iOS Ampli Wrapper

Overview¶

The Ampli Wrapper is a generated, strongly typed API for tracking Analytics events based on your Tracking Plan in Amplitude Data. The tracking library exposes a function for every event in your team’s tracking plan. The function’s arguments correspond to the event’s properties.

Ampli can benefit your app by providing autocompletion for events & properties defined in Data and enforce your event schemas in code to prevent bad instrumentation.

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

Quick Start¶

1. (Prerequisite) Create a Tracking Plan in Amplitude Data

   Plan your events and properties in Amplitude Data. See detailed instructions here

2. Install the Amplitude SDK

   pod 'AmplitudeSwift', '~> 1.0.0'
   

3. Install the Ampli CLI

   npm install -g @amplitude/ampli
   

4. Pull the Ampli Wrapper into your project

   ampli pull [--path ./Ampli]
   

5. Initialize the Ampli Wrapper

   Ampli.instance.load(LoadOptions(
     environment: AmpliEnvironment.Production
   ))
   

6. Identify users and set user properties

   Ampli.instance.identify("userID", Identify(
       userProp: "A trait associated with this user"
   ))
   

7. Track events with strongly typed methods and classes

   Ampli.instance.songPlayed(SongPlayed(songId: "song-1")
   Ampli.instance.track(SongFavorited(songId: "song-2")
   

8. Flush events before application exit

   Ampli.instance.flush()
   

9. Verify implementation status with CLI

   ampli status [--update]
   

Installation¶

Install the Amplitude SDK¶

If you haven't already, install the core Amplitude SDK dependencies.

Install the Amplitude Analytics iOS SDK via CocoaPods, Carthage, or Swift Package Manager.

github "amplitude/Amplitude-Swift" ~> 1.0.0

Install the Ampli CLI¶

You can install the Ampli CLI from Homebrew or NPM.

brew tap amplitude/ampli
brew install ampli

npm install -g @amplitude/ampli

Pull the Ampli Wrapper into your project¶

Run the Ampli CLI pull command to log in to Amplitude Data and download the strongly typed Ampli Wrapper for your tracking plan. Ampli CLI commands are usually run from the project root directory.

ampli pull

API¶

Ampli generates a thin facade over the Amplitude SDK which provides convenience methods. The Ampli Wrapper also grants access to every method of the underlying Amplitude SDK through Ampli.instance.client. More details.

Load¶

Initialize Ampli in your code. The load() method accepts configuration option arguments:

Ampli.instance.load(LoadOptions(
  client: LoadClientOptions(apiKey: AMPLITUDE_API_KEY)
));

[Ampli.instance load:[LoadOptions initWithApiKey:AMPLITUDE_API_KEY]];

Identify¶

Call identify() to identify a user in your app and associate all future events with their identity, or to set their properties.

Just as the Ampli Wrapper creates types for events and their properties, it creates types for user properties.

The identify() function accepts an optional userId, optional user properties, and optional options.

For example your tracking plan contains a user property called userProp. The property's type is a string.

Ampli.instance.identify("userID", Identify(
  requiredUserProp: "A trait associated with this user"
));

[Ampli.instance identify:@"userID" identify:[Identify
    requiredUserProp: @"value"
    builderBlock:^(IdentifyBuilder *b) {
        b.optionalUserProp = true;
    }]
];

The options argument allows you to pass Amplitude fields for this call, such as deviceId.

Ampli.instance.identify("userID", Identify(deviceID: "my_device_id")

[Ampli.instance identify:@"userID" identify:[Identify builderBlock:^(IdentifyBuilder *b) {
    b.deviceId = @"my_device_id";
}]];

Group¶

Call setGroup() to associate a user with their group (for example, their department or company). The setGroup() function accepts a required groupType, and groupName.

Ampli.instance.client.setGroup(groupType:"group type", groupName:"group name")

[Ampli.instance.client setGroup:@"group type" groupName:@"group name"];

Amplitude supports assigning users to groups and performing queries, such as Count by Distinct, on those groups. If at least one member of the group has performed the specific event, then the count includes the group.

For example, you want to group your users based on what organization they're in by using an 'orgId'. Joe is in 'orgId' '10', and Sue is in 'orgId' '15'. Sue and Joe both perform a certain event. You can query their organizations in the Event Segmentation Chart.

When setting groups, define a groupType and groupName. In the previous example, 'orgId' is the groupType and '10' and '15' are the values for groupName. Another example of a groupType could be 'sport' with groupName values like 'tennis' and 'baseball'.

Setting a group also sets the groupType:groupName' as a user property, and overwrites any existing groupName value set for that user's groupType, and the corresponding user property value. groupType is a string, and groupName can be either a string or an array of strings to indicate that a user is in multiple groups. For example, if Joe is in 'orgId' '10' and '20', then the groupName is '[10, 20]').

Your code might look like this:

Ampli.instance.client.setGroup(groupType: "orgID", groupName: ["10", "20"])

[Ampli.instance.client setGroup:@"group type" groupName:@[@"10", @"20]];

Track¶

To track an event, call the event's corresponding function. Every event in your tracking plan gets its own function in the Ampli Wrapper. The call is structured like this:

Ampli.instance.track(_ event: Event, options: EventOptions)

The options argument allows you to pass Amplitude fields, like deviceID.

For example, in the following code snippet, your tracking plan contains an event called songPlayed. The event is defined with two required properties: songId and songFavorited. The property type for songId is string, and songFavorited is a boolean.

The event has two Amplitude fields defined: price, and quantity. Learn more about Amplitude fields here.

Ampli.instance.track(
    SongPlayed(songId: 'songId', songFavorited: true),
    options: EventOptions(
        deviceId: 'deviceId',
        price: 0.99,
        quantity: 1
    )
);

AMPEventOptions *options = [AMPEventOptions new];
options.deviceId = @"deviceId";
options.price = 0.99;
options.quantity = 1;

[Ampli.instance track:[SongPlayed songId:@"songId" songFavorited:true]
                options:options
];

Ampli also generates a class for each event.

let myEventObject = SongPlayed(
  songId: 'songId', // String,
  songFavorited: true, // Bool
);

AMPBaseEvent *myEventObject = [SongPlayed
    songId:@"songId"
    songFavorited:true
];

You can send all Event objects using the generic track method.

Ampli.instance.track(SongPlayed(
  songId: 'songId', // String,
  songFavorited: true, // Bool
);

[Ampli.instance track:[SongPlayed
    songId:@"songId"
    songFavorited:true
]];

Flush¶

The Ampli wrapper queues events and sends them on an interval based on the configuration.

Call flush() to immediately send any pending events.

The flush() method returns a promise that can be used to ensure all pending events have been sent before continuing. This can be useful to call prior to application exit.

Ampli.instance.flush()

[Ampli.instance flush];

Ampli CLI¶

Pull¶

The pull command downloads the Ampli Wrapper code to your project. Run the pull command from the project root.

ampli pull

You will be prompted to log in to your workspace and select a source.

➜ ampli pull
Ampli project is not initialized. No existing `ampli.json` configuration found.
? Create a new Ampli project here? Yes
? Organization: Amplitude
? Workspace: My Workspace
? Source: My Source

Learn more about ampli pull.

Status¶

Verify that events are implemented in your code with the status command:

ampli status [--update]

The output displays status and indicates what events are missing.

➜ ampli status
✘ Verifying event tracking implementation in source code
 ✔ Song Played (1 location)
 ✘ Song Stopped Called when a user stops playing a song.
Events Tracked: 1 missed, 2 total

Learn more about ampli status.