorSDK.logAppEvent("Login", additionalInfo);

Aggregate Events

Events that are not required for an in-depth analysis but are useful as quantitative metrics are called Aggregate Events. Only their aggregate counts will be sent to Apxor to reduce unnecessary transfer and storage of data, minimising overhead and costs.

Example:

Measuring if an article is viewed by a user if it is visible in the view port (visible part of the screen) for five seconds can be logged as an aggregate event to count the impressions of a particular article.

Attributes additionalInfo = new Attributes();
additionalInfo.putAttribute("card_type", "Text");
additionalInfo.putAttribute("id", "46Juzcyx");
ApxorSDK.logAppEvent("Impression", additionalInfo, true);

Client Events

Events that are logged to reside on the client application are called client events, the data captured is not transferred to Apxor.

These are typically logged to capture behavioural observations and interactions to nudge a user.

Example:

Soft back button, user reaching end of page, etc.

Attributes additionalInfo = new Attributes();
additionalInfo.putAttribute("Screen", "com.example.app.SettingsActivity");
ApxorSDK.logClientEvent("SoftBackPressed", additionalInfo);

Set Current Screen Name

Apxor by default tracks activity changes within your app and we include the package name for activities like com.example.app.MainActivity. You can set a name for your activity using ApxorSDK.

Note

Make sure you use the ApxorSDK.setCurrentScreenName API in your activity's onResume method

import com.apxor.androidsdk.core.ApxorSDK;

public class MyActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    @Override
    public void onResume() {
        ApxorSDK.setCurrentScreenName("Home");
    }
}

Track Screens

From ApxorSDK core >= 2.6.7, you can track the tabs inside your activity to understand the amount of time users spending in a particular tab.

Note

Make sure you use the ApxorSDK.trackScreen API in your activity's onResume method

Example

If your activity has different tabs either at top or bottom, you can call ApxorSDK.trackScreen API everytime a tab gets selected

The standard approaches are shown below

bottomNavigationView.setOnNavigationItemSelectedListener(new BottomNavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener() {
    @Override
    public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(@NonNull MenuItem item) {
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
            case R.id.action_share:
                ApxorSDK.trackScreen("Share");
                // Your logic
                break;
            case R.id.action_settings:
                ApxorSDK.trackScreen("Settings");
                // Your logic
                break;
            //.. other cases
        }
    }
});

tabLayout.addOnTabSelectedListener(new TabLayout.OnTabSelectedListener() {
    @Override
    public void onTabSelected(TabLayout.Tab tab) {
        ApxorSDK.trackScreen(tab.getText().toString());
        // Your logic
    }

    @Override
    public void onTabUnselected(TabLayout.Tab tab) {
        // Your logic
    }

    @Override
    public void onTabReselected(TabLayout.Tab tab) {
        // Your logic
    }
});

Working with Fragments

You might have used fragments within your application. From apxor-android-sdk-rtm version 1.5.8, Apxor Behavior Cues will behave accordingly to the fragment changes within your application.

If you use Fragments, we always recommend you to use ApxorSDK.trackScren API in all your fragments to see the expected behavior of Tooltips and Coachmarks. Ideally you must call/use this API only when the fragment is visible to the user.

Example usages of trackScreen API

  • If you use ViewPager with tabbed layout or BottomNavigationView, you can refer to the examples described here
  • If you use Android's Navigation architecture component, you can use ApxorSDK.trackScreen API in NavController.OnDestinationChangedListener callback

Tooltips in WebView

Note

Make sure you have the latest version of apxor-sdk-rtm plugin version >= 153

Many native applications feature WebViews to display descriptive content and much more. Apxor Android SDK provides a way to show tooltips inside that WebView to make the most of it.

Following are the steps in order to show tooltips in your WebView.

  • Add a tag to the WebView (which is to be later provided in the dashboard) as shown.

    webView.setTag("MyWebView");

  • Attach Apxor SDK Javascript Interface as mentioned below.

    // You must enable Javascript for the webview
WebSettings settings = webView.getSettings();
settings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);

// Attach Apxor SDK Javascript Interface
webview.addJavascriptInterface(new ApxorJSInterface(), "Apxor");

  • That's it. All you have to do is, set some IDs for your HTML elements inside your web page and configure the same in dashboard along with WebView's tag.

Log Events inside WebView

It is suggested that you log events inside your WebView once the page is completely rendered using Apxor Javascript Interface methods. Based on these events, you can configure Tooltips.

  • Methods exposed from Apxor Javascript Interface

    window.Apxor.logAppEvent(event_name[, event_props]);
window.Apxor.logClientEvent(event_name[, event_props]);

  • Examples for logging App Event

    Example:

    Log an event on page load event.

