A/B Smartly SDK

A/B Smartly - Java SDK

Compatibility

The A/B Smartly Java SDK is compatible with Java versions 1.6 and later. It provides both a blocking and an asynchronous interfaces. The asynchronous functions return a custom backport of the Java 8 CompletableFuture API.

Android

The A/B Smartly SDK is compatible with Android 4.4 and later (API level 19+).

The android.permission.INTERNET permission is required. To add this permission to your application ensure the following line is present in the AndroidManifest.xml file:

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

If you target Android 6.0 or earlier, a few extra steps are outlined below for installation and initialization.

Installation

Gradle

To install the ABSmartly SDK, place the following in your build.gradle and replace {VERSION} with the latest SDK version available in MavenCentral.

dependencies {
  compile 'com.absmartly.sdk:core-api:{VERSION}'
}

Maven

To install the ABSmartly SDK, place the following in your pom.xml and replace {VERSION} with the latest SDK version available in MavenCentral.

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.absmartly.sdk</groupId>
    <artifactId>core-api</artifactId>
    <version>{VERSION}</version>
</dependency>

Android 6.0 or earlier

When targeting Android 6.0 or earlier, the default Java Security Provider will not work. Using Conscrypt is recommended. Follow these instructions to install it as dependency.

Proguard rules

ProGuard is a command-line tool that reduces app size by shrinking bytecode and obfuscates the names of classes, fields and methods. It’s an ideal fit for developers working with Java or Kotlin who are primarily interested in an Android optimizer. If you are using Proguard, you will need to add the following rule to your Proguard configuration file. This prevent proguard to change data classes used by the SDK and the missing of this rule will result in problems in the serialization/deserialization of the data.

-keep public class com.absmartly.sdk.json.** { *; }

Getting Started

Please follow the installation instructions before trying the following code:

Initialization

This example assumes an Api Key, an Application, and an Environment have been created in the A/B Smartly web console.

import com.absmartly.sdk.*;

public class Example {
    static public void main(String[] args) {

        final ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.create()
            .setEndpoint("https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1")
            .setAPIKey("YOUR-API-KEY")
            .setApplication("website") // created in the ABSmartly web console
            .setEnvironment("development");  // created in the ABSmartly web console

        final Client absmartlyClient = Client.create(clientConfig);

        final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create()
            .setClient(absmartlyClient);


        final ABSmartly sdk = ABSmartly.create(sdkConfig);
        // ...
    }
}

Android 6.0 or earlier

When targeting Android 6.0 or earlier, set the default Java Security Provider for SSL to Conscrypt by creating the Client instance as follows:

import com.absmartly.sdk.*;
import org.conscrypt.Conscrypt;

    // ...
    final ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.create()
        .setEndpoint("https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1")
        .setAPIKey("YOUR-API-KEY")
        .setApplication("website") // created in the ABSmartly web console
        .setEnvironment("development");  // created in the ABSmartly web console

    final DefaultHTTPClientConfig httpClientConfig = DefaultHTTPClientConfig.create()
        .setSecurityProvider(Conscrypt.newProvider());

    final DefaultHTTPClient httpClient = DefaultHTTPClient.create(httpClientConfig);

    final Client absmartlyClient = Client.create(clientConfig, httpClient);

    final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create()
        .setClient(absmartlyClient);

    final ABSmartly sdk = ABSmartly.create(sdkConfig);
    // ...

Creating a new Context synchronously

// define a new context request
    final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
        .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8"); // a unique id identifying the user

    final Context context = sdk.createContext(contextConfig)
        .waitUntilReady();

Creating a new Context asynchronously

// define a new context request
    final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
        .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8"); // a unique id identifying the user

    final Context context = sdk.createContext(contextConfig)
        .waitUntilReadyAsync()
        .thenAccept(ctx -> System.out.printf("context ready!"));

Creating a new Context with pre-fetched data

Creating a context involves a round-trip to the A/B Smartly event collector. We can avoid repeating the round-trip on the client-side by re-using data previously retrieved.

    final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
        .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8"); // a unique id identifying the user

    final Context context = sdk.createContext(contextConfig)
        .waitUntilReady();

    final ContextConfig anotherContextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
        .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8"); // a unique id identifying the other user

    final Context anotherContext = sdk.createContextWith(anotherContextConfig, context.getData());
    assert(anotherContext.isReady()); // no need to wait

Setting extra units for a context

You can add additional units to a context by calling the setUnit() or the setUnits() method. This method may be used for example, when a user logs in to your application, and you want to use the new unit type to the context. Please note that you cannot override an already set unit type as that would be a change of identity, and will throw an exception. In this case, you must create a new context instead. The setUnit() and setUnits() methods can be called before the context is ready.

