REST Resource: projects.locations.dataStores.userEvents

Resource: UserEvent

UserEvent captures all metadata information Discovery Engine API needs to know about how end users interact with customers' website.

JSON representation 
{
  "eventType": string,
  "userPseudoId": string,
  "eventTime": string,
  "userInfo": {
    object (UserInfo)
  },
  "directUserRequest": boolean,
  "sessionId": string,
  "pageInfo": {
    object (PageInfo)
  },
  "attributionToken": string,
  "filter": string,
  "documents": [
    {
      object (DocumentInfo)
    }
  ],
  "panel": {
    object (PanelInfo)
  },
  "searchInfo": {
    object (SearchInfo)
  },
  "completionInfo": {
    object (CompletionInfo)
  },
  "transactionInfo": {
    object (TransactionInfo)
  },
  "tagIds": [
    string
  ],
  "promotionIds": [
    string
  ],
  "attributes": {
    string: {
      "text": [
        string
      ],
      "numbers": [
        number
      ]
    },
    ...
  },
  "mediaInfo": {
    object (MediaInfo)
  }
}
Fields
eventType

string

Required. User event type. Allowed values are:

Generic values:

  • search: Search for Documents.
  • view-item: Detailed page view of a Document.
  • view-item-list: View of a panel or ordered list of Documents.
  • view-home-page: View of the home page.
  • view-category-page: View of a category page, e.g. Home > Men > Jeans

Retail-related values:

  • add-to-cart: Add an item(s) to cart, e.g. in Retail online shopping
  • purchase: Purchase an item(s)

Media-related values:

  • media-play: Start/resume watching a video, playing a song, etc.
  • media-complete: Finished or stopped midway through a video, song, etc.
userPseudoId

string

Required. A unique identifier for tracking visitors.

For example, this could be implemented with an HTTP cookie, which should be able to uniquely identify a visitor on a single device. This unique identifier should not change if the visitor log in/out of the website.

Do not set the field to the same fixed ID for different users. This mixes the event history of those users together, which results in degraded model quality.

The field must be a UTF-8 encoded string with a length limit of 128 characters. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.

The field should not contain PII or user-data. We recommend to use Google Analytics Client ID for this field.
eventTime

string (Timestamp format)

Only required for UserEventService.ImportUserEvents method. Timestamp of when the user event happened.

A timestamp in RFC3339 UTC "Zulu" format, with nanosecond resolution and up to nine fractional digits. Examples: "2014-10-02T15:01:23Z" and "2014-10-02T15:01:23.045123456Z".
userInfo

object (UserInfo)

Information about the end user.
directUserRequest

boolean

Should set to true if the request is made directly from the end user, in which case the UserEvent.user_info.user_agent can be populated from the HTTP request.

This flag should be set only if the API request is made directly from the end user such as a mobile app (and not if a gateway or a server is processing and pushing the user events).

This should not be set when using the JavaScript tag in UserEventService.CollectUserEvent.
sessionId

string

A unique identifier for tracking a visitor session with a length limit of 128 bytes. A session is an aggregation of an end user behavior in a time span.

A general guideline to populate the sessionId:

  1. If user has no activity for 30 min, a new sessionId should be assigned.
  2. The sessionId should be unique across users, suggest use uuid or add UserEvent.user_pseudo_id as prefix.
pageInfo

object (PageInfo)

Page metadata such as categories and other critical information for certain event types such as view-category-page.
attributionToken

string

Token to attribute an API response to user action(s) to trigger the event.

Highly recommended for user events that are the result of RecommendationService.Recommend. This field enables accurate attribution of recommendation model performance.

The value must be one of:

This token enables us to accurately attribute page view or conversion completion back to the event and the particular predict response containing this clicked/purchased product. If user clicks on product K in the recommendation results, pass RecommendResponse.attribution_token as a URL parameter to product K's page. When recording events on product K's page, log the RecommendResponse.attribution_token to this field.
filter

string

The filter syntax consists of an expression language for constructing a predicate from one or more fields of the documents being filtered.

One example is for search events, the associated SearchRequest may contain a filter expression in SearchRequest.filter conforming to https://google.aip.dev/160#filtering.

