iOS (Itly)

Deprecated SDK

This SDK is deprecated and these docs are no longer maintained. Migrate to the iOS SDK (Ampli).

Amplitude Data supports tracking analytics events from iOS apps written in Swift and Objective-C.

In Swift and Objective-C, the tracking library exposes a type-safe function for every event in your team’s tracking plan. The function’s arguments correspond to the event’s properties and are strongly typed to allow for code completion and compile-time checks.

Installation¶

Generate the SDK¶

If you have not yet installed the Ampli CLI, install it now.

To generate the Itly SDK, run ampli pull {source} in the folder with your Info.plist file. By default, the SDK will be generated in ./Itly/.

Tip

{source} is the name of the source you created in your tracking plan (e.g. ios).

After calling ampli pull for the first time, add the generated tracking library to your project:

Right click on the yellow project folder and click Add Files to "{Project}"
Select the Itly folder
Select Create groups
Make sure {Project} is checked in Add to targets
Click Add

Install dependencies¶

The generated Itly SDK will automatically reference its dependencies based on the destinations you've configured in your tracking plan. By default, the SDK depends on ItlySdk (the base Itly library), SchemaValidatorPlugin (the event validation plugin). Optionally, it also depends on provider-specific plugins like AmplitudePlugin and SegmentPlugin.

To install these dependencies with CocoaPods:

Close Xcode
If you haven't already, install CocoaPods with sudo gem install cocoapods
If you haven't already, create a file called Podfile in the project root folder (the one with your .xcodeproj) and edit it to contain:

platform :ios, '10.0'

target '{Project-Name}' do
  use_frameworks!

  pod 'ItlySdk', '~> 1.0'
  pod 'ItlySchemaValidatorPlugin', '~> 1.0'
end

Run pod install
Open Xcode but don't open the .xcodeproj file, instead open the .xcodeworkspace file

If you've configured Itly with Amplitude or Segment, you'll also install each configured provider's SDK. Edit your Podfile and add the relevant pods.

  pod 'ItlyAmplitudePlugin', '~> 1.0'
  pod 'ItlySegmentPlugin', '~> 1.0'

To install these dependencies with Carthage:

Close Xcode
If you haven't already, install Carthage with brew install carthage
If you haven't already, create a file called Cartfile in the project root folder (the one with your .xcodeproj) and edit it to contain:

github "iterativelyhq/itly-sdk-ios"

Run carthage update --platform iOS
Run carthage build --platform iOS to build nested dependencies
Open Xcode
Select the top-level app in the Project Navigator
Make sure the main project's target (in the TARGETS section) is selected
Select the General tab
Drag and drop ItlySdk.framework, ItlySchemaValidatorPlugin.framework, and DSJSONSchemaValidation.framework from the Carthage/Build folder to the Frameworks, Libraries, and Embedded Content section
Select the Build Phases tab
Click the Plus icon in the top left corner of that tab, click New Run Script Phase
Create a new run script:
- Shell: /bin/sh
- Script: /usr/local/bin/carthage copy-frameworks

If you've configured Itly with Amplitude or Segment, you'll drag and drop each configured provider's SDK:

ItlyAmplitudePlugin.framework and Amplitude.framework for Amplitude
ItlySegmentPlugin.framework and Analytics.framework for Segment

Import into your app¶

If you are using Swift, no import is needed to use the library. If you are using Objective-C, you'll need to import it first:

Objective C

#import "Itly/Itly.h"

API¶

Load¶

Initialize the Itly SDK once when your application starts. The load method accepts an options object that lets you configure how the Itly SDK works:

