.NET v3.3.X

Introduction

The following documentation will help you get Flagship running in your .Net environment (server-side or client side) with preconfigured methods to implement the Decision API & Bucketing.

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

SDK features

That SDK version helps you :

• Set a visitor ID

• Update visitor context

• Assign campaigns via the Decision API or the Bucketing

• Get flags

• Activate campaigns

• Send hits to our Universal Collect

Prerequisites

• This SDK requires .Net with the following target framework versions:

  • net40

  • net45

  • netstandard2.0

  • net5.0 or later

Lern more

• Your server/device must have an access to the internet.

Good to know

• Github repository: <https://github.com/flagship-io/flagship-dotnet-sdk>

Getting Started

Installation

Follow these steps to install the .Net SDK

Install from nuget

To install from nuget, just run a Install-Package Nuget command to add the SDK to your project

Install-Package Flagship.SDK

Initialization

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

// Use the Flagship package
using Flagship.Main;
// ...

Fs.Start("ENV_ID", "API_KEY");

Start static function

This method starts the Flagship SDK.

• static void Start(string envId, string apiKey, [FlagshipConfig config = null])

Parameter	Type	Description
envId	string	Environment id provided by Flagship.
apiKey	string	Api authentication key provided by Flagship.
config	FlagshipConfig	Custom flagship configuration. see configuration attribute

Advanced Configuration

Here are all available settings you can set on the SDK.

Those settings can be setup only at the start function.

Here's the full pure example of usage :

// Use the Flagship package
using Flagship.Main;
// ...

Fs.Start("ENV_ID", "API_KEY", new DecisionApiConfig { 
                LogManager = new sentryCustomLog(),
                LogLevel = Flagship.Enums.LogLevel.ALL,
                Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2),
            });

// Use the Flagship package
using Flagship.Main;
// ...

Fs.Start("ENV_ID", "API_KEY", new BucketingConfig { 
                LogManager = new sentryCustomLog(),
                LogLevel = Flagship.Enums.LogLevel.ALL,
                Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2),
                PollingInterval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2)
            });

Below the details of every attribute you can set inside the SDK config object :

Attribute	Type	Default	Description
Timeout	TimeSpan	2s	Required Specify timeout for API request. Note: timeout can't be lower than 0 second.
LogLevel	Flagship.Enums.LogLevel	Flagship.Enums.LogLevel.ALL	Required Set the maximum log level to display see LogLevel
LogManager	Flagship.Logger.IFsLogManager	Object	Required Specify a custom implementation of LogManager to receive logs from the SDK. Note: The object must implement the IFsLogManager interface.
PollingInterval	TimeSpan	2s	Required Specify delay between two bucketing polling when SDK is running on Bucketing mode. Note: If 0 is given, it should poll only once at start time.
VisitorCacheImplementation	Flagship.Cache.IVisitorCacheImplementation	undefined	Optional Define an object that implements the IVisitorCacheImplementation interface to handle the visitor cache. see cache-manager
HitCacheImplementation	Flagship.Cache.IHitCacheImplementation	undefined	Optional Define an object that implements the IHitCacheImplementation interface to handle the visitor cache. see cache-manager
DisableCache	boolean	false	Required If set to true, hit cache and visitor cache will be disabled; otherwise, they will be enabled. see cache-manager
StatusChanged	Flagship.Delegate.StatusChangeDelegate	undefined	Optional Define an event to get a callback when the SDK status changes. see arguments.
TrackingMangerConfig	Flagship.Config.ITrackingManagerConfig	Object	Define options to configure hit batching. trackingMangerConfig
OnVisitorExposed	Flagship.Delegate.OnVisitorExposedDelegate	undefined	Optional Define an event to get a callback each time a Flag has been exposed to a visitor (when a flag has been seen by your visitor) and succeeded. see arguments
DisableDeveloperUsageTracking	boolean	false	The SDK will collect usage data to help us improve our product. If set to true, no usage data will be collected.

Decision Mode

API Mode (by default)

When the SDK operates in API mode, it uses our Decision API to manage campaign assignments and validate targeting. In this mode, each time a new Decision is needed, the SDK sends an HTTPS request to the API. This mode is enabled by default for all our SDKs.