Similarly, for view-item-list events that are generated from a RecommendRequest, this field may be populated directly from RecommendRequest.filter conforming to https://google.aip.dev/160#filtering.

The value must be a UTF-8 encoded string with a length limit of 1,000 characters. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.
documents[]

object (DocumentInfo)

List of Documents associated with this user event.

This field is optional except for the following event types:

  • view-item
  • add-to-cart
  • purchase
  • media-play
  • media-complete

In a search event, this field represents the documents returned to the end user on the current page (the end user may have not finished browsing the whole page yet). When a new page is returned to the end user, after pagination/filtering/ordering even for the same query, a new search event with different UserEvent.documents is desired.
panel

object (PanelInfo)

Panel metadata associated with this user event.
searchInfo

object (SearchInfo)

SearchService.Search details related to the event.

This field should be set for search event.
completionInfo

object (CompletionInfo)

CompletionService.CompleteQuery details related to the event.

This field should be set for search event when autocomplete function is enabled and the user clicks a suggestion for search.
transactionInfo

object (TransactionInfo)

The transaction metadata (if any) associated with this user event.
tagIds[]

string

A list of identifiers for the independent experiment groups this user event belongs to. This is used to distinguish between user events associated with different experiment setups on the customer end.
promotionIds[]

string

The promotion IDs if this is an event associated with promotions. Currently, this field is restricted to at most one ID.
attributes

map (key: string, value: object)

Extra user event features to include in the recommendation model. These attributes must NOT contain data that needs to be parsed or processed further, e.g. JSON or other encodings.

If you provide custom attributes for ingested user events, also include them in the user events that you associate with prediction requests. Custom attribute formatting must be consistent between imported events and events provided with prediction requests. This lets the Discovery Engine API use those custom attributes when training models and serving predictions, which helps improve recommendation quality.

This field needs to pass all below criteria, otherwise an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned:

  • The key must be a UTF-8 encoded string with a length limit of 5,000 characters.
  • For text attributes, at most 400 values are allowed. Empty values are not allowed. Each value must be a UTF-8 encoded string with a length limit of 256 characters.
  • For number attributes, at most 400 values are allowed.

For product recommendations, an example of extra user information is traffic_channel, which is how a user arrives at the site. Users can arrive at the site by coming to the site directly, coming through Google search, or in other ways.
attributes.text[]

string

The textual values of this custom attribute. For example, ["yellow", "green"] when the key is "color".

Empty string is not allowed. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.

Exactly one of CustomAttribute.text or CustomAttribute.numbers should be set. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.
attributes.numbers[]

number

The numerical values of this custom attribute. For example, [2.3, 15.4] when the key is "lengths_cm".

Exactly one of CustomAttribute.text or CustomAttribute.numbers should be set. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.
mediaInfo

object (MediaInfo)

Media-specific info.

UserInfo

Information of an end user.

JSON representation 
{
  "userId": string,
  "userAgent": string
}
Fields
userId

string

Highly recommended for logged-in users. Unique identifier for logged-in user, such as a user name. Don't set for anonymous users.

Always use a hashed value for this ID.

Don't set the field to the same fixed ID for different users. This mixes the event history of those users together, which results in degraded model quality.

The field must be a UTF-8 encoded string with a length limit of 128 characters. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.
userAgent

string

User agent as included in the HTTP header.

The field must be a UTF-8 encoded string with a length limit of 1,000 characters. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.

This should not be set when using the client side event reporting with GTM or JavaScript tag in UserEventService.CollectUserEvent or if UserEvent.direct_user_request is set.

PageInfo

Detailed page information.

JSON representation 
{
  "pageviewId": string,
  "pageCategory": string,
  "uri": string,
  "referrerUri": string
}
Fields
pageviewId

string

A unique ID of a web page view.

This should be kept the same for all user events triggered from the same pageview. For example, an item detail page view could trigger multiple events as the user is browsing the page. The pageviewId property should be kept the same for all these events so that they can be grouped together properly.

When using the client side event reporting with JavaScript pixel and Google Tag Manager, this value is filled in automatically.
pageCategory

string

The most specific category associated with a category page.

