Android V2.1.X

Introduction

SDK overview

Welcome to the Flagship Android SDK documentation!

The following article will guide you through the steps to get Flagship up and running on your native Android app using our client library with preconfigured methods to implement the Decision API.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding this documentation.

Release notes

See here

SDK features

This SDK version will help you:

• Set a visitor ID
• Update user context
• Assign campaigns via the Decision API or Bucketing
• Get modifications
• Activate campaigns
• Send hits to our Universal Collect

Prerequisites

• Your app must be a native Android app written in Kotlin or Java

• Your app must at least be compatible with Android API version 21 (Android 5.0) OR version 16 (Android 4.1) if you use the compatibility version of our library. See dependencies

  The minSdkVersion value in your app module's build.gradle file must be greater than or equal to 21:

android {
    compileSdkVersion 28
    defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 21
        ...
    }
}

• Your app must have the necessary permissions to use the Internet

  Internet permission must be enabled in the <application> tag of your app's AndroidManifest.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <!-- [...] -->
</manifest>

• Your app must have AndroidX enabled

Good to know

• GitHub repository
• Weight: 112ko
• Kotlin and Java code supported
• Open source demo app

Getting Started

Installation

To install the library, start by adding the following repository in the main build.gradle file of your Android project so that Gradle can find and build with the library:

https://abtasty.jfrog.io/artifactory/flagship-android/

allprojects {
    repositories {
        maven {
            url 'https://abtasty.jfrog.io/artifactory/flagship-android/'
        }
    }
}

Then add the following library dependency in the build.gradle file of your app module:

com.abtasty:flagship-android:x.x.x

📘

Replace x.x.x with the desired version of the Flagship SDK.

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.abtasty:flagship-android:2.1.0'
}

🚧

If you need to target Android versions from Android 4.1+ API level 16+, use the following code, starting at version 1.2.1 of the Flagship Android SDK:

com.abtasty:flagship-android-compat:x.x.x

Available from the maven repository url:

https://abtasty.jfrog.io/artifactory/flagship-android-compat/

This version ensures TLS 1.2 compatibility between our servers and Android 4.1+, but we do not recommand using it due to lack of TLS 1.2 support by these platforms.

Initialization

To initialize and start the library, just call the init function of the Flagship class, and call the start method from the returned Builder in the most appropriate location for your application.

class MyActivity : Activity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        Flagship.builder(applicationContext, "my_env_id", "my_api_key").start()
    }
}

public class MyActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        Flagship.Companion.builder(getApplicationContext(), "my_env_id", "my_api_key").start();
    }
}

fun builder(appContext: Context, envId: String, apiKey : String) : Builder

📘

You can find your apiKey and your environmentId on your Flagship account, in Parameters > Environment & Security.

Builder Instance

The previous function returns the main Builder that initializes the library.

Flagship.builder(applicationContext, "my_env_id", "my_api_key")
    .withFlagshipMode(Flagship.Mode.BUCKETING)
    .withLogEnabled(Flagship.LogMode.ALL)
    .withVisitorId("my_visitor_id)
    .withVisitorConsent(true)
    .withReadyCallback {
        Hit.Event(Hit.EventCategory.ACTION_TRACKING, "sdk-android-ready").send()
        runOnUiThread { update() }
    }
    .start()

Flagship.Companion.builder(this.getApplicationContext(), "my_env_id", "my_api_key")
    .withFlagshipMode(Flagship.Mode.BUCKETING)
    .withLogEnabled(Flagship.LogMode.ALL)
    .withVisitorId("my_visitor_id")
    .withVisitorConsent(true)
    .withReadyCallback(() -> {
        new Hit.Event(Hit.EventCategory.ACTION_TRACKING, "sdk-android-ready").send();
        MainJava.this.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                updateView();
            }
        });
        return null;
    })
    .start();

The Builder instance helps you to configure and initialize the SDK via the following optional methods:

• fun withFlagshipMode(mode: Mode): Builder

  This method lets you start the Flagship SDK in BUCKETING mode (decision logic is executed client-side) or DECISION_API mode (decision logic is executed server-side). The decision mode is set to DECISION_API by default. Learn more

  Parameter	Type	Description
  mode	Mode	DECISION_API (default) or BUCKETING.

