Java v2.0.X

Introduction

SDK overview

Welcome to the Flagship Java SDK documentation!

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

Release notes

See here

SDK features

That SDK version helps you :

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

Prerequisites

Java: version 1.8 or later
Your server/device must have access to the internet.

Good to know

Github repository: https://github.com/flagship-io/flagship-java
Weight: 103.0 ko
Support Java 8
Open-source app: https://github.com/flagship-io/flagship-java

Getting Started

Installation

First, add the following repository in your dependency manager:

maven { url 'https://abtasty.jfrog.io/artifactory/flagship-java' }

<repositories>
    	<repository>
      		<id>com.abtasty</id>
      		<url>https://abtasty.jfrog.io/artifactory/flagship-java</url>
    	</repository>
  </repositories>

Then import the Java SDK using either Maven or Gradle dependency management:

implementation 'com.abtasty:flagship-java:2.0.0'

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.abtasty</groupId>
    <artifactId>flagship-java</artifactId>
    <version>2.0.0</version>
</dependency>

Manual installion

For manual installation, jar files are available at : https://abtasty.jfrog.io/artifactory/flagship-java/com/abtasty/flagship-java/

Add the needed dependency :

implementation 'org.json:json:20201115'

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.json</groupId>
    <artifactId>json</artifactId>
    <version>20201115</version>
</dependency>

Initialization

To initialize and start the SDK, simply call the start function of the Flagship class, in the most appropriate location for your application.

Flagship.start("your_env_id", "your_api_key");

Parameter

Type

Description

envId

String

Environment id provided by Flagship.

apiKey

String

Api authentication key provided by Flagship.

config

FlagshipConfig

(optional) Custom flagship configuration. It can be DecisionApi (default) or Bucketing see Decision Mode.

Flagship configuration : FlagshipConfig.

This class aims to help you to configure the SDK via the following two available config implementations: DecisionApi and Bucketing. SeeDecision Mode section.

Flagship.start("your_env_id", "your_api_key", new FlagshipConfig.DecisionApi() // Will start the SDK with Api mode.
              .withLogManager(new CustomLogManager())
              .withLogLevel(LogManager.Level.ALL)
              .withStatusListener(newStatus -> {
                  if (newStatus == Flagship.Status.READY)
                      System.out.println("SDK is ready to use.");
              })
              .withTimeout(200));

// Start SDK in Bucketing mode.
Flagship.start("your_env_id", "your_api_key", new FlagshipConfig.Bucketing() // Will start the SDK with Bucketing mode.
              .withLogManager(new CustomLogManager())
              .withLogLevel(LogManager.Level.ALL)
              .withStatusListener(newStatus -> {
                  if (newStatus == Flagship.Status.READY)
                      System.out.println("SDK is ready to use.");
              })
              .withPollingIntervals(20, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
              .withTimeout(200));

public FlagshipConfig<T> withLogLevel(LogManager.Level level)
This method specifies the mode which filters SDK logs.
Parameter
Type
Description
level
LogManager.Level level
The levels in ascending order are : NONE(0), EXCEPTIONS(1), ERROR(2), WARNING(3), DEBUG(4), INFO(5), ALL(6).

public FlagshipConfig<T> withLogManager(LogManager logManager)
Specify a custom implementation of LogManager in order to receive logs from the SDK.
Parameter
Type
Description
logManager
LogManager
Custom implementation of LogManager.

public FlagshipConfig<T> withTimeout(int timeout)
Specify timeout for api request.
Parameter
Type
Description
timeout
int
Milliseconds for connect and read timeouts. Default is 2000.

public FlagshipConfig<T> withStatusListener(Flagship.StatusListener listener)
Define a new listener in order to get a callback when the SDK status has changed. SeeSDK status section.
Parameter
Type
Description
listener
Flagship.StatusListener
Callback to trigger when SDK status has changed.

Only available for Bucketing:

public FlagshipConfig<T> withPollingIntervals(long time, TimeUnit timeUnit)
Define time interval between two bucketing updates. Default is 60 seconds. MICROSECONDS and NANOSECONDS Unit are ignored.
Parameter
Type
Description
time
Long
time value.
timeUnit
TimeUnit
time unit. Must be greater or equal to MILLISECONDS

Decision Mode

DecisionApiMode

When the SDK is running in DecisionApi 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.

