In-app events

Overview

This document is a guide on implementing in-app events in the iOS SDK. For an introduction to in-app events for developers, see in-app events.

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Logging in-app events

The SDK lets you log user actions happening in the context of your app. These are commonly referred to as in-app events.

The logEvent method

The logEvent method lets you log in-app events and send them to AppsFlyer for processing.

AppsFlyerLib exposes logEvent, predefined event name constants and predefined event parameter constants.

logEvent takes 3 arguments:

- (void)logEventWithEventName:(NSString *)eventName
        eventValues:(NSDictionary<NSString * , id> * _Nullable)eventValues
        completionHandler:(void (^ _Nullable)(NSDictionary<NSString *, id> * _Nullable dictionary, NSError * _Nullable error))completionHandler;

• The first argument (eventName) is the event name
• The second argument (eventValues) is the event parameters NSDictionary
• The third argument (completionHandler) is an optional completion handler (useful for Handling event submission success/failure)

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Note

eventValues (second argument) must be a valid NSDictionary. For more information, see Foundation JSONSerialization.

Example: Send "add to wishlist" event

For example, to log that a user added an item to their wishlist:

[[AppsFlyerLib shared]  logEvent: AFEventAddToWishlist withValues: @{
    AFEventParamPrice: @20,
    AFEventParamContentId: @"123456"
}]

AppsFlyerLib.shared().logEvent(AFEventAddToWishlist,
  withValues: [
     AFEventParamPrice: 20,
     AFEventParamContentId: "123456"
]);

In the above logEvent invocation:

• The event name is AFEventAddToWishlist
• The event value is a NSDictionary containing these event parameters:
  • AFEventParamPrice: The item price the user added to their wishlist
  • AFEventParamContentId: The identifier of the added item

Implementing in-app event definitions

Based on the example definition provided in Understanding event structure definitions, the event should be implemented as follows:

[[AppsFlyerLib shared]  logEvent: AFEventContentView withValues: @{
    AFEventParamContentId: <ITEM_SKU>,
    AFEventParamContentType: <ITEM_TYPE>,
    AFEventParamPrice: <ITEM_PRICE>
}]

AppsFlyerLib.shared().logEvent(AFEventAddToCart,
  withValues: [
    AFEventParamContent: <ITEM_NAME>
    AFEventParamContentId: <ITEM_SKU>
    AFEventParamPrice: <ITEM_PRICE>
]);

Handling event submission success and failure

You can pass a completionHandler to logEvent when recording in-app events. The handler allows you to define logic for two scenarios:

• An in-app event recorded successfully
• An error occurred when recording the in-app event

[[AppsFlyerLib shared] logEventWithEventName:AFEventPurchase
        eventValues: @{
          AFEventParamRevenue: @200,
          AFEventParamCurrency: @"USD",
          AFEventParamQuantity: @2,
          AFEventParamContentId: @"092",
          AFEventParamReceiptId: @"9277"
        }
        completionHandler:^(NSDictionary<NSString *,id> * _Nullable dictionary, NSError * _Nullable error){
            if(dictionary != nil) {
                NSLog(@"In app callback success:");
                for(id key in dictionary){
                    NSLog(@"Callback response: key=%@ value=%@", key, [dictionary objectForKey:key]);
                }
            }
            if(error != nil) {
                NSLog(@"In app callback error:", error);
            }
    }];

AppsFlyerLib.shared().logEvent(name: AFEventAddToWishlist,
          values: [
             AFEventParamPrice: 20,
             AFEventParamContentId: "123456"
          ],
          completionHandler: { (response: [String : Any]?, error: Error?) in
            if let response = response {
              print("In app event callback Success: ", response)
            }
            if let error = error {
              print("In app event callback ERROR:", error)
            }
          });

In the event that an error occurs when recording the in-app event, an error code and string description are provided, as indicated in the table that follows.

Recording offline events

The SDK can record events that occur when no internet connection is available. See Offline in-app events for details.

Logging events before calling start

If you initialized the SDK but didn't call start, the SDK will cache in-app events until start is invoked.

If there are multiple events in the cache, they are sent to the server one after another (unbatched, one network request per event).

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Note

If the SDK is initialized, logEvent invocations will call SKAdNetwork's updateConversionValue even if start wasn't called or isStopped is set to true (in both SDK and S2S modes).

Logging revenue

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Note

For events with revenue, including in-app purchases, subscriptions, and ad revenue events, AppsFlyer customers with an ROI360 subscription should avoid using the AFEventParameterRevenue(af_revenue) parameter in their in-app events. Doing so can result in duplicate revenue being reported. Instead, they should utilize the purchase connector and the ad revenue SDK API.

af_revenue is the only event parameter that AppsFlyer counts as real revenue in the dashboard and reports.
You can send revenue with any in-app event. Use the AFEventParameterRevenue constant to include revenue in the in-app event. You can populate it with any numeric value, positive or negative.

The revenue value should not contain comma separators, currency signs, or text. A revenue event should be similar to 1234.56, for example.

Example: Purchase event with revenue

[[AppsFlyerLib shared] logEvent: AFEventPurchase 
withValues:@{
	AFEventParamContentId:@"1234567",
	AFEventParamContentType : @"category_a",
	AFEventParamRevenue: @200,
	AFEventParamCurrency:@"USD"
}];

AppsFlyerLib.shared().logEvent(AFEventPurchase, 
withValues: [
	AFEventParamContentId:"1234567",
	AFEventParamContentType : "category_a",
	AFEventParamRevenue: 200,
	AFEventParamCurrency:"USD"
]);

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Note

Do not add currency symbols to the revenue value.

Configuring revenue currency

You can set the currency code for an event's revenue by using the af_currency predefined event parameter:

[[AppsFlyerLib shared] logEvent: AFEventPurchase
withValues:@{
	AFEventParamRevenue: @200,
	AFEventParamCurrency:@"USD"
}];

AppsFlyerLib.shared().logEvent(AFEventPurchase, 
withValues: [
	AFEventParamRevenue: 200,
	AFEventParamCurrency:"USD"
]);

• The currency code should be a 3 character ISO 4217 code
• The default currency is USD

To learn about currency settings, display, and currency conversion, see our guide on revenue currency.

Logging negative revenue

There may be situations where you want to record negative revenue. For example, a user receives a refund or cancels a subscription.

To log negative revenue:

[[AppsFlyerLib shared] logEvent: @"cancel_purchase" 
withValues:@{
	AFEventParamContentId:@"1234567",
	AFEventParamContentType : @"category_a",
	AFEventParamRevenue: @-1.99,
	AFEventParamCurrency:@"USD"
}];

AppsFlyerLib.shared().logEvent("cancel_purchase", 
withValues: [
	AFEventParamContentId:"1234567",
	AFEventParamContentType : "category_a",
	AFEventParamRevenue: -1.99,
	AFEventParamCurrency:"USD"
]);

Notice the following in the code above:

• The revenue value is preceded by a minus sign
• The event name is a custom event called cancel_purchase - that's how the marketer identifies negative revenue events in the dashboard and raw-data reports

Validating purchases

AppsFlyer provides server verification for in-app purchases. For more information see Validate and log purchase

Event constants

Predefined event names

Predefined event name constants follow a AFEventEventName naming convention. For example, AFEventAddToCart.

Predefined event parameters

Predefined event parameter constants follow a AFEventParamParameterName naming convention. For example, AFEventParamRevenue.