Help Doc - Data Sources

[manish_dixit]

Is there any user guide or help doc available on how to use different types of data sources in Tealium: Data Object, Java Script Variable, Meta Tag, Cookie & Query String Parameter. Any best practices help doc.

[dan_george · Accepted solution]

Hi Manish, There is not any type of document but the idea is for the Data Sources tab to be a location where users can easily declare any type of variable and have it used and managed the same way throughout the UI. You only need to state the variable name and then select the appropriate type from the drop-down list. Meta Tag and Query String Parameter variable are always type "string". Data Object and Javascript Page Variables can be either type "string" or "array" so that is something that needs to be kept in mind while managing the data in Extensions. Cookie Value data is usually in type "string" format though it can be in other formats as well such as "object". Understanding the value you are working with is important when editing the data as, for example, strings use different JS methods than arrays. Though if you just need to read the data and directly pass it to a tag vendor then the tag templates automatically handle the format of the data you have declared. Please let me know if this is the type of answer you are looking for.

[Clint]

Additional reading on data sources: Data Sources Tab: https://community.tealiumiq.com/t5/Getting-Started/Data-Layer-Tab/ta-p/9427 Universal Data Object Guide: https://community.tealiumiq.com/t5/Getting-Started/Universal-Data-Object-Guide/ta-p/159 To follow on Dan's comments, as a best practice we recommend that business-critical data always be stored in the Universal Data Object, unless it needs to be persistent data in which case it should be stored in a cookie. JavaScript, Query String Parameter and Meta Data types tend to be used as ancillary or convenience data sources for additional behavior attributes or for when business-critical data is stored in one of those variable types and for some reason it is not possible to add it to the UDO.