Bucketing Mode

In Bucketing mode, the SDK downloads all campaign configurations in a single bucketing file. This allows the SDK to compute variation assignments on the client-side. The bucketing file is cached and only re-downloaded when campaign configurations are updated in the Flagship interface. Learn more

LogLevel

Flagship.Enums.LogLevel is an enum defined the level of log to receive

Key	Value	Type	Description
NONE	0	int	Logging will be disabled.
EMERGENCY	1	int	Only emergencies will be logged
ALERT	2	int	Only alerts and above will be logged.
CRITICAL	3	int	Only critical and above will be logged.
ERROR	4	int	Only errors and above will be logged.
WARNING	5	int	Only warnings and above will be logged.
NOTICE	6	int	Only notices and above will be logged.
INFO	7	int	Only info logs and above will be logged.
DEBUG	8	int	Only debug logs and above will be logged.
ALL	9	int	Everything will be logged.

IFsLogManager

The aims of Flagship.Logger.IFsLogManager Interface is to define methods that an object must have in order to receive Flagship SDK logs.

interface IFsLogManager
    {
         void Emergency(string message, string tag);
         void Alert(string message, string tag);
         void Critical(string message, string tag);
         void Error(string message, string tag);
         void Warning(string message, string tag);
         void Notice(string message, string tag);
         void Info(string message, string tag);
         void Debug(string message, string tag);
         void Log(LogLevel level, string message, string tag);
    }

Argument	Type	Description
message	string	Get a description of the log
tag	string	Get the function that triggered the log
level	number	Get the log level. **Note:**only for log method see LogLevel

FlagshipStatus

Flagship.Enums.FlagshipStatus is an enum defining the different status of Flagship SDK

Key	Value	Type	Description
NOT_INITIALIZED	0	int	It is the default initial status. This status remains until the sdk has been initialized successfully.
STARTING	1	int	Flagship SDK is starting.
POLLING	2	int	Flagship SDK has been started successfully but is still polling campaigns.
READY_PANIC_ON	3	int	Flagship SDK is ready but is running in Panic mode: All features are disabled except the one which refresh this status.
READY	4	int	Flagship SDK is ready to use.

StatusChanged

The Flagship.Delegate.StatusChangeDelegate delegate has one argument

Argument	Type	Description
status	Flagship.Enums.FlagshipStatus	Status of the SDK. seeFlagshipStatus

OnVisitorExposed

In some cases, you'll need to send information about the exposure (When a flag has been seen by your visitor), like sending visitor and flag data to third parties.

To centralize it, we provide the OnVisitorExposed event in the configuration option of the SDK.

The OnVisitorExposedDelegate delegate has 2 arguments with the following shape:

Parameter	Type	Description
exposedVisitor	IExposedVisitor	An interface to get information about the visitor to whom the flag has been exposed
exposedFlag	IExposedFlag	An interface to get information about the flag that has been exposed.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Flagship.FsVisitor
{
    public interface IExposedVisitor
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// The key of flag
        /// </summary>
        string Id { get; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Visitor anonymous id
        /// </summary>
        string AnonymousId { get; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Visitor context
        /// </summary>
        IDictionary<string, object> Context { get; }
    }
}

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Flagship.FsFlag
{
    public interface IExposedFlag
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Get the flag key
        /// </summary>
        string Key { get; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Get the flag value
        /// </summary>
        object Value { get; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Get the flag default value
        /// </summary>
        object DefaultValue { get; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Get the flag metadata
        /// </summary>
        IFlagMetadata Metadata { get; }

    }
}

Here is an example on how to use this callback:

Example with Mixpanel integration Example with Segment integration

trackingMangerConfig

The SDK features a batching system for sending hits, which can be configured using three options: CacheStrategy, PoolMaxSize, and BatchIntervals. Using the TrackingManager’s batch processing reduces network traffic, prevents hit loss through caching, and resends any failed hits.

Hits are first added to an internal pool as they are emitted by visitors. The pool is then emptied by batching all hits and sending them when either the PoolMaxSize is reached or the BatchIntervals timer is triggered. If a batch fails, all hits within it are returned to the pool for future iteration and the cache is updated based on the selected cache strategy.

Note: At any time, when your app is about to terminate or crash, you should call Flagship.close() to batch and send all hits that are in the pool.

