Live Events and Feeds

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Live Events and Feeds are used to manage and inspect incoming data. This article shows how to inspect incoming event data, create and manage feeds, and evaluate data quality.

This article covers the following topics:

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About Live Events

Live Events shows data coming into the Customer Data Hub in real-time. The Live Events chart displays events coming from all data sources and all event feeds. Each bar in the chart has a height to indicate the volume of events detected. Click a bar to inspect the details of a sampling of those events. If you have active event specifications, the chart reflects the quality of the incoming data with green and red segments to represent valid and invalid events, respectively.

Using Live Events

Access Live Events by navigating to EventStream > Live Events.

You control which events are displayed in the chart using the Data Sources and Event Feeds drop-down menus. The default selections are "All Data Sources" and "All Events". Adjusting these menus refreshes the chart and displays the event activity for the selected combination.

If you select a specific event for Event Feed, Live Events displays data for that event only.  To compare an event feed to all event data, click Compare against All Events. For example, you can create event feeds for specific countries or regions, then compare a country or region event feed to all events.

Using a Trace ID

Use a Trace ID to filter out all incoming events except for the ones you trigger. A Trace ID is a temporary, unique identifier to be inserted into your event tracking code (or the Trace Tool) so that only specific events are displayed in Live Events. This is commonly used for testing purposes. 

To set up a trace:

1. Click Trace ID.
   The trace options modal displays.
2. Click Start Trace and follow the instructions.
3. Copy the generated Trace ID and click Continue.
4. Open a new Chrome browser window with the page to test.
5. Open Tealium Tools > Trace and enter the Trace ID.
   The Live Events now shows only events triggered during your traced session. You can start a new trace or rejoin an existing trace following the same steps. 

Event Specification Filters

If you have event specifications defined, Live Events displays the quality of your incoming data. Each bar in the chart is segmented according to the status of the event specifications applied. The following filters can be toggled on or off to adjust the display of the chart:

• Valid
  "Valid" events satisfy the requirements of an active event specification. This means that the events have a known value for the tealium_event attribute and all the required attributes from the specification. The more valid events you see the better. This means your installations are sending the data expected in your specifications.
• Invalid
  "Invalid" events match an event specification, but do not have the required attributes. This means that the events have a known value for the tealium_event attribute, but they are either missing required attributes or the attributes contain unexpected values. These issues can be resolved by fixing the installation code that is sending the events or, in some cases, adjusting the event specification.
• No Spec
  Events marked as "No Spec" do not have a matching event specification. This means that the events either do not have the tealium_event attribute or the value does not have a corresponding event specification. 

Viewing Event Details

Click a bar in the chart to view the event details from an incoming data sample. The data sample is limited to 10 events per bar in the chart. Events are primarily identified by the tealium_event attribute. The detected value of this attribute is displayed in the heading of the event detail. If tealium_event has a corresponding event specification, the event is displayed as either valid or invalid according to the requirements in the specification. The heading also displays the data source from which the event originated.

The event attribute details are organized into the following attribute types: Universal Variable, JavaScript Page Variable, HTML Metadata, First-party Cookie, Query String Parameter, and Tealium-provided.  

Defining Unknown Attributes

An unknown attribute is an attribute detected in the incoming event that has not yet been created in your account as an event attribute with a data type (eg. string, number, Boolean, etc.). Before you can use an attribute in your account, it must be created as an event attribute.

In the event details view, unknown attributes are indicated in the Data Type column as "Unknown".

Unknown attributes can be defined directly from this screen by using the Quick Add action, as follows:

1. Next to an "Unknown" attribute, click the more options icon and then click Quick Add.
2. Select the desired data type.
3. Click Define.
   The attribute now displays its new data type.

Previewing and Activating Event Specifications

A standard set of built-in event specifications are available to be added to your configuration. If an incoming event matches a built-in event specification that has not yet been activated, you can preview and activate the event from the event detail view.

To preview and activate a matching built-in specification:

1. Click Preview Event Spec.
   The event attributes changes to display a preview of the attributes required for that specification. This shows you how your event compares to the built-in specification.
2. Click Create Event Specification.
   The Add Event Specification modal appears.
3. Enter notes and adjust any additional attributes to be included.
4. Click Finish.
5. Publish your account to view the new specification applied to incoming events.

Creating Custom Event Specifications

Events with a custom value for tealium_event display as "Unknown" in the event details view if they do not have an associated event specification. When this occurs, you can create a custom event specification directly from the event details view based on the detected value of tealium_event and the attributes of the event.

To create a custom event specification for an unknown event:

1. Click Create Event Specification.
   All event attributes from the active event are pre-populated in the event specification.
2. Set the name of the specification (the value expected in tealium_event).
3. Set the Data Type for all unknown attributes.
4. Adjust the list of attributes as desired:
   
   • Add more attributes by clicking +Add Attribute.
   • Remove pre-populated attributes by clicking the Remove button.
   • Mark attributes as required or optional.
5. Click Finish.
6. Save and publish your account.

About Event Feeds

Event feeds are groups of events that match specific conditions based on their attributes. Feeds can be sent to connectors or a data storage solution such as EventDB or EventStore. The default event feed is named "All Events" and displays all incoming events. The default feed cannot be edited or deleted; however, additional feeds can be created to identify subsets of events based on their attributes.

Event Feed Details

By default, event feeds are listed in alphabetical order with "All Events" listed at the top. The list displays the following information:

• Total Volume – The total number of events detected from all data sources over the last 30 days.
• Assigned Actions – The number of connector actions linked to the feed.
• EventStore – Indicates if the feed is enabled for EventStore.
• EventDB – Indicates if the feed is enabled for EventDB.

From the list of event feeds, click a feed to view the details. The details display the following:

• Feed Activity Chart – The number of events detected from all data sources over the selected time range.
• Conditions – The logic used to identify events in the feed.
• Assigned Actions – The connector actions linked to the feed.

Creating Event Feeds

Use the following steps to create an event feed:

1. In the sidebar, go to EventStream > Live Events.
2. Click + Add Event Feed.
   The Create Event Feed dialog displays.
3. Set the Title and Notes.
4. (Optional) Add Labels.
5. Enable the feed for EventStore or EventDB.
   This setting requires your account to be enabled for DataAccess.
6. Set the conditions for the feed.
   
7. Click Save.
8. Save and publish your account.