Options	Description
`context`	An object with a set of properties to add to every event sent by the Itly SDK. Only available if there is at least one source template associated with your your team's tracking plan.
`destinations`	Specifies any analytics provider-specific configuration. The Itly SDK passes these objects in when loading the underlying analytics provider libraries. Note: only the Amplitude Data destination is currently supported. Optional.
`options`	Specifies additional configuration options for the Itly SDK. Optional. `disabled` Specifies whether the Itly SDK does any work. When true, all calls to the Itly SDK will be no-ops. Useful in local or development environments. Optional. Defaults to `false`. `environment` Specifies the environment the Itly SDK is running in: either `ItlySdk.Environment.production` (`ITLEnvironmentProduction` in Obj-C) or `ItlySdk.Environment.development` (`ITLEnvironmentDevelopment` in Obj-C). Environment determines which Access Token is used to load the underlying analytics provider libraries. The option also determines safe defaults for handling event validation errors. In production, when the SDK detects an invalid event, it will log an error but still let the event through. In development, the SDK will terminate the application to alert you that something is wrong. Optional. Defaults to `development`. `plugins` An array of additional plugins to load into the Itly SDK. Plugins allow you to extend the Itly SDK's event validation and event tracking functionality with your own. For example, a plugin can be used to implement a custom destination or a custom event validator. Click here to see a sample custom destination plugin written in Swift. Click here to see a sample custom destination plugin written in Objective-C. Optional. `logger` To log Itly's logs to a custom logger, extend the `Logger` class (`ITLLogger` in Objective-C) and set `logger` to an instance of your class. The Itly SDK will call into your class with all debug, info, warn, and error-level messages. Click here to see a a sample custom logger written in Swift. Click here to see a a sample custom logger written in Objective-C. Optional.

For example:

SwiftObjective-C

// Load Itly with no custom plugins or logger
Itly.instance.load()

// Or, load Itly with a custom plugin and logger
Itly.instance.load(
    options: Options(
        environment: Environment.development,
        plugins: [CustomPlugin()],
        logger: CustomLogger()
    )
)

// Load Itly with no custom plugins or logger
// [Itly.instance load];

// Or, load Itly with a custom plugin and logger
[Itly.instance load:nil options:[ITLItlyOptions builderBlock:^(ITLItlyOptionsBuilder *b) {
    b.environment = ITLEnvironmentDevelopment;
    b.plugins = @[[CustomPlugin new]];
    b.logger = [CustomLogger new];
}]];

Track¶

To track an event, call the event’s corresponding function. Every event in your tracking plan gets its own function in the Itly SDK.

For example, in the code snippet below, our tracking plan contains an event called View Loaded. The event was defined with one required property called name and one optional property called description. The name property's type is an enum. The description property's type is a string.

SwiftObjective-C

Itly.instance.viewLoaded(name: ViewLoaded.Name.firstView)

// Track a View Loaded event with a required enum property called name
[Itly.instance viewLoadedWithName:ViewLoadedNameFirstView];

In Objective-C, the builder pattern is used to set optional properties.

Migrating from Previous Version¶

Introduction¶

The new Amplitude Data Swift & Objective-C SDK enjoys a simpler deployment model and introduces several new features to help developers implement product analytics:

Previously, the entire SDK was codegen'd into your source tree. In the new version, the SDK is split into two, allowing developers to call ampli pull freely without worrying about pulling down changes that may affect their application's behavior:
The static, core SDK — open source, hosted on GitHub, and usable standalone, the static SDK contains all the logic needed to validate, track, and test analytics events. It is now semantically versioned and published to popular package repos, incl. Carthage and CocoaPods.
The dynamic, codegen'd API — generated by ampli pull and placed into your source tree, the codegen'd API contains event classes and a corresponding strongly-typed API only. It delegates all work to the core SDK and contains no logic.
The core SDK is now extensible via plugins. 5 plugins are currently available out of the box: a JSON Schema validation plugin, and 4 destination plugins: Segment, Amplitude, and Iteratively.
When environment is set to development, the SDK will stream events to Amplitude's User Lookup dashboard. The live debugger allows developers to watch tracked events, inspect their payloads, and detect validation problems.