Key	Type	Default value	Description
CacheStrategy	Flagship.Enums.CacheStrategy	PERIODIC_CACHING	Define the strategy that will be used for hit caching see cacheStrategy
PoolMaxSize	number	100	Define the minimum number of hits the pool must reach to automatically batch all hits in the pool and send it. Note: - Must be greater than 5 otherwise default value will be used - Having a large PoolMaxSize can lead to performance issues
BatchIntervals	TimeSpan	10s	Define a regular interval in seconds to trigger batch processing Note: - The process will batch all hits from the pool whether PoolMaxSize is reached or not - Must be between 1sec and 14400s (4hours). Otherwise default value will be applied

CacheStrategy

Flagship.Enums.CacheStrategy is an enum defining the different caching strategies

Key	Type	value	Description
CONTINUOUS_CACHING	number	0	When a hit is emitted, it will first be cached in database using IHitCacheImplementation and added into the pool, then after batching and sending, it will also be flushed from database using IHitCacheImplementation. Note: recommended for client side applications
PERIODIC_CACHING	number	1	When a hit is emitted, it will be added into the pool, then after batching and sending, all database hits will be flushed, then the entire pool will be cached using IHitCacheImplementation for both actions. Note: recommended for server-side applications

// Use the Flagship package
using Flagship.Main;
// ...

Fs.Start("ENV_ID", "API_KEY",
    new DecisionApiConfig
    {
        TrackingMangerConfig = new TrackingManagerConfig
        {
            CacheStrategy = Flagship.Enums.CacheStrategy.CONTINUOUS_CACHING,
            PoolMaxSize = 100,
            BatchIntervals = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10)
        }
    });

📘

• The CONTINUOUS_CACHING strategy (recommended for client side apps) should be used when your application is running in an environment where the probability of data loss is high.

Keep in mind that this strategy can do a lot of database I/O depending on how many hits your visitor can send.

• The PERIODIC_CACHING strategy (recommended for server side apps) should be used when your application sends a lot of hits and the probability of data loss is low.

In this strategy, the number of I/Os in the database is low.

Other Flagship.Main.Fs class methods

Status property

Return current status of Flagship SDK. seeFlagshipStatus

• public static FlagshipStatus Status

Config property

Return the current config used by the SDK. see configuration attribute

• public static FlagshipConfig Config

Visitor property

Return the last visitor created and saved or return undefined if no visitor has been saved. see newVisitor.

• public static Visitor Visitor

Close function

Most of the time you don't need to manually close the SDK, but when your application is about to terminate, you should call the Close method of the Fsclass to avoid data loss.

When called, it will batch and send all hits that are in the pool before the application is closed

• public static async Task Close()

Create a visitor

The Flagship.FsVisitor.Visitor instance is an object that contains everything related to your visitor, its data but also the Decision of Flagship.

By creating a new visitor, you be able to set all the data relevant for Flagship to take a Decision and know your visitor, this includes :

• Visitor ID

• Visitor Context

• GDPR Consent

• Authenticated or not (see Experience Continuity) feature

The visitor context is a dataset (object) that defines your current visitor. This dataset is sent to Flagship for targeting purposes (use-case assignment) but also to enrich your reporting with Context Filters. You may have to sync with your team to know what data is useful for them to have in Flagship reporting.

By default, depending on Flagship.Config.FlagshipConfig, this will automatically trigger a Decision of Flagship and will be available through the getFlag method.

Let's take an example: if you want to enable a specific feature to all your VIPs visitor, you'll need to add this data as an attribute into the visitor context (key-value pair) in the visitor context: isVIP: true. Based on your targeting criteria defined in your use-case (isVIP === true), Flagship will take the Decision and show your feature to visitors that at least contains isVIP in their context and for which isVIP is equal to true.

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true)
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();

NewVisitor static function

Creates and returns a Flagship.FsVisitor.VisitorBuilder or null if the SDK hasn't started successfully.

This method should always be called after the Flagship SDK has started.

• static VisitorBuilder NewVisitor()

Initialize the builder without visitorID and Return a Flagship.FsVisitor.VisitorBuilder or null if the SDK hasn't started successfully.

• static VisitorBuilder NewVisitor(string visitorId)

Initialize the builder with visitorId and Return a Flagship.FsVisitor.VisitorBuilder or null if the SDK hasn't started successfully.

Parameter	Type	Description
visitorId	string	Unique visitor identifier

• static VisitorBuilder NewVisitor(InstanceType instanceType)

Initialize the builder with InstanceType and Return a Flagship.FsVisitor.VisitorBuilder or null if the SDK hasn't started successfully.

