This document will guide you through the process of Countly SDK installation and it applies to version 23.8.X

The Countly Java SDK supports minimum JDK version 8 (Java 8, JDK 1.8). You can reach the Countly Java SDK here. Also, you can inspect the sample application here to understand how most functionalities work.

Adding the SDK to the Project

SDK is hosted on MavenCentral, more info can be found here and here. To add it, you first have to add the MavenCentral repository. For Gradle you would do it something like this:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }
}

The dependency can be added as:

dependencies {
 implementation "ly.count.sdk:java:23.8.0"
}

Or as:

<dependency>
  <groupId>ly.count.sdk</groupId>
  <artifactId>java</artifactId>
  <version>23.8.0</version>
  <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

SDK Integration

Minimal Setup

Before you can use any functionality, you have to initiate the SDK.

The shortest way to initiate the SDK is with this code snippet:

File targetFolder = new File("d:\\__COUNTLY\\java_test\\");

Config config = new Config("http://YOUR.SERVER.COM", "YOUR_APP_KEY", targetFolder)
  .enableTestMode()
  .setLoggingLevel(Config.LoggingLevel.DEBUG)
  .enableFeatures(Config.Feature.Events, Config.Feature.Sessions, Config.Feature.CrashReporting, Config.Feature.UserProfiles)
  .setDeviceIdStrategy(Config.DeviceIdStrategy.UUID);

Countly.instance().init(config);

Countly.init(targetFolder, config);

This code will initiate the SDK in test mode with logging enabled. Here you would also need to provide your application key and server URL. Please check here for more information on how to acquire your application key (APP_KEY) and server URL.

SDK Logging Mode

The first thing you should do while integrating our SDK is enabling logging. If logging is enabled, then our SDK will print out debug messages about its internal state and encountered problems. These debug messages will be printed to the console.

Set setLoggingLevel on the config object to enable logging:

File targetFolder = new File("d:\\__COUNTLY\\java_test\\");

Config config = new Config("http://YOUR.SERVER.COM", "YOUR_APP_KEY", targetFolder)
  .setLoggingLevel(Config.LoggingLevel.DEBUG)
  .enableFeatures(Config.Feature.Events, Config.Feature.Sessions, Config.Feature.CrashReporting, Config.Feature.UserProfiles)
  .setDeviceIdStrategy(Config.DeviceIdStrategy.UUID);

In case you want to forward the SDK logs to your own logging mechanism, you would have a look at the log listener section.

This logging level would have no influence over the log listener. That would always receive all the printed logs event if the logging level would be set to "OFF".

SDK Data Storage

Countly SDK stores serialized versions of the following classes: InternalConfig, SessionImpl, RequestImpl, CrashImpl, UserImpl & TimedEvents. All those are stored in device memory, in binary form, in separate files with filenames prefixed with [CLY]_.

SDK Notes

Test Mode

To ensure correct SDK behavior, please use Config.enableTestMode() when your app is in development and testing. In test mode, Countly SDK raises RuntimeExceptions whenever is in an inconsistent state. Once you remove Config.enableTestMode() call from your initialization sequence, SDK stops raising any Exceptions and switches to logging errors instead (if logging wasn't specifically turned off). Without having test mode on during development you may encounter some important issues with data consistency in production.

Events

Events in Countly represent some meaningful event user performed in your application within a Session. Please avoid recording everything like all taps or clicks users performed. In case you do, it will be very hard to extract valuable information from generated analytics.

An Event object contains the following data types:

• name, or event key. Required. A unique string that identifies the event.
• count - number of times. Required, 1 by default. Like a number of goods added to the shopping basket.
• sum - sum of something, amount. Optional. Like a total sum of the basket.
• dur - duration of the event. Optional. For example how much time users spent checking out.
• segmentation - some data associated with the event. Optional. It's a Map<String, Object> which can be filled with arbitrary data like {"category": "Pants", "size": "M"}.

