Avo Codegen in Objective-C

Platforms

Avo can code generate Avo Codegen in Objective-C for your iOS tracking.

Quickstart

Avo Codegen usage consists of 4 steps.

Step 1. Include the Avo file

Pull the generated code with the Avo CLI

To get the Avo generated Objective-C file you must be a member of an Avo workspace with an Objective-C source. Ask for an invite from a colleague or create a new workspace.

npm install -g avo
avo login
avo pull --branch my-branch-name

pnpm add -g avo
avo login
avo pull --branch my-branch-name

yarn global add avo
avo login
avo pull --branch my-branch-name

bun add --global avo
avo login
avo pull --branch my-branch-name

Learn more about the CLI here.

You can also download the file manually from your Avo workspace.

Step 2. Initialize Avo

Initialize Avo by creating an object using constructor from the generated Avo file

val avo = Avo(env: .dev/*, other parameters depending on your tracking plan setup*/)

[Avo initAvoWithEnv:AVOEnvDev
        /*other parameters depending on your tracking plan setup*/];

The actual parameters depend on your tracking plan setup, see the parameters explanation in the reference below.

Step 3. Call Avo Codegen to track your product usage

Every event in your tracking plan, marked with the “Implement with Codegen” checkbox, gets a function in the generated code, named according to the event name, in camelCase.

For example, if you have a “Signup Start” event defined like this in Avo:

Event 'Signup Start' defined in Avo with referral string property and implement with Codegen check

You’ll be able to call it like this from the generated code

[Avo signupStartWithReferral:@"direct"];

Notice, that you are not passing the System property with the call. System properties are defined on the init step and then automatically included with all events. You can update the system properties with setSystemProperties... function.

Step 4. Verify the implementation

Use the Implementation status in your Avo workspace and the Avo Inspector to verify that your implementation is correct. If you don’t want to use Avo Inspector you can use the standalone visual debugger.

Reference

Constructor

+ (void)initAvoWithEnv:(AVOEnv)env
  // Other parameters may not be present, depending on your tracking plan
  systemProperty0:(nullable NSNumber *)systemProperty0
  systemProperty1:(BOOL)systemProperty1
  mixpanelDestination:(nonnull id<AVOCustomDestination>)mixpanelDestination
  segmentDestination:(nonnull id<AVOCustomDestination>)segmentDestination
  otherDestination:(nonnull id<AVOCustomDestination>)otherDestination
  strict:(BOOL)strict
  noop:(BOOL)noop;

This method will call the makeWithEnv:withApiKey: callback in all the provided destination interfaces. It will also initialize the analytics SDKs of the legacy Avo Managed destinations.

Arguments

(AVOEnv) env: Can be set to AVOEnvProd, AVOEnvDev.

systemProperties: a number of parameters equal to the number of system properties defined in your Avo workspace. The parameters are named the same as system properties, in camelCase, and require corresponding types: string, int, long, float, bool or list.

(nonnull id<AVOCustomDestination>) destination: object, each destination you are sending events to gets a separate parameter in the init function with callbacks that the Avo generated code will trigger, unless you are using the legacy Avo managed destinations. Each method in the destination interface is directly mapped to the Actions attached to each event in Avo. Learn more about event Actions in this doc.

@protocol AVOCustomDestination
- (void)make:(AVOEnv)avoEnv;
- (void)logEvent:(nonnull NSString*)eventName withEventProperties:(nonnull NSDictionary*)eventProperties;
- (void)logPage:(nonnull NSString*)pageName withEventProperties:(nonnull NSDictionary*)eventProperties;
- (void)revenue:(double)amount withEventProperties:(nonnull NSDictionary*)eventProperties;
- (void)setUserProperties:(nonnull NSString*)userId withUserProperties:(nonnull NSDictionary*)userProperties;
- (void)identify:(nonnull NSString*)userId;
- (void)unidentify;
@end

(BOOL) strict: bool, default value is true, if true, Avo will throw an exception when it detects a tracking problem in development or staging. Note that the strict flag is ignored in production.

(BOOL) noop: bool, default value is false, if true, Avo won’t make any network calls (no tracking) in development and staging environments. Note that the noop flag is ignored in production.

