Tealium mobile app implementation

[marcel_beerden]

I've got a question regarding the mobile app implementation. One of our customer has the Tealium SDK in place for android devices. They are sending data towards Sitecatalyst.

It seem that on the starting page a custom link track is sent, while there should be a pageview.

My question. How are pageviews and linktracks handled within the SDK?

If this is handled in Tealium can we block the custom linktrack and send a pageview instead?

This has some prio while this is already runnin on their production environment.

Yours,

Marcel

[chad_hartman · Accepted solution]

All versions of the SDK allow for distinction between view and link calls. Since you can identify the differences between the calls, you can definitely modify the load rules using Tealium to route those calls to the correct SiteCatalist mapping. As for how to go about it, we'd need to connect you with a Solutions Engineer to address the specifics.

[marcel_beerden]

Hi Chad,

Yes please, if you can connect me with a solutions engineer that would be nice. It's good to understand how pageviews and linktracks are trigged from an app, and handled within Tealium.

[jared_hislop]

Marcel,

The SDK is currently triggering a link event for Tealium, which is in turn triggering a custom link event for SiteCatalyst. In order to "switch" this event to a view event an extension will need to be set up to change the Tealium event variable ("a") from "link" to "view."

That is confusing, I know. So I would recommend reaching out to your Account Manager and she will pull in a Solutions Engineer to help get this resolved.

The extension would look something like:

if(event_type="first page"){
a="view";
}

[marcel_beerden]

Hi Jared,

Thanks for the solution direction. I think I can create such a solution, that would not be a problem. Just needed to have the pointer and to know how the SDK is triggering the link event.

I will try to setup the extension and try to launch pageviews based on the event_type.

If this won't work, I'll contact the account manager and see if I can get connected with a solutions engineer.

Thanks!

[jared_hislop]

Marcel,

event_type was just an example in this situation. I would need Chad Hartman to help identify the variable that should be used to distinguish the various events.

I think the proper variable would be "call_eventtype" and "lifecycle_type."

On launch of the app these are the values:
- call_eventtype = lifecycle
- lifecycle_type = launch

On wake of the app:
- call_eventtype = lifecycle
- lifecycle_type = wake

On sleep of the app:
- call_eventtype = lifecycle
- lifecycle_type = sleep

If these are the events you are trying to target then the extension would look like:

if(b.call_eventtype=="lifecycle" && (b.lifecycle_type=="sleep" || b.lifecycle_type=="wake" || b.lifecycle_type=="launch")){
a="view";
}

Hope that helps get you a little further. See this post with more information about what variables are available during specific events:

Mobile 310: Data Sources - 5.x

[chad_hartman]

I would have thought it a simple load rule/mapping combination, for example:

if link_id equals "starting page" then
map link_id to page_name

[marcel_beerden]

Hi Jared,

Thanks. I would like to identify an event based on the pagen.name is part of the request.

I cannot attach a file to this ele I could share the information I see in the request sent to SiteCat.

So I would like to have a condition lie this:

if(event == "appstart" && page.name == "utopia/appstart") {
a = "view";
}

Maybe 1 thing, maybe Chad can anwer this: how is a regular event triggered from within the SDK?

[chad_hartman]

Depends on the Library, if Full, then when an Activity appears or when a ui event (such as a button press) occurs. Otherwise when programmed in addition to automatically generated LifeCycle events.

[jared_hislop]

Chad Hartman Unfortunately this doesn't sound as simple as a Mapping problem. SiteCatalyst has two different function calls that sends tracking:

s.t() - Page View Tracking
s.tl() - Event / Click Tracking

Our template is designed so that whenever utag.view is called we trigger s.t(). Whenever utag.link is called we trigger s.tl(). Each SC tracking request has a different purpose / functionality.

Correct me if I'm wrong Marcel, but it sounds like because we are calling the utag.link equivalent in the SDK, the template is calling s.tl() (custom event tracking) when Marcel is expecting it to call s.t().

This is why we need to change the type of "event" Tealium is calling by changing the "a" variable.

[marcel_beerden]

Hi Jared,

You are correct. The problem is in the calling of the s.tl(); where we would like to se the s.t(); on specific pages to measure pageviews based on the page.name.

[marcel_beerden]

Hi Jared,

I will check if I can create a solution for this problem tomorrow. I keep you updated though this topic.

Thanks!