Recording Events

The standard way of recording events is through your Countly instance's events interface:

Map<String, Object> segmentation = new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
    put("Time Spent", 60);
    put("Retry Attempts", 60);
}};

Countly.instance().events().recordEvent("purchase", segmentation, 2, 19.98, 35);

The example above results in a new event being recorded in the current session. The event won't be sent to the server right away. Instead, Countly SDK will wait until one of the following happens:

• Config.sendUpdateEachSeconds seconds passed since begin or last update request in case of automatic session control.
• Config.eventsBufferSize events have been already recorded and not sent yet.
• Session.update() have been called by the developer.
• Session.end() have been called by the developer or by Countly SDK in case of automatic session control.

We have provided an example of recording a purchase event below. Here is a quick summary of the information with which each usage will provide us:

• Usage 1: how many times the purchase event occurred.
• Usage 2: how many times the purchase event occurred + the total amount of those purchases.
• Usage 3: how many times the purchase event occurred + from which countries and application versions those purchases were made.
• Usage 4: how many times the purchase event occurred + the total amount, both of which are also available, segmented into countries and application versions.
• Usage 5: how many times the purchase event occurred + the total amount, both of which are also available, segmented into countries and application versions + the total duration of those events.

1. Event key and count

Countly.instance().events().recordEvent("purchase", 1);

2. Event key, count, and sum

Countly.instance().events().recordEvent("purchase", 1, 20.3);

3. Event key and count with segmentation(s)

HashMap<String, Object> segmentation = new HashMap<String, Object>();
segmentation.put("country", "Germany");
segmentation.put("app_version", 1.0);

Countly.instance().events().recordEvent("purchase", segmentation, 1);

4. Event key, count, and sum with segmentation(s)

HashMap<String, Object> segmentation = new HashMap<String, Object>();
segmentation.put("country", "Germany");
segmentation.put("app_version", 1.0);

Countly.instance().events().recordEvent("purchase", segmentation, 1, 34.5);

5. Event key, count, sum, and duration with segmentation(s)

HashMap<String, Object> segmentation = new HashMap<String, Object>();
segmentation.put("country", "Germany");
segmentation.put("app_version", 1.0);

Countly.instance().events().recordEvent("purchase", segmentation, 1, 34.5, 5.3);

Those are only a few examples of what you can do with events. You may extend those examples and use Country, app_version, game_level, time_of_day, and any other segmentation that will provide you with valuable insights.

Timed Events

There is also a special type of Event supported by Countly - timed events. Timed events help you to track long continuous interactions when keeping an Event instance is not very convenient.

The basic use case for timed events is following:

• User starts playing a level "37" of your game, you call Countly.instance().events().startEvent("LevelTime") to start tracking how much time a user spends on this level. Also keep your segmentation values in a map like 

HashMap<String, Object> segmentation = new HashMap<String, Object>();
segmentation.put("level", 37);

• Then, something happens when the user is at that level; for example, the user buys some coins. Along with the regular "Purchase" event, you decide you want to segment the "LevelTime" event with purchase information. While ending the event, you also pass the sum value as the purchase amount to the function call.
• Once the user stops playing, you need to stop this event and call: Countly.instance().events().endEvent("LevelTime",segmentation, 1, 9.99)
• If you decide to cancel the event you can call: Countly.instance().events().cancelEvent("LevelTime")

Once this event is sent to the server, you'll see:

• how much time users spend on each level (duration per level segmentation);
• which levels are generating the most revenue (sum per level segmentation);
• which levels are not generating revenue at all since you don't show ad there (0 sums in level segmentation).

With timed events, there is one thing to keep in mind: you have to end timed event for it to be recorded. Without endEvent("LevelTime") call, nothing will happen.

Sessions

Manual Sessions

Session in Countly is a single app launch or several app launches if the time between them is less than 30 seconds (by default). Of course, you can override this behavior.

Session lifecycle methods include:

• session.begin() must be called when you want to send begin session request to the server. This request contains all device metrics: device, model, carrier, etc.
• session.update() can be called to send a session duration update to the server along with any events, user properties, and any other data types supported by Countly SDK. Called each Config.sendUpdateEachSeconds seconds in auto session mode.
• session.end() must be called to mark the end of the session. All the data recorded since the last session.update() or since session.begin() in case no updates have been sent yet, is sent in this request as well.

Device ID Management

A device ID is a unique identifier for your users. You may specify the device ID yourself or allow the SDK to generate it. When providing one yourself, keep in mind that it has to be unique for all users. Some potential sources for such an id may be the users username, email or some other internal ID used by your other systems.