Parameter	Type	Description
InstanceType	Flagship.Enums.InstanceType	Defined if the SDK will save the newly created visitor instance into the Flagship instance

• static VisitorBuilder NewVisitor(string visitorId, InstanceType instanceType)

Initialize the builder with visitorId and InstanceType and Return a Flagship.FsVisitor.VisitorBuilder or null if the SDK hasn't started successfully.

Parameter	Type	Description
visitorId	string	Unique visitor identifier.
InstanceType	Flagship.Enums.InstanceType	Defined if the SDK will save the newly created visitor instance into the Flagship instance

VisitorBuilder

Flagship.FsVisitor.VisitorBuilder is a fluent interface builder api managing Visitor creation.

• VisitorBuilder IsAuthenticated(bool isAuthenticated)

  Specify if the Visitor is authenticated or anonymous.

Parameter	Type	Description
isAuthenticated	bool	true for an authenticated visitor, false for an anonymous visitor.

• VisitorBuilder HasConsented(bool hasConsented)

  Specify if the Visitor has consented for personal data usage. When false some features will be deactivated, cache will be deactivated and cleared.

Parameter	Type	Description
hasConsented	bool	Set to true when the visitor has consented, false otherwise.

• VisitorBuilder WithContext(IDictionary<string, object> context)

  Specify Visitor initial context key / values used for targeting.

Parameter	Type	Description
withContext	IDictionary<string, object>|	visitor initial context.

🚧

• Visitor context keys must have a type of string

• Visitor context values must have a type of string, bool, numeric

• Visitor context keys and values are case sensitive

• Visitor Build()

  Complete the Visitor Creation process and return an instance of \Flagship\Visitor\Visitor

🚧

• If visitorId is not given, the SDK will generat one by default

• If IsAuthenticated is not set, the SDK will set false by default

• If HasConsented is not set, the SDK will set true by default

Updating the visitor context

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

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

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true)
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();

visitor.UpdateContext("lastPurchaseDate", DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString());

updateContext function

Update the visitor context values, matching the given keys, used for targeting. A new context value associated with this key will be created if there is no previous matching value.

• void UpdateContext(IDictionary<string, object> context)

It has one argument :

Argument	Type	Description
context	IDictionary<string, object>	A Set of keys, values.

• void UpdateContext(string key, string value)

Update the visitor context values, matching the given key or created one if there is no previous matching value

Parameter	Type	Description
key	string	Context key.
value	string	Context value.

• void UpdateContext(string key, double value)

Update the visitor context values, matching the given key or created one if there is no previous matching value

Parameter	Type	Description
key	string	Context key.
value	double	Context value.

• void UpdateContext(string key, bool value)

Update the visitor context values, matching the given key or created one if there is no previous matching value

Parameter	Type	Description
key	string	Context key.
value	bool	Context value.

Context property

This property returns all the visitor's current context as an object

• `IDictionary<string, object> Context

ClearContext function

Clear the actual visitor context

• void ClearContext()

🚧

• Visitor context keys must have a type of string

• Visitor context values must have a type of string, bool, numeric

• Visitor context keys and values are case sensitive

update context with predefined keys of context

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true)
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();

visitor.UpdateContext(Flagship.Enums.PredefinedContext.OS_NAME, "linux");
visitor.UpdateContext(Flagship.Enums.PredefinedContext.IP, "127.0.0.1");

Learn more about predefined keys of context

Managing visitor campaigns

Fetching Flags

The FetchFlags() method of the Visitor instance, according to Decision Mode, will either automatically call the Flagship Decision API to run campaign assignments according to the current visitor context and retrieve applicable flags, or check bucketing file, validate campaigns targeting the visitor, assign a variation and retrieve applicable flags

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

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true)
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();
  
  await visitor.FetchFlags();

//ready to use all features from the SDK

FetchFlags function

In DecisionApi Mode this function calls the Flagship Decision API to run campaign assignments according to the current visitor context and retrieve applicable flags.

In bucketing Mode, it checks bucketing file, validates campaigns targeting the visitor, assigns a variation, and retrieves applicable flags

• Task FetchFlags()

Getting flags

Once the campaign has been assigned and fetched, all the flags are stored in the SDK. You can retrieve them using the following functions from the Visitor instance:

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true)
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();
  
  await visitor.FetchFlags();

var flag = visitor.GetFlag("displayVipFeature", false);

GetFlag function

Return a Flag object by its key. If no flag match the given key an empty flag will be returned. Call Exists to check if the flag has been found.

