Create a Data Collection Action

In some cases when you trigger an action, you might not want to alter your site's content while still retaining the customer data involved with the action. In these cases, you can perform a data collection action.

You can set up a handler for a data collection action by using two methods. The addEvents method defines the events that can trigger the action. The getActionsData method is then used as the trigger and requests the decision based on the defined events. getActionsData then returns a JSON object containing customer data.

While this data does not affect your site's content, you can use it for other cases elsewhere in code.

addEvent

This method adds a local event to the SDK's internal stack.

public void addEvent(String context, Object event)

Parameters:

  • context is name of the event. (Required)
  • event is the event data. (Required)

You can use this method multiple times to add all the necessary events for an experience you might want to trigger. The example code uses multiple method calls to fulfill the experience requirements:

personalization.addEvent(EventTypes.ContextIpAddress, ipAddress);
personalization.addEvent(EventTypes.ContextPageView, pageView);
personalization.addEvent(EventTypes.ContextScreenSize, screenSize);

getActionsData

This method sends the defined events to Monetate to trigger an experience. If the events fulfill the WHO settings of an experience, then that experience is triggered. A JSON object containing the experience response is then returned.

public String getActionsData(String[] actionTypes, boolean includeReports)

Parameters:

  • actionTypes is the type of action you want to request. You can specify one action or multiple actions in an array to handle.
  • includeReports indicates whether the response will have impression reporting data.

Use DataCollection as the action type for this method.

includeReports must be set to true for this method to return data.

responseData = personalization.getActionsData(new String[]{"monetate:action:DataCollection"},true);

Full Code Example

Complete code example blocks are listed below.

// Events and context data
IpAddress ipAddress = new IpAddress();
ipAddress.setIpAddress("1.0.0.0");
ScreenSize screenSize = new ScreenSize();
screenSize.setHeight(1011);
screenSize.setWidth(2011);
PageView pageView = new PageView();
pageView.setPageType("homepage");
pageView.setUrl("https://www.monetate.com");

// addEvent
personalization.addEvent(EventTypes.ContextIpAddress, ipAddress);
personalization.addEvent(EventTypes.ContextPageView, pageView);
personalization.addEvent(EventTypes.ContextScreenSize, screenSize);

//getActionsData
String responseData;
new Thread(new Runnable()
{
  @Override
  public void run()
  {
    // Gets the responseData using getActionsData
    responseData = personalization.getActionsData(new String[]{"monetate:action:DataCollection"}, true);
    // Once you receive the responseData from getActionsData, use the Handler and parse the required data from it 
    new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper()).post(new Runnable()
    {
      @Override
      public void run()
      {
        // Parse the received responseData, get the requiredData from it and use it accordingly
        try
        {
          
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
          // Catch any exception that occurs while parsing 
          ex.printStackTrace();
        }
      }
    });
  }
}).start();

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