    ...
<head>
  ...
  <script>
    function logApxorEvent(eventName, attributes) {
      if (window.Apxor && window.Apxor.logAppEvent) {
        window.Apxor.logAppEvent(eventName, attributes);
      }
    }
  </script>
</head>
<body onload="logApxorEvent('PageLoaded')">
  ...
</body>

    Example (React based web pages):

    Log an event on componentDidMount.

    componentDidMount() {
    if (window.Apxor && window.Apxor.logAppEvent) {
        window.Apxor.logAppEvent('LoginPageLoaded', null);
    }
}

To get Apxor Device Identifier

Apxor SDK maintains a unique ID for every user. To get the Apxor Device ID, use below

String deviceId = ApxorSDK.getDeviceId(applicationContext);

To get Apxor Attributes

Now you can use getAttributes API to get the user and session attributes from ApxorSDK in a single API call.

Note:

This is an asynchronus call. So, you have to pass a callback. For that you can use ApxorDataCallback. There are two methods in this interface. One is onSuccess and onFailure. Both these methods will be called in a separate background thread.

ApxorSDK.getAttributes(
  new String[]{ "custom_user_id", "email" },
  new ApxorDataCallback() {
    @Override
    public void onSuccess(JSONObject props) {
      if (props == null) {
        return;
      }
      String userId = props.optString("custom_user_id");
      String email = props.optString("email");
    }

    @Override
    public void onFailure() {
      Log.e(TAG, "Failed to get attributes");
    }
  }
);

To use Apxor Client Functions

If you want to execute some business logic contextually, you can use Apxor's Client Functions. All you have to do is, create a public static void method which takes no arguments in the class (must be public) where you want to execute a particular business logic. That's it. You can trigger it from Apxor dashboard by providing the fully qualified class name and method name.

Note:

If you use proguard or dexguard, make sure you have provided the class name and method names after the obfuscation is done.

Tip: You can get it from your mapping file.

ApxorSDK always calls this method on a background thread. You have to explicitly execute your logic on MainThread, if your logic needed that.

@WorkerThread
public static void functionToBeExecutedByApxorSDK() {
}

Dynamic Script Text in actions

A new capability of writing dynamic text in actions (Tooltips & InApps) had been introduced in latest release of Apxor SDK plugins.

You can write a script (a new language that Apxor is created which somewhat looks like Javascript) instead of plain text to substitue user and session properties that you have already logged to Apxor SDK or you can substitute a text element from your application or hidden text that you set it as keyed tag (apx_view_tag).

The Apxor Language

The Apxor language looks similar to Javascript with some modifications.

We assume every dynamic param that you want to substitute in a text is a pre-defined variable that you can create upfront in the Script dialog that Apxor Dashboard provides to you.

We support following operators and keywords as part of our language specification

Unary Operators

! (Negation)

Logical Operators

&& (Logical AND)

|| (Logical OR)

Mathematical Operators

+ (Arithmetic Addition)

- (Arithmetic Subtraction)

* (Arithmetic Multiplication)

/ (Arithmetic Division)

% (Arithmetic Modulo)

Comparison Operators

< (Less than)

<= (Less than or Equals)

> (Greater than)

>= (Greater than or Equals)

== (Equality)

!= (Not Equality)

contains (Checks if a string contains another string)

Keywords

httpGet, onSuccess, onError will be used to make a HTTP GET API call

format will be used to format a string

if, else will be used to write conditional evaluation

true, false boolean keywords

toInt will be helful to convert double/float values to integer

Examples

Note:

Assume the following variables are defined

  • UserName (User Property)

  • RewardPoints (User Property)

  • IsSubscribed (User Property)

  • Subscribed (API JSON response parameter user.is_subscribed)

  • Simple formatting of string
format(
  "Hello {}. We are exicted to give you {} reward points. You can see these points in Rewards section",
  UserName,
  toInt(RewardPoints)
);
  • Conditional Dynamic Text
if (!IsSubscribed && RewardPoints < 500) {
  format(
    "Hello {}, you are just {} points away to get free subscription",
    UserName,
    500 - RewardPoints
  );
} else {
  format("Hello {}, You are already subscribed", UserName);
}
  • API call
httpGet(format("https://your-server.com/your-api?userName={}", UserName))
  .onSuccess(() => {
    if (SubScribed) {
      format("Hello {}, you are already subscribed", UserName);
    } else {
      format("Hello {}, you are not subscribed yet", UserName);
    }
  })
  .onError(() => format("Something went wrong. Try again later"));
Last updated on 4/7/2021
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