• IFlag<T> GetFlag(string key, T defaultValue)

Argument	Type	Description
key	string	key associated to the flag.
defaultValue	T	flag default value.

🚧

• Default value must be one of the following type : string, number, boolean, Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JArray, Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject.

Getting flags current values

GetValue function

To retrieve flag current value, simply call GetValue() method of the Flag object.

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true)
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();
  
  await visitor.FetchFlags();

var flag = visitor.GetFlag("displayVipFeature", false);

var flagValue = flag.GetValue();

• T GetValue([bool visitorExposed=true]) function

Returns the value from the assigned campaign variation or the Flag default value if the Flag does not exist, or if types are different.

Parameter	Type	Default Value	Description
visitorExposed	Boolean	true	Tells Flagship the visitor have been exposed and have seen this flag. This will increment the visits for the current variation on your campaign reporting. If needed it is possible to set this param to false and call VisitorExposed() afterward when the visitor sees it.

Getting flags campaigns metadata

Metadata property

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

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true)
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();
  
  await visitor.FetchFlags();

var flag = visitor.GetFlag("displayVipFeature", false);

var campaignMetadata = flag.Metadata;

• IFlagMetadata Metadata { get; }

Return the campaign information metadata or an empty object if the Flag doesn't exist or if the default value type does not correspond to the Flag type in Flagship.

interface IFlagMetadata 
{
  string CampaignId { get; }
  string VariationGroupId { get; }
  string VariationId { get; }
  bool IsReference { get; }
  string CampaignType { get; }
  string Slug { get; }
  string ToJson();
}

Key\Property	Type	Description
CampaignId	string	ID of the campaign
VariationGroupId	string
VariationId	string	The variation ID assigned to the visitor
IsReference	boolean	Specify if its the reference variation
CampaignType	string	campaign type
Slug	string	campaign slug
ToJson	function	Return a Json of current metadata

Report a Flag exposure

VisitorExposed function

By default when the method GetValue() is called, The SDK considers that the visitor have seen the effect of your Flag, unless you pass false to GetValue(). In this case you will have to call VisitorExposed().

There are two ways for exposing a visitor to a flag:

1. Pass an visitorExposed=true parameter to the GetValue() method.

2. Use the following VisitorExposed() method from the Flag instance.

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true)
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();
  
  await visitor.FetchFlags();

//Get flag displayVipFeature
var flag = visitor.GetFlag("displayVipFeature", false);

var flagValue = flag.GetValue(false);

//Report a flag exposure
await flag.VisitorExposed();

• Task VisitorExposed()

Tells Flagship the visitor have been exposed and have seen this flag. This will increment the visits for the current variation on your campaign reporting. No visitor exposure will be sent if the Flag doesn't exist or if the default value type do not correspond to the Flag type in Flagship.

Check if a Flag exists

Exists property

This method will return true if a Flag exists in Flagship

• bool Exists { get; }

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true)
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();
  
  await visitor.FetchFlags();

//Get flag displayVipFeature
var flag = visitor.GetFlag("displayVipFeature", false);

var isDisplayVipFeature = flag.Exists();

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.

There are 2 ways to set visitor consent :

1. Set HasConsented to true when creating a new visitor

2. Use SetConsent method of visitor instance

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor("<VISITOR_ID>")
  .IsAuthenticated(true)
  .HasConsented(true) // set hasConsented to true
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["isVIP"] = true,
    ["country"] = "NL",
    ["loginProvider"] = "Google"
    })
  .Build();

// or use setConsent method
visitor.SetConsent(true);

SetConsent function

Set if visitor has consented for protected data usage.

• void SetConsent(bool hasConsented)

Argument	Type	Default	Description
hasConsented	boolean	required	Set visitor consent for private data usage. When false some features will be deactivated.

hasConsented property

Return True if the visitor has consented for private data usage, otherwise return False.

• bool HasConsented { get; }

Experience Continuity

Dealing with anonymous and logged-in visitors, Experience continuity allows you to maintain consistency between sessions and devices.

🚧

Make sure that the experience continuity option is enabled on the flagship platform before using those methods.

Authenticate

There are 2 ways to authenticate a visitor:

1. Set IsAuthenticated to true when creating a new visitor

2. Use Authenticate of method of Visitor instance

Authenticate anonymous visitor

• void Authenticate(string visitorId)

Argument	Type	Default	Description
visitorId	string	required	id of the new authenticated visitor.