Tracking Plan Changes¶

Update your source's runtime to iOS — Swift (2.0) or iOS — Obj-C (2.0)

Xcode Changes (Carthage)¶

Remove from Cartfile:

github "dashevo/JSONSchemaValidation"
// If using Amplitude
github "amplitude/Amplitude-iOS"
// If using Segment
github "segmentio/analytics-ios"

Add to Cartfile:

github "iterativelyhq/itly-sdk-ios"

Xcode Changes (CocoaPods)¶

Remove from Podfile:

pod 'DSJSONSchemaValidation'
// If using Amplitude
pod 'Amplitude-iOS', '~> 4.5'
// If using Segment
pod 'Analytics', '3.7.0'

Add to Podfile:

pod 'ItlySdk', '~> 1.0'
pod 'ItlySchemaValidatorPlugin', '~> 1.0'
// If using Amplitude
pod 'ItlyAmplitudePlugin', '~> 1.0'
// If using Segment
pod 'ItlySegmentPlugin', '~> 1.0'

CLI Changes¶

Pull down the new SDK inside your iOS project's folder (the one with Info.plist):

ampli pull

Custom destination adapters are now passed in as plugins rather than as part of ItlyDestinations. If you are using a custom destination:
Remove e.g. custom: ItlyCustomOptions(adapter: CustomDestination()) from destinations

Add plugins: [CustomPlugin()] to Options:

Itly.instance.load(
    options: Options(
        environment: Environment.development,
        plugins: [CustomPlugin()],
        logger: CustomLogger()
    )
)

Or in Objective-C:

[Itly.instance load:nil options:[ITLItlyOptions builderBlock:^(ITLItlyOptionsBuilder *b) {
    b.environment = ITLEnvironmentDevelopment;
    b.plugins = @[[CustomPlugin new]];
    b.logger = [CustomLogger new];
}]];

Custom Destination¶

In the new SDK, custom destinations no longer implement an ItlyDestination interface. They are now considered plugins and extend the Plugin class (ITLPlugin in Objective-C).

For example, the following custom destination:

final class MyCustomAdapter: ItlyDestination {
    func identify(_ userId: String?, properties: [String: Any]?) {
    }

    func alias(_ userId: String, previousId: String?) {
    }

    func group(_ groupId: String, properties: [String: Any]?) {
    }

    func track(_ userId: String?, eventName: String, properties: [String: Any]) {
    }

    func reset() {
    }
}

@interface MyCustomAdapter: NSObject<ItlyDestination>
@end

@implementation MyCustomAdapter
- (instancetype)init {
    if (self = [super init]) {
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)track:(NSString *)userId eventName:(NSString *)eventName properties:(NSDictionary *)properties {
}

- (void)alias:(NSString *)userId previousId:(NSString *)previousId {
}

- (void)group:(NSString *)groupId properties:(NSDictionary *)properties {
}

- (void)identify:(NSString *)userId properties:(NSDictionary *)properties {    
}

- (void)reset {
}
@end

Now looks like this:

class CustomPlugin: Plugin {
    override init() {
        super.init(id: "custom-plugin")
    }

    public override func load(_ options: Options) {
        super.load(options)
    }

    override func alias(_ userId: String, previousId: String?) {
    }

    override func identify(_ userId: String?, properties: Properties?) {
    }

    override func group(_ userId: String?, groupId: String, properties: Properties?) {
    }

    override func track(_ userId: String?, event: Event) {
    }

    override func reset() {
    }

    override func flush() {
    }

    override func shutdown() {
    }
}

@interface CustomPlugin : ITLPlugin
@property id<ITLLogger> _Nullable logger;
@end

@implementation CustomPlugin: ITLPlugin
- (instancetype)init {
    if (self = [super initWithId:@"custom-plugin"]) {
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)load:(ITLItlyOptions *)options {
}

- (void)alias:(NSString *)userId previousId:(NSString *)previousId {
}

- (void)identify:(NSString *)userId properties:(ITLProperties *)properties {
}

- (void)group:(NSString *)userId groupId:(NSString *)groupId properties:(ITLProperties *)properties {
}

- (void)track:(NSString *)userId event:(ITLEvent *)event {
}
@end

Properties exposes a dictionary of properties as NSDictionary<NSString*, id>* properties. Event exposes the event's id, name, version, and properties.

Last update: 2022-05-27