• fun withReadyCallback(lambda: (() -> Unit)): Builder

  This method lets you define code that should run after the SDK is done initializing (e.g. sending an sdk-android-ready event hit).

  Parameter	Type	Description
  lambda	(() -> Unit)	Lambda to be called when the SDK inizialization is complete.

• fun withVisitorId(visitorId: String): Builder

  This method lets you identify the current visitor.

  Parameter	Type	Description
  visitorId	String?	Unique identifier for the current user. This can be an ID from your database or a session ID. If no value is passed, the SDK will automatically generate a unique ID. Learn more
  isAuthenticated	Boolean	Specify if the current visitor is authenticated (true) or is anonymous (false). False by default.
  visitorContext	HashMap<String, Any>	Current visitor context properties. Keys must be String, and Values must be Number, String, or Boolean.

• fun withVisitorConsent(consent: Boolean): Builder

  Specify if the visitor has consented to personal data usage. When false some features will be deactivated, the the cache will be deactivated and cleared. Default value is True.

  Parameter	Type	Description
  consent	Boolean	True when user has given consent, false otherwise. (true by default)

• fun withLogEnabled(mode: LogMode): Builder

  This method lets you enable SDK logs and configure

  Parameter	Type	Description
  mode	LogMode	Type of log to display. Learn more

• fun withTimeout(timeout : Long, timeUnit: TimeUnit): Builder

  Initialize the SDK with a campaign request timeout. Default is 2 seconds.

  Parameter	Type	Description
  timeout	Long	Timeout duration
  timeUnit	TimeUnit	Duration Unit

• fun start()

  This method lets you build and start the Flagship SDK.

🚧

The SDK gives you the ability to change the envId for QA purposes. Don't forget to delete your app cache when changing environments.

Decision Mode

DECISION_API Mode

When the SDK is running in DECISION_API mode, the campaign assignments and targeting validation take place server-side. In this mode, each call to the synchronizeModifications method to refresh the modifications will create an HTTP request.

BUCKETING Mode

When the SDK is running in BUCKETING mode, the SDK downloads all the campaigns configurations at once in a single bucketing file so that variation assignment can be computed client-side by the SDK. This bucketing file is stored in the the cache and will only be downloaded again when campaign configurations are modified in the Flagship interface. Learn more

Updating the user context

The user context is a property dataset that defines the current user of your app. This dataset is sent and used by the Flagship Decision API as targeting criteria for campaign assignment.

For example, if you wanted to enable or disable a specific feature based on VIP status, you would pass that attribute as a key-value pair in the user context so that the Decision API can enable or disable the corresponding feature flag for the user.

📘

User context values are used for targeting configuration.

Flagship.updateContext("vipUser", vipUser)
Flagship.updateContext("age", age) {
    [email protected] { applyChanges() }
}

Flagship.Companion.updateContext("vipUser", currentVisitor.vip);
Flagship.Companion.updateContext("age", currentVisitor.age, () -> {
    MainJava.this.runOnUiThread(this::applyChanges);
    return null;
});

The SDK provides a set of methods to push new user context values to Flagship.

These functions update the user context value matching the given key. If there isn't an existing value matching that key, a new context value associated with this key will be created.

• Add a Int, Float, Long, Double Value to the user context:

  fun updateContext(key: String, value: Number, sync: (() -> (Unit))? = null)

• Add a String Value to the user context:

  fun updateContext(key: String, value: String, sync: (() -> (Unit))? = null)

• Add a Boolean Value to the user context:

  fun updateContext(key: String, value: Boolean, sync: (() -> (Unit))? = null)

• Add a HashMap Value to the user context:

  fun updateContext(values: HashMap<String, Any>, sync: (() -> (Unit))? = null)

• Add a PresetContext Value to the user context:

  fun updateContext(key: PresetContext, value: Any, sync: (() -> (Unit))? = null)

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User context values must have a type of string, number, or boolean to be accepted by Flagship.