🚧

Because we have changed the visitor data, we have to call the fetchFlags method after calling this one to update the decision from Flagship.

The targeting / Flags could be different for the visitor.

Unauthenticate

This function change authenticated Visitor to anonymous visitor

• void Unauthenticate()

🚧

Because we have changed the visitor datas, we have to call the fetchFlags method after calling this one to update the decision from Flagship.

The targeting / Flags could be different for the visitor.

Code example

Let's assume basic scenario to understand how things work:

1. Your visitor arrives on your app for the first time

We need to initialize the visitor but as we don't known anything about this visitor, we'll create a random visitor id or let the SDK do it for us. You can also specify some visitor context if necessary.

using Flagship.Main;

//...

var visitor = Fs.NewVisitor()
  .WithContext(new Dictionary<string, object> {
    ["key"] = "value"
    })
  .Build();

visitor.FetchFlags()

Here we don't set visitorId property so the SDK has auto-created an id for our visitor.

Regardless of how it has been set, the actual visitor id will be what we call the anonymous id.

2. Your visitor is signing in.

To tell the SDK about this status modification, you'll have to call the authenticate function which takes the required visitor id as argument.

// Example 
// You fetch the visitor_id from your DB
// let visitorId = db.getUserId();

visitor.Authenticate("VISITOR_ID_ALREADY_KNOWN_BY_FLAGSHIP");

// Since your visitor has changed (is now logged-in)
// You have to check if the proper targeting and flags are set

visitor.FetchFlags()

The visitor is updated as authenticated, keeping the previous variations from campaigns that are still matched and thus gives you same flags as before being logged in.

📘

Keep in mind that if the visitor also has its context changed, you might still have changes on flags as your visitor might target new campaigns.

3. Your visitor decide to sign out.

If you want to keep the same visitor experience, then you should do:

visitor.Unauthenticate();

// Since your visitor has changed (is now logged-out)
// You have to check if the proper targeting and flags are set

visitor.FetchFlags();

Hit Tracking

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

There are five different types of Hits available:

Class	Description
Page	Visitor has seen a URL.
Screen	Visitor has seen a screen.
Transaction	Visitor has made a transaction.
Item	Item bought in a transaction.
Event	Visitor has made a specific action.

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

await visitor.SendHit(new Screen("abtastylab"));

sendHit function

Send Hit to Flagship servers for reporting.

• Task SendHit(HitAbstract hit)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
hit	HitAbstract	required	Hit to send. see Hit

Hit common optional parameters

await visitor.SendHit(new Screen("abtastylab")
{
  UserIp = "127.0.0.1",
  ScreenResolution=  "800X600",
  Locale = "fr",
  SessionNumber = "1234"
  });

Parameter	Type	Description
UserIp	string	(Optional) visitor IP
ScreenResolution	string	(Optional) Screen resolution.
Locale	string	(Optional) visitor language
SessionNumber	string	(Optional) Session number

Page

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

await visitor.SendHit(new Page("https://www.my_domain_com/my_page"));

• Constructor

Params	Type	Description
documentLocation	string	Valid url.

• A hit of type Page has this following structure:

Property	Type	Description
DocumentLocation	string	Valid url.

Screen

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

await visitor.SendHit(new Screen("home_screen"));

• Constructor

Params	Type	Description
documentLocation	string	Screen name.

• A hit of type Screen has this following structure:

Property	Type	Description
DocumentLocation	string	Screen name.

Transaction

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

await visitor.SendHit(new Transaction("#12345", "affiliation")
{
  Taxes = 19.99,
  Currency = "USD",
  CouponCode = "code",
  ItemCount = 1,
  ShippingMethod = "road",
  ShippingCosts = 5,
  PaymentMethod = "credit_card",
  TotalRevenue = 199.99
  });

• Constructor

Params	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

• A hit of type Transaction has this following structure:

Property	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
TotalRevenue	double	Specifies the total revenue associated with the transaction. This value should include any shipping and/or tax amounts.
ShippingCosts	double	The total shipping cost of your transaction.
ShippingMethod	string	The shipping method for your transaction.
Taxes	double	Specifies the total amount of taxes in your transaction.
Currency	string	Specifies the currency of your transaction. NOTE: This value should be a valid ISO 4217 currency code.
PaymentMethod	string	Specifies the payment method used for your transaction.
ItemCount	int	Specifies the number of items in your transaction.
CouponCode	string	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.

await visitor.SendHit(new Item("#12345", "product", "sku123")
{
  Price = 199.99,
  Quantity = 1,
  Category = "test"
 });

• Constructor

Params	Type	Description
transactionId	string	Unique identifier for your transaction.
name	string	Name of your item.
code	string	Specifies the SKU or item code.

