Corona-Advanced

1. Managing User Identity

SDK instances would use random UUID as the default distinct ID of each user by default, which would be used as the identity identification ID of users under an unlogged-in state. It should be noted that the distinct ID would change after the user reinstalled the App or use the APP with a new device.

1.1. Identify

::: Tips

Generally speaking, you do not need to customize a distinct ID. Please ensure that you understand User Identification Rulesbefore setting a distinct ID.

If you need to change the distinct ID, please call the api immediately after SDK is initialized. To avoid the generation of useless accounts, please do not call such a process multiple times.

:::

If your App has its own distinct ID management system for each user, you can call identify to set the distinct ID:

-- set distinct ID as Thinker
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.identify("Thinker");

If you need to obtain the current distinct ID, please call getDistinctId:

-- returns distinct ID
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.getDistinctId( function (ret)
    print( "distinctId = " .. ret )
end )

1.2 Login

When the users log in, login could be called to set the account ID of the user. TE would use the account ID as the identity identification ID, and the account ID that has been set would be saved before logout is called. The previous account ID would be replaced if login has been called multiple times.

-- The login unique identifier of the user, corresponding to the #account_id in data tracking. #Account_id now is TE
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.login("TE");

Note: Login events wouldn't be uploaded in this method.

1.3 Removing Account ID

After the user logs out, logout could be called to remove the account ID. The distinct ID would be used as the identity identification ID before the next time login is called.

ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.logout();

It is recommended that you call logout upon explicit logout event. For example, call logout when the user commits the behavior of canceling an account; do not call such a process when the App is closed.

Logout events wouldn't be uploaded in this method.

2. Sending Events

After SDK is initialized, you can track users behaviour data. In general, ordinary events could meet business requirements. You can also use the First/Updatable Event based on your own service scenario.

2.1 Ordinary Events

You can call track to upload events. It is suggested that you set event properties based on the data tracking plan drafted previously. Here is an example of a user buying an item:

local properties = { product_name="product name"}
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.track("product_buy", properties)

2.2 First Events

The First Events refers to events that would only be recorded once for the ID of a certain device or other dimensions. For example, under certain scenarios, you may want to record the activation event on a certain device. In this case, you can perform data tracking with the First Event.

ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.trackFirst("device_activation", {test_string="first_string"})

If you want to judge whether an event is the First Event from other dimensions, you can define a first_check_id for the First Event:

-- set the user ID as the first_check_id of the first event to track the first initialization event of the user.
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.trackFirst("account_activation", {test_string="first_string"} , "TA")

Note: Since the server has to check whether the event is the First Event, the First Event will be put in storage one hour later by default.

2.3 Updatable Events

You can meet the requirements for event data modification under specific scenarios through Updatable Events. The ID of Updatable Events should be specified and uploaded when the objects of Updatable Events are created. TE would determine the data to be updated according to the event name and event ID.

-- The event property status is 3 after reporting, with the price being 100
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.trackUpdate("UPDATABLE_EVENT", {
    status = 3,
    price = 100
}, "Update_EventId")

-- The event property status is 5 after reporting, with the price remaining the same
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.trackUpdate("UPDATABLE_EVENT", {
    status = 5
}, "Update_EventId")

2.4 Overwritable Events

Despite the similarity with Updatable Events, Overwritable Events would replace all historical data with the latest data. Looking from the perspective of effect, such a process is equivalent to the behavior of deleting the previous data while putting the latest data in storage. TE would determine the data to be updated according to the event name and event ID.

-- The event property status is 3 after reporting, with the price being 100
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.trackOverwrite("OVERWRITABLE_EVENT", {
    status = 3,
    price = 100
}, "Overwrite_EventId")

-- The event property status is 5 after reporting, with the price deleted
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.trackOverwrite("OVERWRITABLE_EVENT", {
    status = 5
}, "Overwrite_EventId")

2.5 Super Properties

Super properties refer to properties that would be uploaded by each event. Super properties could be divided into static super properties and dynamic super propertiesbased on the update frequency. You can select different methods for super property setting according to business requirements; we recommend that you set super properties first before sending events. In the same event, when the keys of super properties, self-defined event properties, and preset properties are the same, we would assign value according to the following priority: self-defined properties>static super properties>preset properties.

2.5.1 Static Super Properties

Static super properties are properties that all events might have and would change with a low frequency, for example, the user membership class. After setting static super properties through setSuperProperties, SDK would use the preset super properties as the event properties when tracking events.

-- set super properties
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.setSuperProperties({vip_level = 2})

Static super properties would be saved in local storage, and should not be called every time the App is closed. If such properties already exist, the reset properties would replace the original properties. If such properties do not exist, properties would be newly created. In addition to property setting, we also provide other APIs to set and manage static super properties and meet general business requirements.

-- clear a super property named 'Channel'
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.unsetSuperProperties("Channel")
-- clear all super properties
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.clearSuperProperties()
-- get all super properties
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.getSuperProperties()

2.6 Timing Events

If you need to record the duration of a certain event, you can call timeEvent . Configure the name of the event you want to record. When you upload the event, #duration would be added to your event property automatically to record the duration of the event (unit: second). It should be noted that only one task can be timed with the same event name.

-- The following instance has recorded the time the user spent on a certain product page
-- The user enters the product page and starts the timing
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.timeEvent("stay_shop")
-- do some thing...
-- the timing would end when the user leaves the product page. "stay_shop" event would carry#duration, a property representing event duration.
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.track("stay_shop", {})

3. User Properties

User property setting APIs supported by TE include: userSet，userSetOnce,userAdd,userUnset,userDelete,userAppend,userUniqAppend.

3.1 UserSet

You can call userSet to set general user properties. The original properties would be replaced if the properties uploaded via the API are used. The type of newly-created user properties must conform to that of the uploaded properties. User name setting is taken as the example here:

-- current username is TA
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.userSet({user_name = "TA"})
-- current username is TE
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.userSet({user_name = "TE"})

3.2 UserSetOnce

If the user property you want to upload only needs to be set once, you can call userSetOnce to set the property. If such property had been set before, this message would be neglected. Let's take the setting of the first payment time as an example:

--first_payment_time is '2018-01-01 01:23:45.678'
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.userSetOnce({first_payment_time = "2018-01-01 01:23:45.678"})
-- first_payment_time is '2018-01-01 01:23:45.678' as before
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.userSetOnce({first_payment_time = "2018-12-31 01:23:45.678"})

3.3 UserAdd

When you want to upload numeric attributes for cumulative operation, you can call userAdd.

If the property has not been set, it would be given a value of 0 before computing. A negative value could be uploaded, which is equivalent to subtraction operation. Let's take the accumulative payment amount as an example:

-- current total_revenue is 30
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.userAdd({total_revenue = 30})
-- current total_revenue is 678
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.userAdd({total_revenue = 648})

The property key is a string, and the Value is only allowed to be a numeric value.

3.4 UserUnset

When you need to clear the user properties of users, you can call userUnset to clear specific properties. userUnset would not create properties that have not been created in the cluster.

-- remove a user property named 'age'
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.userUnset("age")

3.5 UserDelete

You can call userDelete to delete a user. After deleting the user, you would no longer be able to inquire about its user property, but could still query the events data triggered by the user.

-- remove all user properties
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.userDelete()

3.6 UserAppend

You can call userAppend to add user properties of array type.

-- append user properties with array
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.userAppend({user_list = {"apple", "ball"}})

4. Other

4.1 Device ID

You can call getDeviceId to obtain the device ID:

-- get device ID
ThinkingAnalyticsAPI.getDeviceId( function (ret)
    print( "deviceId = " .. ret )
end )