BucketingMode

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 cache and will only be downloaded again when campaign configurations are modified in the Flagship interface. Learn more

SDK Status

List of the possible SDK status :

Status

Description

NOT_INITIALIZED

Flagship SDK has not been started or initialized successfully.

STARTING

Flagship SDK is starting.

POLLING

Flagship SDK has been started successfully but is still polling campaigns. (Only when Bucketing mode is used)

PANIC

Flagship SDK is ready but is running in Panic mode: All visitor's features are disabled except 'synchronization' which refreshes this status.

READY

Flagship SDK is ready to use.

It is possible to get the current status via the method getStatus() from the Flagship class.

public Status getStatus()
Return the current SDK status

Status status = Flagship.getStatus()

Create a new visitor

The visitor instance is a helper object that lets you manage the context and campaigns for a user identified by a unique ID.

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 want to enable or disable a specific feature based on VIP status, you would pass this 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.

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id")
                .context(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
                    put("age", 32);
                    put("isVip", true);
                }})
                .hasConsented(true)
                .isAuthenticated(true)
                .build();

public static Visitor.Builder visitorBuilder(String visitorId)
Visitor builder class that creates a new visitor.
Parameter
Type
Description
visitorId
String
Unique visitor identifier.

Visitor Builder methods :

public Builder isAuthenticated(boolean isAuthenticated)
Specify if the visitor is authenticated or anonymous. Default value is false.
Parameter
Type
Description
isAuthenticated
Boolean
True for authenticated user, false for anonymous. (false by default)
public Builder hasConsented(boolean hasConsented)
Specify if the visitor has consented to personal data usage. When false some features will be deactivated, cache will be deactivated and cleared. Default value is True.
Parameter
Type
Description
hasConsented
Boolean
True when user has given consent, false otherwise. (true by default)
public Builder context(HashMap<String, Object> context)
Specify visitor initial context key / values used for targeting. Context keys must be String, and values types must be one of the following: Number, Boolean, String.
Parameter
Type
Description
context
HashMap<String, Object>
Initial context.

🚧 * User context keys must have a type of String
User context values must have a type of String, Boolean, Number.

public Visitor build()
Return the newly created visitor.

Updating the visitor 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.

The following method from the Visitor instance allows you to set new context values matching the given keys.

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id")
                .context(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
                    put("age", 32);
                    put("isVip", true);
                }})
                .build();

visitor.updateContext("lastPurchaseDate", 1615384464);

public <T> void updateContext(String key, T value)

Upsert the visitor context values, matching the given keys, used for targeting. Only String, Boolean, Number typed values are accepted.

Parameter

Type

Description

key

String

Context key.

value

Context value.

public void updateContext(HashMap<String, Object> context)

Upsert the visitor context values, matching the given keys, used for targeting. Only String, Boolean, Number typed values are accepted.

Parameter

Type

Description

context

HashMap<String, Object>

HashMap of keys, values.

🚧 * User context keys must have a type of String
User context values must have a type of String, Boolean, Number.

public <T> void updateContext(FlagshipContext<T> flagshipContext, T value)

Upsert the visitor context values with Flagship predefined context key. **See FlagshipContext

Parameter

Type

Description

flagshipContext

FlagshipContext

Predefined context key

value

value to add.

public <T> void clearContext()

Clear all the visitor context values used for targeting.

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id")
              .context(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
                  put("age", 32);
                  put("isVip", true);
              }})
              .build();
visitor.clearContext();

public HashMap<String, Object> getContext()

Get visitor current context key / values.

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id")
              .context(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
                  put("age", 32);
                  put("isVip", true);
              }})
              .build();
HashMap<String, Object visitorContext = visitor.getContext();

Managing visitor campaigns

Synchronizing campaigns

The synchronize_modifications() method of the visitor instance automatically calls the Flagship Decision API to run campaign assignments according to the current user context and retrieve applicable modifications.

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

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id").build();

visitor.updateContext("postcode", "31200");

visitor.synchronizeModifications();

visitor.synchronizeModifications().get(); // Synchronous Blocking call

visitor.synchronizeModifications().whenComplete((instance, error) -> { // Asynchronous non blocking call
    // Synchronization has been completed.
});

public CompletableFuture<Visitor> synchronizeModifications()

This function will call the decision api and update all the campaigns modifications from the server according to the visitor context.

Return

Description

CompletableFuture<Visitor>

Return a CompletableFuture to manage sync/async call to the decision api.