Retrieve current visitor context

Use the following method to get the current visitor context key values:

fun getContext() : fun getContext(): HashMap<String, Any>

val visitorContext = Flagship.getContext()

Flagship.Companion.getContext();

Predefined visitor context keys

The Flagship SDK contains predefined user context keys that do not count against your plan quota. Some of the predefined keys will automatically set their values, but you can always override them if needed. These key-value pairs are sent to Flagship and are available in the "Persona" section of the Flagship interface.

For a full list of the predefined keys, see the appendix.

Campaign synchronization

Synchronizing campaigns

Synchronizing campaign modifications allows you to automatically call the Flagship Decision API or bucketing file to run assignments in accordance with the user context to get all their modifications.

All the applicable modifications are stored in the SDK and are updated asynchronously when synchronizeModifications() is called.

Flagship.synchronizeModifications {
    [email protected] { applyChanges() }
}

Flagship.Companion.synchronizeModifications( () -> {
    MainJava.this.runOnUiThread(this::applyChanges);
    return null;
    });

fun synchronizeModifications(callback: (() -> (Unit))? = null)

Getting modifications

Once the campaign has been assigned and synchronized, all the modifications are stored in the SDK. You can retrieve these modifications using the following functions:

val color = Flagship.getModification("btnColor", "#0e5fe3")
button.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor(color))

String color = Flagship.Companion.getModification("btnColor", "#FFFFFF");
button.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor(color));

• Get Modification for Double value:

  fun getModification(key: String, default: Double, activate: Boolean = false): Double

• Get Modification for Int value:

  fun getModification(key: String, default: Int, activate: Boolean = false): Int

• Get Modification for Long value:

  fun getModification(key: String, default: Long, activate: Boolean = false): Long

• Get Modification for Float value:

  fun getModification(key: String, default: Float, activate: Boolean = false): Float

• Get Modification for String value:

  fun getModification(key: String, default: String, activate: Boolean = false): String

• Get Modification for Boolean value:

  fun getModification(key: String, default: Boolean, activate: Boolean = false): Boolean

• Get Modification for JSONObject value:

  fun getModification(key: String, default: JSONObject, activate: Boolean = false): JSONObject

• Get Modification for JSONArray value:

  fun getModification(key: String, default: JSONArray, activate: Boolean = false): JSONArray

Getting campaign information

You may need to send campaign IDs to a third-party for reporting and/or analytics purposes. It is now possible to retrieve campaigns IDs for a specific modification key.

Flagship.getModificationInfo("modification_key")

Flagship.Companion.getModificationInfo("modification_key")

fun getModificationInfo(key: String) : JSONObject?

It returns a JSONObject? containing campaignId, variationGroupId, variationId and isReference keys & values or null if the modification is not found (the user is not affected to the campaign linked to the modification).

Activating modifications

Once a modification has been rendered on the screen for a user, you must send an activation event to tell Flagship that the user has seen this specific variation.

val color = Flagship.getModification("btnColor", "#0e5fe3", true)
button.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor(color))

//---OR---

Flagship.activateModification("btnColor")

String color = Flagship.Companion.getModification("btnColor", "#FFFFFF", true);
button.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor(color));
Flagship.Companion.activateModification("btnColor");

fun activateModification(key: String)

Managing visitor consent

The Visitor class provides a method to let you manage visitor consent for data privacy usage. When False, campaign activation and hits will be disabled and cache cleared.

fun setConsent(hasConsented : Boolean)

//when the visitor hadn't given consent
Flagship.setConsent(false)

//when the visitor gives consent
Flagship.setConsent(true)

//when the visitor hadn't given consent
Flagship.Companion.setConsent(false)

//when the visitor gives consent
Flagship.Companion.setConsent(true)