• A hit of type Item has this following structure:

Property	Type	Description
TransactionId	string	Unique identifier for your transaction.
Name	string	Name of your item.
Code	string	Specifies the SKU or item code.
Category	string	Specifies the category that the item belongs to.
Price	double	Specifies the price for a single item/unit.
Quantity	int	Specifies the number of items purchased.

Event

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

await visitor.SendHit(new Event(EventCategory.ACTION_TRACKING, "click")
{
  Label = "label",
  Value = 100,
});

• Constructor

Params	Type	Description
Category	Flagship.Hit.EventCategory	Specifies the category of your event.
Action	string	Event name that will also serve as the KPI that you will have inside your reporting. Learn more

• A hit of type Event has this following structure:

Property	Type	Description
Category	Flagship.Hit.EventCategory	Specifies the category of your event.
Action	string	Event name that will also serve as the KPI that you will have inside your reporting. Learn more
Label	string	Additional description of your event.
Value	uint	(optional) Can be used to evaluate visitor interactions with individual site objects or content items. NOTE: this value must be non-negative.

Managing visitor cache

The aims of the cache management is the response to the following problematic:

• Re-allocation in bucketing mode :

In bucketing mode, the SDK will always keep visitor in variation where he was allocated first, in case of the customer or the dynamic allocation has changed the traffic allocation. Indeed in bucketing mode the assignation is made on local device so changing campaign allocation in the platform would make the visitors see different campaigns.

• Handle offline mode on client side :

With the cache enabled, the SDK will try to retrieve the latest visitor data (campaign assignations) from the cache, also will save all the failed hits and VisitorExposed in order to resend them later.

To use the cache manager the intefaces IVisitorCacheImplementation and IHitCacheImplementation must be implemented through visitorCacheImplementation and hitCacheImplementation properties of configuration.

Visitor Cache

The visitor cache is used to store the visitor data in a database through the Flagship.Cache.IVisitorCacheImplementation interface.

interface IVisitorCacheImplementation
{
  TimeSpan? LookupTimeout { get; set; }
  Task CacheVisitor(string visitorId, JObject data);
  Task<JObject> LookupVisitor(string visitorId);
  Task FlushVisitor(string visitorId);
}

CacheVisitor function

This method is called when the SDK needs to cache visitor information in your database.

• Task CacheVisitor(string visitorId, JObject data)

It has 2 arguments :

Argument	Type	Description
visitorId	string	visitor ID
Data	Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject	visitor data. The JSON object has the follows shape see.

LookupVisitor function

This method is called when the SDK needs to get the visitor information corresponding to visitor ID from your database.

It has to return an JSON object which follows this shape see.

• Task<JObject> LookupVisitor(string visitorId)

It has one argument :

Argument	Type	Description
visitorId	string	visitor ID

FlushVisitor function

This method is called when the SDK needs to erase the visitor information corresponding to visitor ID in your database.

It will be called every time setConsent get false.

• Task FlushVisitor(string visitorId)

It has one argument :

Argument	Type	Description
visitorId	string	visitor ID

📘

• FlushVisitor method will be called every time SetConsent get false.

Visitor Cache format

{
  "Version": 1,
  "Data": {
      "VisitorId": "visitor_1",
      "AnonymousId": null,
      "Consent": true,
      "Context": {
        "qa_getflag": true,
        "fs_client": ".NET",
        "fs_version": "V3"
      },
    "AssignmentsHistory": {
      "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy": "yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"
    },
    "Campaigns": [
      {
        "CampaignId": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
        "VariationGroupId": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
        "VariationId": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
        "IsReference": false,
        "Type": 2,
        "Activated": false,
        "Slug": xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
        "Flags": {
          "key": "value"
        }
      },
      {
        "CampaignId": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
        "VariationGroupId": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
        "VariationId": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
        "IsReference": false,
        "Type": "",
        "Activated": false,
        "Slug": xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
        "Flags": {
          "myAwesomeFeature": 20
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Hit Cache

The hit cache is used to store hits in your database depending on strategy used through the IHitCacheImplementation interface which defines the methods that an object must implement to handle it.

interface IHitCacheImplementation
{
  TimeSpan? LookupTimeout { get; set; }
  Task CacheHit(JObject data);
  Task<JObject> LookupHits();
  Task FlushHits(string[] hitKeys);
  Task FlushAllHits();
}

CacheHit function

This method will be called to cache hits depending on cache strategy used.