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 from the Visitor instance:

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id").build();
visitor.updateContext("isVip", true);
visitor.synchronizeModifications().whenComplete((instance, error) -> {
    Boolean displayVipFeature = visitor.getModification("displayVipFeature", false);

});

public <T> T getModification(String key, T defaultValue, boolean activate)

Retrieve a modification value by its key. If no modification match the given key or if the stored value type and default value type do not match, default value will be returned.

Parameter

Type

Description

key

String

key associated to the modification.

defaultValue

default value to return.

activate

boolean

(optional) et this parameter to true to automatically report on our server that the current visitor has seen this modification. It is possible to call activateModification() later.

🚧 * Default value must be one of the following type : String, Boolean, Number, JSONArray, 'JSONObject'.

Getting campaign information

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

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id").build();
visitor.updateContext("isVip", true);
visitor.synchronizeModifications().get();
JSONObject info = visitor.getModificationInfo("displayVipFeature")

public JSONObject getModificationInfo(String key)

Parameter

Type

Description

key

String

Key associated with the modification.

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 is displayed on the screen for a user, you must send an activate event to tell Flagship that the user has seen this specific variation.

There are two options for activating a modification:

Pass an activate=true parameter to the getModification() function
Use the following activateModification() method from the visitor instance.

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id").build();
visitor.updateContext("isVip", true);
visitor.synchronizeModifications().whenComplete((instance, error) -> {

    Boolean displayVipFeature = visitor.getModification("displayVipFeature", false, true); //send an activation event.

    //or

    Boolean displayVipFeature = visitor.getModification("displayVipFeature", false);

    visitor.activateModification("displayVipFeature");

});

public void activateModification(String key)

Report this user has seen this modification.

Parameter

Type

Description

key

String

key associated to the modification to report.

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.

public void setConsent(Boolean hasConsented)

Parameter

Type

Description

hasConsented

Boolean

Set visitor consent for private data usage. When false some features will be deactivated, cache will be deactivated and cleared.

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id").build();
  visitor.setConsent(false);

🚧 When consent is not given: Hits, Activations will be deactivated and all the cached visitor data will be cleared until consent is given again. Only consent tracking requests will enabled in order to clear server-side cached data.

Experience Continuity

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

Authenticate

public void authenticate(visitorId: String)

Parameter

Type

Description

visitorId

String

id of the new authenticated visitor.

Unauthenticate

public void unauthenticate()

Code example

Visitor visitor1 = Flagship.visitorBuilder("visitor_unique_id").build(); // anonymous visitor lands on your app.

  // Once the visitor log in and is authenticated on your app.
  visitor.authenticate("visitor_id");


  // Once the visitor log out and is unauthenticed on your app.
  visitor.unauthenticate();

Hit Tracking

This section helps you track your users in your application and learn how to build hits in order to feed campaign goals. For more information about our measurement protocol, read our Universal Collect documentation.

There are four different types of Hits available:

Page
Screen
Transaction
Item
Event

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

visitor.sendHit(new Page("https://www.my_domain_com/my_page"))

public void sendHit(Hit hit)

Report this user has seen this modification.

Parameter

Type

Description

hit

Hit

Hit to send.

Hit common optional parameters

Screen screen = new Screen("screen location")
                .withResolution(200, 100)
                .withLocale("fr_FR")
                .withIp("127.0.0.1")
                .withSessionNumber(2);
 visitor.sendHit(screen);

Parameter

Type

Description

withIp

String

Optional. User IP

withResolution

int, int

Optional. Screen resolution.

withLocale

String

Optional. User language

withSessionNumber

int

Optional. Session number

Page

This hit should be sent each time a visitor arrives on a new page on the server side.

Page page = new Page("https://www.my_domain_com/my_page")

visitor.sendHit(page);

public Page(String location)

Builder Parameter

Type

Description

location

String

Valid url.

Screen

This hit should be sent each time a visitor arrives on an interface on the client side.

Screen screen = new Screen("your_screen_name")

visitor.sendHit(screen);

public Screen(String location)

Builder Parameter

Type

Description

location

String

Interface name.

Transaction

This hit should be sent when a user complete a Transaction.