context.setUnit("db_user_id", "1000013");

context.setUnits(Map.of(
		"db_user_id", "1000013"
    ));

Setting context attributes

The setAttribute() and setAttributes() methods can be called before the context is ready.

    context.setAttribute('user_agent', req.getHeader("User-Agent"));

    context.setAttributes(Map.of(
        "customer_age", "new_customer"
    ));

Selecting a treatment

    if (context.getTreament("exp_test_experiment") == 0) {
        // user is in control group (variant 0)
    } else {
        // user is in treatment group
    }

Selecting a treatment variable

    final Object variable = context.getVariable("my_variable");

Tracking a goal achievement

Goals are created in the A/B Smartly web console.

    context.track("payment", Map.of(
        "item_count", 1,
        "total_amount", 1999.99
    ));

Publishing pending data

Sometimes it is necessary to ensure all events have been published to the A/B Smartly collector, before proceeding. You can explicitly call the publish() or publishAsync() methods.

    context.publish();

Finalizing

The close() and closeAsync() methods will ensure all events have been published to the A/B Smartly collector, like publish(), and will also "seal" the context, throwing an error if any method that could generate an event is called.

    context.close();

Refreshing the context with fresh experiment data

For long-running contexts, the context is usually created once when the application is first started. However, any experiments being tracked in your production code, but started after the context was created, will not be triggered. To mitigate this, we can use the setRefreshInterval() method on the context config.

    final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
		.setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8")
        .setRefreshInterval(TimeUnit.HOURS.toMillis(4)); // every 4 hours

Alternatively, the refresh() method can be called manually. The refresh() method pulls updated experiment data from the A/B Smartly collector and will trigger recently started experiments when getTreatment() is called again.

    context.refresh();

Using a custom Event Logger

The A/B Smartly SDK can be instantiated with an event logger used for all contexts. In addition, an event logger can be specified when creating a particular context, in the ContextConfig.

    // example implementation
    public class CustomEventLogger implements ContextEventLogger {
        @Override
        public void handleEvent(Context context, ContextEventLogger.EventType event, Object data) {
            switch (event) {
            case Exposure:
                final Exposure exposure = (Exposure)data;
                System.out.printf("exposed to experiment %s", exposure.name);
                break;
            case Goal:
                final GoalAchievement goal = (GoalAchievement)data;
                System.out.printf("goal tracked: %s", goal.name);
                break;
            case Error:
                System.out.printf("error: %s", data);
                break;
            case Publish:
            case Ready:
            case Refresh:
            case Close:
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    // for all contexts, during sdk initialization
    final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create();
    sdkConfig.setContextEventLogger(new CustomEventLogger());
    
    // OR, alternatively, during a particular context initialization
    final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create();
    contextConfig.setEventLogger(new CustomEventLogger());

The data parameter depends on the type of event. Currently, the SDK logs the following events:

event	when	data
Error	Context receives an error	Throwable object
Ready	Context turns ready	ContextData used to initialize the context
Refresh	Context.refresh() method succeeds	ContextData used to refresh the context
Publish	Context.publish() method succeeds	PublishEvent sent to the A/B Smartly event collector
Exposure	Context.getTreatment() method succeeds on first exposure	Exposure enqueued for publishing
Goal	Context.track() method succeeds	GoalAchievement enqueued for publishing
Close	Context.close() method succeeds the first time	null

Peek at treatment variants

Although generally not recommended, it is sometimes necessary to peek at a treatment or variable without triggering an exposure. The A/B Smartly SDK provides a peekTreatment() method for that.

    if (context.peekTreatment("exp_test_experiment") == 0) {
        // user is in control group (variant 0)
    } else {
        // user is in treatment group
    }

Peeking at variables

    final Object variable = context.peekVariable("my_variable");

Overriding treatment variants

During development, for example, it is useful to force a treatment for an experiment. This can be achieved with the override() and/or overrides() methods. The setOverride() and setOverrides() methods can be called before the context is ready.

    context.setOverride("exp_test_experiment", 1); // force variant 1 of treatment
    context.setOverrides(Map.of(
        "exp_test_experiment", 1,
        "exp_another_experiment", 0
    ));

About A/B Smartly

A/B Smartly is the leading provider of state-of-the-art, on-premises, full-stack experimentation platforms for engineering and product teams that want to confidently deploy features as fast as they can develop them. A/B Smartly's real-time analytics helps engineering and product teams ensure that new features will improve the customer experience without breaking or degrading performance and/or business metrics.

Have a look at our growing list of clients and SDKs:

• Java SDK
• JavaScript SDK
• PHP SDK
• Swift SDK
• Vue2 SDK