Changing Device ID

The SDK allows you to change the Device ID at any point in time. You can use any of the following two methods to changing the Device ID, depending on your needs.

Changing Device ID with server merge

In case your application authenticates users, you might want to change the ID to the one in your backend after he has logged in. This helps you identify a specific user with a specific ID on a device he logs in, and the same scenario can also be used in cases this user logs in using a different way. In this case, any data stored in your Countly server database associated with the current device ID will be transferred (merged) into the user profile with the device id you specified in the following method call:

Countly.session().changeDeviceIdWithMerge("New Device Id");

Changing Device ID without server merge

You might want to track information about another separate user that starts using your app (changing apps account), or your app enters a state where you no longer can verify the identity of the current user (user logs out). In that case, you can change the current device ID to a new one without merging their data. You would call:

Countly.session().changeDeviceIdWithoutMerge("New Device Id");

Doing it this way, will not merge the previously acquired data with the new id.

Do note that every time you change your deviceId without a merge, it will be interpreted as a new user. Therefore implementing id management in a bad way could inflate the users count by quite a lot.

Retrieving Current Device ID

You may want to see what device id Countly is assigning for the specific device. For that, you may use the following calls. 

Countly.session().getDeviceId()

User Feedback

You can receive feedback from your users with nps, survey and rating feedback widgets.

The rating feedback widget allows users to rate using the 1 to 5 rating system as well as leave a text comment. Survey and nps feedback widgets allow for even more textual feedback from users.

Feedback Widget

It is possible to display 3 kinds of feedback widgets: nps, survey and rating. All widgets have their generated URL to be shown in a web viewer and should be approached using the same methods.

After you have created widgets at your dashboard you can reach their related information as a list, corresponding to the current user's device ID, by providing a callback to the getAvailableFeedbackWidgets method, which returns the list as the first parameter and error as the second:

Countly.instance().feedback().getAvailableFeedbackWidgets((retrievedWidgets, error) -> {
    // handle error
    // do something with the returned list here like pick a widget and then show that widget etc...
});

The objects in the returned list would look like this:

class CountlyFeedbackWidget {
    public String widgetId;
    public FeedbackWidgetType type;
    public String name;
    public String[] tags; 
}

Here all the values are same with the values that can be seen at your Countly server like the widget ID, widget type, widget name and the tags you have passed while creating the widget. Tags can contain information that you would like to have in order to keep track of the widget you have created. Its usage is totally left to the developer.

Potential 'type' values are:

FeedbackWidgetType {survey, nps, rating}

After you have decided which widget you want to show, you would provide that object to the following function as the first parameter. Second is a callback with constructed url to show and error message in case an error occurred:

Countly.instance().feedback().constructFeedbackWidgetUrl(chosenWidget, (constructedUrl, error) -> { 
    // handle error and the constructed url
});

Manual Reporting

There might be some cases where you might want to use the native UI or a custom UI you have created. At those times you would want to request all the information related to that widget and then report the result manually.

Initial steps for manually reporting your widget results, first you would need to retrieve the available widget list with the getAvailableFeedbackWidgets method. After that you would have a list of possible CountlyFeedbackWidget objects. You would pick the widget you want to display and pass that widget object to the function below as the first parameter. Second parameter is a callback that would return the widget data as first parameter and the error as second:

Countly.instance().feedback().getFeedbackWidgetData(chosenWidget, (retrievedWidgetData, error) -> {
    // handle data and error here
});

Here the retrievedWidgetData would yield to a JSON Object with all of the information you would need to present the widget by yourself.

After you have collected the required information from your users with the help of the retrievedWidgetData you have received, you would then package the responses into a Map<String, Object>, and then pass it (reportedResult) together with the widget object you picked from the retrieved widget list (widgetToReport) and the retrievedWidgetData to report the feedback result with the following call:

//this contains the reported results
Map<String, Object> reportedResult = new HashMap<>();

//
// You would fill out the results here. That step is not displayed in this sample check the detailed documentation linked above
//

//report the results to the SDK
Countly.instance().feedback().reportFeedbackWidgetManually(widgetToReport, retrievedWidgetData, reportedResult);

If the user would have closed the widget, you would report that by passing a "null" as the reportedResult.