Experience Continuity

In some situations, you may want experience consistency between an anonymous visitor and an authenticated visitor. Flagship provides the following two methods in order to help you to specify when a visitor is authenticated or not.
Learn more

Authenticate

fun authenticateVisitor(visitorId: String, visitorContext: HashMap<String, Any>? = null, sync: (() -> Unit)? = null)

Unauthenticate

fun unauthenticateVisitor(visitorContext: HashMap<String, Any>? = null, sync: (() -> Unit)? = null)

Code example

//When user log in
Flagship.authenticateVisitor("new_visitor_id")


//when user log out
Flagship.unauthenticateVisitor()

//When user log in
Flagship.Companion.authenticateVisitor("new_visitor_id")


//when user log out
Flagship.Companion.unauthenticateVisitor()

Hit Tracking

This section helps send tracking and learn how to build hits in order to approve campaign goals. For more information about our measurement protocol, read our Universal Collect documentation.

There are four different types of Hits available:

• Screen
• Transaction
• Item
• Event

They must all be built and sent with the following function:

fun <T> sendHit(hit: HitBuilder<T>)

Common Parameters

These parameters can be sent with any type of hit.

Screen

This hit should be sent each time a visitor arrives on a new interface.

Flagship.sendHit(Hit.Screen("MainActivity"))

Flagship.Companion.sendHit(
  new Hit.Screen("MainActivity")
);

class Screen(origin: String) : HitBuilder<Screen>()

Transaction

This hit should be sent when a user completes a transaction.

Flagship.sendHit(Hit.Transaction("#4802982", "mobile_purchases")
    .withCouponCode("#PROMO")
    .withCurrency("EUR")
    .withItemCount(1)
    .withPaymentMethod("credit_card")
    .withShippingCost(2.99f)
    .withShippingMethod("express")
    .withTaxes(15.47f)
    .withTotalRevenue(279f)
)

Flagship.Companion.sendHit(new Hit.Transaction("#4802982", "mobile_purchases")
                .withCouponCode("#PROMO")
                .withCurrency("EUR")
                .withItemCount(1)
                .withPaymentMethod("credit_card")
                .withShippingCost(2.99f)
                .withShippingMethod("express")
                .withTaxes(15.47f)
                .withTotalRevenue(279f)
        );

class Transaction(transactionId: String, affiliation: String) : HitBuilder<Transaction>()

Item

This hit is used to link an item with a transaction. It must be sent after the corresponding transaction hit.

Flagship.sendHit(Hit.Item("#4802982", "N_SWITCH_19", "#NS19AHLD")
    .withItemCategory("video_games")
    .withItemQuantity(1)
    .withPrice(279f)
)

Flagship.Companion.sendHit(new Hit.Item("#4802982", "N_SWITCH_19", "#NS19AHLD")
    .withItemCategory("video_games")
    .withItemQuantity(1)
    .withPrice(279f)
)

class Item(transactionId: String, productName: String, productSku : String) : HitBuilder<Item>()

📘

The Item hit isn't available yet in the Flagship reporting view.

Event

This hit can be used for any event (e.g. Add To Cart click, newsletter subscription).

Flagship.sendHit(Hit.Event(Hit.EventCategory.ACTION_TRACKING, "click")
    .withEventLabel("button_click")
    .withEventValue(12)
)

Flagship.Companion.sendHit(new Hit.Event(Hit.EventCategory.ACTION_TRACKING, "click")
                .withEventLabel("button_click")
                .withEventValue(12));

class Event(category: EventCategory, action: String) : HitBuilder<Event>()

Appendix

Predefined user context keys

The Flagship SDK contains predefined user context keys.

The keys marked as Yes in the Auto-set by SDK column will be automatically set, while the ones marked as No need to be set by the client.

📘

Check the values sent by the SDK by enabling the logs.

You can overwrite these keys at any time. The key-value pairs will be sent to the server in the user context and can be edited in the Persona section of the Flagship platform.

📘

To overwrite the keys, use the updateContext method