Transaction transaction = new Transaction("#12345", "affiliation")
                .withCouponCode("code")
                .withCurrency("EUR")
                .withItemCount(1)
                .withPaymentMethod("creditcard")
                .withShippingCosts(9.99f)
                .withTaxes(19.99f)
                .withTotalRevenue(199.99f)
                .withShippingMethod("1day");
visitor.sendHit(transaction);

Transaction(String transactionId, String affiliation)

Builder Parameter

Type

Description

transactionId

String

Unique identifier for your transaction.

affiliation

String

The name of the KPI that you will have inside your reporting. Learn more

withTotalRevenue

float

(optional) Specifies the total revenue associated with the transaction. This value should include any shipping and/or tax amounts.

withShippingCosts

float

(optional) The total shipping cost of your transaction.

withShippingMethod

String

(optional) The shipping method for your transaction.

withTaxes

float

(optional) Specifies the total amount of taxes in your transaction.

withCurrency

String

(optional) Specifies the currency of your transaction. NOTE: This value should be a valid ISO 4217 currency code.

withPaymentMethod

String

(optional) Specifies the payment method used for your transaction.

withItemCount

int

(optional) Specifies the number of items in your transaction.

withCouponCode

String

(optional) Specifies the coupon code used by the customer in your transaction.

Item

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

Item item = new Item("#12345", "product", "sku123")
                .withItemCategory("test")
                .withItemPrice(199.99f)
                .withItemQuantity(1);
visitor.sendHit(item);

Item(String transactionId, String productName, String productSku)

Builder Parameter

Type

Description

transactionId

String

Unique identifier for your transaction.

productName

String

Name of your item.

productSku

String

Specifies the SKU or item code.

withItemCategory

String

(optional) Specifies the category that the item belongs to.

withItemPrice

float

(optional) Specifies the price for a single item/unit.

withItemQuantity

int

(optional) Specifies the number of items purchased.

📘 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).

Event event = new Event(Event.EventCategory.USER_ENGAGEMENT, "action")
                .withEventLabel("label")
                .withEventValue(100);
visitor.sendHit(event);

public Event(EventCategory category, String action)

Builder Parameter

Type

Description

Appendix

Predefined user context keys : FlagshipContext

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 customer.

📘 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.

SDK Variable Name

Description

Context variable name

Type

Auto-set by SDK

Example

DEVICE_LOCALE

Language of the device

sdk_deviceLanguage

String

fra

DEVICE_TYPE

Type of the device

sdk_deviceType

DeviceType

Mobile

DEVICE_MODEL

Model of the device

sdk_deviceModel

String

samsung E1200

LOCATION_CITY

City geolocation

sdk_city

String

toulouse

LOCATION_REGION

Region geolocation

sdk_region

String

occitanie

LOCATION_COUNTRY

Country geolocation

sdk_country

String

France

LOCATION_LAT

Current Latitude

sdk_lat

Double

43.623647

LOCATION_LONG

Current Longitude

sdk_long

Double

1.445397

IP of the device

sdk_ip

String

127.0.0.1

OS_NAME

Name of the OS

sdk_osName

String

android / iOS

OS_VERSION_NAME

Version name of the OS

sdk_osVersionName

String

9.0.0

OS_VERSION_CODE

Version code of the OS

sdk_osVersionCode

Number

CARRIER_NAME

Name of the carrier or mobile virtual network operator

sdk_carrierName

String

free

INTERNET_CONNECTION

What is the internet connection

sdk_internetConnection

String

APP_VERSION_NAME

Version name of the app

sdk_versionName

String

1.1.2-beta

APP_VERSION_CODE

Version code of the app

sdk_versionCode

Number

INTERFACE_NAME

Name of the interface

sdk_interfaceName

String

ProductPage

FLAGSHIP_CLIENT

Flagship SDK client (Reserved)

fs_client

String

Yes

Java

FLAGSHIP_VERSION

Version of the Flagship SDK (Reserved)

fs_version

String

Yes

2.0.0

FLAGSHIP_VISITOR

Current visitor id (Reserved)

fs_users

String

Yes

2.0.0

📘 To overwrite the keys, use the updateContext method

PreviousArchived versions NextGo

Last updated 1 month ago

Was this helpful?

Introduction

SDK overview

Release notes

SDK features

Prerequisites

Good to know

Getting Started

Installation

Initialization

Create a new visitor

Updating the visitor context

Managing visitor campaigns

Synchronizing campaigns

Getting modifications

Getting campaign information

Activating modifications

Managing visitor consent

Experience Continuity

Authenticate

Unauthenticate

Code example

Hit Tracking

Hit common optional parameters

Page

Screen

Transaction

Item

Event

Appendix

Predefined user context keys : FlagshipContext