User Profiles

For information about User Profiles, review this documentation

Setting Predefined Values

The Countly Java SDK allows you to upload specific data related to a user to the Countly server. You may set the following predefined data for a particular user:

• Name: Full name of the user.
• Username: Username of the user.
• Email: Email address of the user.
• Organization: Organization the user is working in.
• Phone: Phone number.
• Picture: Picture path for the user’s profile.
• Gender: Gender of the user (use only single char like ‘M’ for Male and ‘F’ for Female).
• BirthYear: Birth year of the user.

The SDK allows you to upload user details using the methods listed below.

To set standard properties, call respective methods of UserEditor:

Countly.api().user().edit()
  .setName("Firstname Lastname")
  .setUsername("nickname")
  .setEmail("test@test.com")
  .setOrg("Tester")
  .setPhone("+123456789")
  .commit();

Setting Custom Values

To set custom properties, call set(). To send modification operations, call the corresponding method:

Countly.api().user().edit()
  .set("mostFavoritePet", "dog")
  .inc("phoneCalls", 1)
  .pushUnique("tags", "fan")
  .pushUnique("skill", "singer")
  .commit();

Other Features and Notes

SDK Config Parameters Explained

These are the methods that lets you set values in your Countly config object:

• setUpdateSessionTimerDelay(int delay) - Sets the interval for the automatic session update calls. The delay can not be smaller than 1 sec.
• setEventQueueSizeToSend() - Sets the threshold for event grouping.
• setSdkPlatform(String platform) - Sets the SDK platform if it is used in multiple platforms. Default value is OS name.
• setRequiresConsent(boolean requiresConsent) - Enable GDPR compliance by disallowing SDK to record any data until corresponding consent calls are made. Default is false.
• setMetricOverride(Map<String, String> metricOverride) - Mechanism for overriding metrics that are sent together with "begin session" requests and remote.
• setApplicationVersion(String version) - Change application version reported to Countly server.
• setApplicationName(String name) - Change application name reported to Countly server.
• setLoggingLevel(LoggingLevel loggingLevel) - Logging level for Countly SDK. Default is OFF.
• enableParameterTamperingProtection(String salt) - Enable parameter tampering protection.
• setRequestQueueMaxSize(int requestQueueMaxSize) - In backend mode set the in memory request queue size. Default is 1000.
• enableForcedHTTPPost() - Force usage of POST method for all requests.
• setCustomDeviceId(String customDeviceId) - Set device id to specific string and strategy to DeviceIdStrategy.CUSTOM_ID.
• setLogListener(LogCallback logCallback) - Add a log callback that will duplicate all logs done by the SDK.

Setting Event Queue Threshold

Events get grouped together and are sent either every minute or after the unsent event count reaches a threshold. By default it is 10. If you would like to change this, call:

config.setEventQueueSizeToSend(6);

Custom Metrics

During some specific circumstances, like beginning a session or requesting remote config, the SDK is sending device metrics.

It is possible for you to either override the sent metrics (like the application version for some specific variant) or provide either your own custom metrics. If you are providing your own custom metrics, you would need your own custom plugin server-side which would interpret it appropriately. If there is no plugin to handle those custom values, they will be ignored.

Map<String, String> metricOverride = new HashMap<>();
metricOverride.put("SomeKey", "123");
metricOverride.put("_locale", "xx_yy");

Config config = new Config(COUNTLY_SERVER_URL, COUNTLY_APP_KEY)
    .setMetricOverride(metricOverride);

Countly.init(targetFolder, config);

For more information on the specific metric keys used by Countly, check here.

Log Listener

To listen to the SDK's internal logs, you can call setLogListener on the Config Object. If set, SDK will forward its internal logs to this listener regardless of SDK's loggingLevel .

config.setLogListener(new LogCallback() {
        @Override
        public void LogHappened(String logMessage, Config.LoggingLevel logLevel) {
           //print log
        }
});

Backend Mode

The SDK provides a special mode to transfer data to your Countly Server, called 'Backend Mode'. This mode disables the regular API of the SDK and offers an alternative interface to record user data. This alternative approach would be useful when integrated in backend scenarios or when importing data into countly from a different source.