Note that you do not need to pass Avo Inspector instance to the constructor. It will be automatically picked up if you include the library and enable Avo Inspector for your iOS source in the Avo workspace. Read more here.

Destination interface example

@interface CustomDestination()
    @property (nonatomic, readwrite) NSString* apiKey;
@end

// Example: Destination interface for the Mixpanel SDK. Replace the Mixpanel implementation with your own tracking SDK methods
@implementation CustomDestination : NSObject <AVOCustomDestination>

// This method is optional, you can skip it if you've already initialized your Analytics SDK
- (void)makeWithEnv:(AVOEnv)avoEnv withApiKey:(nonnull NSString*) apiKey
{
    self.apiKey = apiKey;
}

- (void)logEvent:(nonnull NSString*)eventName withEventProperties:(nonnull NSDictionary*)eventProperties
{
    [[Mixpanel sharedInstanceWithToken:self.apiKey] track:eventName properties:eventProperties];
}

- (void)logPage:(nonnull NSString*)pageName withEventProperties:(nonnull NSDictionary*)eventProperties
{
    // Note: Mixpanel does not provide a native method for page or screen tracking, so we send an event instead. Other SDKs may have a dedicated page tracking method.
    NSMutableDictionary *mutableEventProperties = [eventProperties mutableCopy];
    mutableEventProperties[@"Page Name"] = pageName;
    [[Mixpanel sharedInstanceWithToken:self.apiKey] track:"Page Viewed" properties:mutableEventProperties];
}

- (void)revenue:(double)amount withEventProperties:(nonnull NSDictionary*)eventProperties
{
    [[[Mixpanel sharedInstanceWithToken:self.apiKey] people] trackCharge:amount withProperties:eventProperties];
}

- (void)setUserProperties:(nonnull NSString*)userId withUserProperties:(nonnull NSDictionary*)userProperties
{
    [[[Mixpanel sharedInstanceWithToken:self.apiKey] people] set:userProperties];
}

- (void)identify:(nonnull NSString*)userId
{
    [[Mixpanel sharedInstanceWithToken:self.apiKey] identify:userId];
}

- (void)unidentify
{
    [[Mixpanel sharedInstanceWithToken:self.apiKey] reset];
}

Read more about the destination interface here.

setSystemProperties

+ (void)setSystemPropertiesWithSystemProperty0:(NSInteger)systemProperty0
  systemProperty1:(nullable NSNumber *)systemProperty1
  ...;

A method to update system properties after initialization.

Arguments

Event tracking functions

+ (void)[yourEventName]WithEventProperty0:(NSInteger)eventProperty0
    eventProperty1:(nullable NSNumber *)eventProperty1
    userProperty0:(BOOL)userProperty0
    userProperty1:(BOOL)userProperty1
    userId:(nonnull NSString *)userId_
    ...];

Every event you define in your tracking plan in Avo gets a function named after the event in camelCase. The arguments of the function depend on how it’s defined in your tracking plan

Arguments

eventProperty: type defined in the Avo tracking plan, can be string, int, long, float, bool or list: Every event property attached to the event in the Avo UI gets a corresponding argument. The argument key is camelCase version of the property name. Pass the value of the property to track here.

userProperty: type defined in the Avo tracking plan as a user property, can be string, int, long, float, bool or list: Every user property attached to the event in the Avo UI gets a corresponding argument. The argument key is camelCase version of the property name. Pass the value of the property to update here.

(nonnull NSString *) userId_: Added if the event has the Identify User action

Destinations

You can send your data using the Avo generated Swift code to any data destination that accepts custom events, including:

Amplitude
FacebookAnalytics
FullStory
Mixpanel
Mixpanel
Permutive
Segment
Snowplow
ZendeskConnect
Adobe Analytics
Apptelemetry
RudderStack
Freshpaint
PostHog
Google Analytics 4 / Firebase Analytics
Heap
Keen
Kissmetrics
LaunchDarkly Events
Pendo
Fivetran
AppsFlyer
Braze
Intercom
A home made SDK
Internal API

Kotlin PHP