• Task CacheHit(JObject data)

It has 2 arguments :

Argument	Type	Description
data	Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject	hit data. The JSON object has the follows shape see.

LookupHits function

This method will be called to load all hits from your database and trying to send them again in the background.

It has to return an JSON object which follows this shape see.

• Task<JObject> LookupHits()

FlushHits function

his method will be called to erase all hits matching the unique Hits ID from your database.

NOTE: It will be called every time SetConsent get false to erase all hits from database for visitor who set consent to false.

• Task FlushHits(string[] hitKeys)

It has one argument :

Argument	Type	Description
hitKeys	string[]	Unique hit IDS

FlushAllHits function

This method will be called to erase all hits in your database without exception.

• Task FlushAllHits()

Hit Cache format

{
    "visitorId:Guid": {
        "version": 1,
        "data": {
            "visitorId": "visitorId",
            "anonymousId": "d7c40c75-1833-4137-a3d0-8a9837e36e79",
            "type": 1,
            "time": "2023-04-06T11:03:51.1885042-05:00",
            "content": {
                "documentLocation": "Screen 1",
                "key": "visitorId:Guid",
                "visitorId": "visitorId",
                "type": 1,
                "ds": "APP",
                "anonymousId": "d7c40c75-1833-4137-a3d0-8a9837e36e79",
                "userIp": null,
                "screenResolution": null,
                "locale": null,
                "sessionNumber": null,
                "createdAt": "2023-04-06T11:03:51.1864852-05:00"
            }
        }
    }
}

📘

• FlushHits method will be called every time setConsent get false.

• Hits older than 4H will be ignored during the resending process.

API reference

Fs class

• Start

• NewVisitor

• Close

• Status

• Config

• Visitor

Visitor class

• UpdateContext

• Context

• ClearContext

• FetchFlags

• GetFlag

• SetConsent

• HasConsented

• Authenticate

• Unauthenticate

• SendHit

Flag class

• GetValue

• Metadata

• VisitorExposed

• Exists

Appendix

Predefined visitor context keys :

The Flagship SDK contains predefined visitor 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 customer.

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

Note: All predefined contexts can be found as static property in Flagship.Enums.PredefinedContext class

SDK constant Name	Description	Context variable name	Type	Auto-set by SDK	Example
DEVICE_LOCALE	Language of the device	sdk_deviceLanguage	String	No	fra
DEVICE_TYPE	Type of the device	sdk_deviceType	DeviceType	No	Mobile
DEVICE_MODEL	Model of the device	sdk_deviceModel	String	No	samsung E1200
LOCATION_CITY	City geolocation	sdk_city	String	No	toulouse
LOCATION_REGION	Region geolocation	sdk_region	String	No	occitanie
LOCATION_COUNTRY	Country geolocation	sdk_country	String	No	France
LOCATION_LAT	Current Latitude	sdk_lat	Double	No	43.623647
LOCATION_LONG	Current Longitude	sdk_long	Double	No	1.445397
IP	IP of the device	sdk_ip	String	No	127.0.0.1
OS_NAME	Name of the OS	sdk_osName	String	YES	ubuntu / centos
OS_VERSION_NAME	Version name of the OS	sdk_osVersionName	String	No	9.0.0
OS_VERSION_CODE	Version code of the OS	sdk_osVersionCode	Number	No	24
CARRIER_NAME	Name of the carrier or mobile virtual network operator	sdk_carrierName	String	No	free
INTERNET_CONNECTION	What is the internet connection	sdk_internetConnection	String	No	5g
APP_VERSION_NAME	Version name of the app	sdk_versionName	String	No	1.1.2-beta
APP_VERSION_CODE	Version code of the app	sdk_versionCode	Number	No	40
INTERFACE_NAME	Name of the interface	sdk_interfaceName	String	No	ProductPage
FLAGSHIP_CLIENT	Flagship SDK client (Reserved)	fs_client	String	Yes	TS
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	visitor_id

📘

To overwrite the keys, use the updateContext method