Data recorded with this mode is kept in memory queues and is not stored persistently. This means that any data, that was not yet sent to the server when the app is closed/killed, will be lost.

Enabling Backend Mode

To enable Backend Mode you should create a config class and call enableBackendModeon this object, and later you should pass it to the init method.

Config config = new Config("http://YOUR.SERVER.COM", "YOUR_APP_KEY")
  .enableBackendMode()
  .setRequestQueueMaxSize(500)
  .setLoggingLevel(Config.LoggingLevel.DEBUG);

Countly.init(targetFolder, config);

If the Backend Mode is enabled the SDK stores up to a maximum of 1000 requests by default. Then when this limit is exceeded the SDK will drop the oldest request from the queue in the memory. To change this request queue limit, call setRequestQueueMaxSize on the Configobject before the SDK init.

Recording Data

In order to record data using the SDK, users are required to provide a device ID and may optionally include a timestamp, specified in milliseconds. It is important to note that the device ID is a mandatory field and cannot be set to null or omitted.

It is also worth noting that if a timestamp value is not provided or is less than 1, the SDK will automatically update the value to the current time, specified in milliseconds. This ensures that all recorded data is accurately timestamped and prevents data duplication.

Recording an Event

You may record as many events as you want.

There are a couple of values that can be set when recording an event. 

• deviceID- Device id is mandatory, it can not be empty or null.
• key- This is the main property which would be the identifier/name for that event. It is mandatory and it can not be empty or null.
• count - A whole positive numerical number value that marks how many times this event has happened. It is optional and if it is provided and its value is less than 1, SDK will automatically set it to 1.
• sum - This value will be summed up across all events in the dashboard. It is optional you may set it null.
• duration - This value is used for recording and tracking the duration of events. Set it to 0 if you don't want to report any duration.
• segmentation - A map where you can provide custom data for your events to track additional information. It is not a mandatory field, so you may set it to null or empty. It is a map that consists of key and value pairs. The accepted data types for the values are "String", "Integer", "Double", and "Boolean". All other types will be ignored.

Example:

Map<String, String> segment = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
put("Time Spent", "60");
put("Retry Attempts", "60");
}};

Countly.backendMode().recordEvent("device-id", "Event Key", 1, 10.5, 5, segment, 1646640780130L);

Note: Device ID and 'key' both are mandatory. The event will not be recorded if any of these two parameters is null or empty. 

Recording a View

You may record views by providing the view details in segmentation with a timestamp.

There are a couple of values that can be set when recording an event. 

• deviceID - Device id is mandatory, if it is null or empty data will not be recorded. 
• name - It is the name of the view and it must not be empty or null.
• segmentation - A map where you can provide custom data for your view to track additional information. It is not a mandatory field, you may set it to null or leave it empty. It is a map of key/value pairs and the accepted data types are "String", "Integer", "Double", and "Boolean". All other types will be ignored.
• timestamp - It is time in milliseconds. It is not mandatory, and you may set it to null.

Example:

Map<String, String> segmentation = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
put("visit", "1");
put("segment", "Windows");
put("start", "1");
}};

Countly.backendMode().recordView("device-id", "SampleView", segmentation, 1646640780130L);

Note: Device ID and 'name' both are mandatory. The view will not be recorded if any of these two parameters is null or empty.

Recording a Crash

To report exceptions provide the following detail:

• deviceID - Device id is mandatory, and if it is null or not provided no data will be recorded. 
• message -  This is the main property which would be the identifier/name for that event. It should not be null or empty.
• stacktrace -  A string that describes the contents of the call stack. It is mandatory, and should not be null or empty.
• segmentation - A map where you can provide custom data for your view to track additional information. It is not a mandatory field, so you may set it to null or leave it empty. It is a map of key/value pairs and the accepted data types are "String", "Integer", "Double", and "Boolean". All other types will be ignored.
• crashDetail - It is not a mandatory field, so you may set it to null or leave it empty. It is a map of key/value pairs. To know more about crash parameters, click here.
• timestamp - It is time in milliseconds. It is not mandatory, and you may set it to null.

Map<String, String> segmentation = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
    put("login page", "authenticate request");
}};
Map<String, String> crashDetails = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
    put("_os", "Windows 11");
    put("_os_version", "11.202");
    put("_logs", "main page");
}};

Countly.backendMode().recordException("device-id", "message", "stacktrace", segmentation, crashDetails, null);

You may also pass an instance of an exception instead of the message and the stack trace to record a crash.

For example:

Map<String, String> segmentation = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
    put("login page", "authenticate request");
}};
Map<String, String> crashDetails = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
    put("_os", "Windows 11");
    put("_os_version", "11.202");
    put("_logs", "main page");
}};
try {
    int a = 10 / 0;
} catch (Exception e) {
    Countly.backendMode().recordException("device-id", e, segmentation, crashDetails, null);
}

Note: Throwable is a mandatory parameter, the crash will not be recorded if it is null.

Recording Sessions

To start a session please provide the following details:

• deviceID - Device id is mandatory, if it is null or empty data will not be recorded. 
• metrics - It is a map that contains device and app information as key-value pairs.  It can be null or empty and the accepted data type for the pairs is "String".
• location - It is not a mandatory field, so you may set it to null or leave it empty. It is a map of key/value pairs and the accepted keys are "city", "country_code", "ip_address", and "location".
• timestamp - It is time in milliseconds. It is not mandatory, and you may set it to null.

Example:

Map<String, String> metrics = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
    put("_os", "Android");
    put("_os_version", "10");
    put("_app_version", "1.2");
}};
Map<String, String> location = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
    put("ip_address", "192.168.1.1");
    put("city", "Lahore");
    put("country_code", "PK");
    put("location", "31.5204,74.3587");
}};

Countly.backendMode().sessionBegin("device-id", metrics, location, 1646640780130L);

Note: In above example '_os', '_os_version' and '_app_version' are predefined metrics keys. To know more about metrics, click here.

To update or end a session please provide the following details:

• deviceID - Device id is mandatory, if it is null or empty no action will be taken. 
• duration - It is the duration of a session, you may pass 0 if you don't want to submit a duration.
• timestamp - It is time in milliseconds. It is not mandatory, and you may set it to null.

Session update:

double duration = 60;
Countly.backendMode().sessionUpdate("device-id", duration, null);

Session end:

double duration = 20;
Countly.backendMode().sessionEnd("device-id", duration, 1223456767L);

Note: Java SDK automatically sets the duration to 0 if you have provided a value that is less than 0.

Recording User Properties

If you want to record some user information the SDK lets you do so by passing data as user details and custom properties. 

• deviceID - Device id is mandatory, if it is null or empty no data will be recorded. 
• userProperties - It is a map of key/value pairs and it should not be null or empty. The accepted data types as a value are "String", "Integer", "Double", and "Boolean". All other types will be ignored.
• timestamp - It is time in milliseconds. It is not mandatory, and you may set it to null.

For example:

Map<String, Object> userDetail = new HashMap<>();
userDetail.put("name", "Full Name");
userDetail.put("username", "username1");
userDetail.put("email", "user@gmail.com");
userDetail.put("organization", "Countly");
userDetail.put("phone", "000-111-000");
userDetail.put("gender", "M");
userDetail.put("byear", "1991");

//custom detail
userDetail.put("hair", "black");
userDetail.put("height", 5.9);
userDetail.put("marks", "{$inc: 1}");

Countly.backendMode().recordUserProperties("device-id", userDetail, 0);

You may also perform certain manipulations to your custom property values, such as incrementing the current value on a server by a certain amount or storing an array of values under the same property.

For example:

Map<String, Object> operation = new HashMap<>();
userDetail.put("fav-colors", "{$push: black}");
userDetail.put("marks", "{$inc: 1}");

Countly.backendMode().recordUserProperties("device-id", userDetail, 0);

The keys for predefined modification operations are as follows:

Map<String, String> requestData = new HashMap<>();
requestData.put("device_id", "device-id-2");
requestData.put("timestamp", "1646640780130");
requestData.put("key-name", "data");

Countly.backendMode().recordDirectRequest("device-id-1", requestData, 1646640780130L);

int queueSize = Countly.backendMode().getQueueSize();