To represent full path of category, use '>' sign to separate different hierarchies. If '>' is part of the category name, replace it with other character(s).

Category pages include special pages such as sales or promotions. For instance, a special sale page may have the category hierarchy: "pageCategory" : "Sales > 2017 Black Friday Deals".

Required for view-category-page events. Other event types should not set this field. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.
uri

string

Complete URL (window.location.href) of the user's current page.

When using the client side event reporting with JavaScript pixel and Google Tag Manager, this value is filled in automatically. Maximum length 5,000 characters.
referrerUri

string

The referrer URL of the current page.

When using the client side event reporting with JavaScript pixel and Google Tag Manager, this value is filled in automatically. However, some browser privacy restrictions may cause this field to be empty.

DocumentInfo

Detailed document information associated with a user event.

JSON representation 
{
  "promotionIds": [
    string
  ],

  // Union field document_descriptor can be only one of the following:
  "id": string,
  "name": string,
  "uri": string
  // End of list of possible types for union field document_descriptor.
  "quantity": integer
}
Fields
promotionIds[]

string

The promotion IDs associated with this Document. Currently, this field is restricted to at most one ID.

Union field document_descriptor. A required descriptor of the associated Document.

  • If id is specified, then the default values for {location}, {collection_id}, {data_store_id}, and {branch_id} are used when annotating with the stored Document.

  • If name is specified, then the provided values (default values allowed) for {location}, {collection_id}, {data_store_id}, and {branch_id} are used when annotating with the stored Document. document_descriptor can be only one of the following:
id

string

The Document resource ID.
name

string

The Document resource full name, of the form: projects/{projectId}/locations/{location}/collections/{collectionId}/dataStores/{dataStoreId}/branches/{branchId}/documents/{documentId}
uri

string

The Document URI - only allowed for website data stores.
quantity

integer

Quantity of the Document associated with the user event. Defaults to 1.

For example, this field will be 2 if two quantities of the same Document are involved in a add-to-cart event.

Required for events of the following event types:

  • add-to-cart
  • purchase

PanelInfo

Detailed panel information associated with a user event.

JSON representation 
{
  "panelId": string,
  "displayName": string,
  "panelPosition": integer,
  "totalPanels": integer
}
Fields
panelId

string

Required. The panel ID.
displayName

string

The display name of the panel.
panelPosition

integer

The ordered position of the panel, if shown to the user with other panels. If set, then totalPanels must also be set.
totalPanels

integer

The total number of panels, including this one, shown to the user. Must be set if panelPosition is set.

SearchInfo

Detailed search information.

JSON representation 
{
  "searchQuery": string,
  "orderBy": string,
  "offset": integer
}
Fields
searchQuery

string

The user's search query.

See SearchRequest.query for definition.

The value must be a UTF-8 encoded string with a length limit of 5,000 characters. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.

At least one of searchQuery or PageInfo.page_category is required for search events. Other event types should not set this field. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.
orderBy

string

The order in which products are returned, if applicable.

See SearchRequest.order_by for definition and syntax.

The value must be a UTF-8 encoded string with a length limit of 1,000 characters. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.

This can only be set for search events. Other event types should not set this field. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.
offset

integer

An integer that specifies the current offset for pagination (the 0-indexed starting location, amongst the products deemed by the API as relevant).

See SearchRequest.offset for definition.

If this field is negative, an INVALID_ARGUMENT is returned.

This can only be set for search events. Other event types should not set this field. Otherwise, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.

CompletionInfo

Detailed completion information including completion attribution token and clicked completion info.

JSON representation 
{
  "selectedSuggestion": string,
  "selectedPosition": integer
}
Fields
selectedSuggestion

string

End user selected CompleteQueryResponse.QuerySuggestion.suggestion.
selectedPosition

integer

End user selected CompleteQueryResponse.QuerySuggestion.suggestion position, starting from 0.

TransactionInfo

A transaction represents the entire purchase transaction.

JSON representation 
{
  "currency": string,
  "transactionId": string,
  "value": number,
  "tax": number,
  "cost": number,
  "discountValue": number
}
Fields
currency

string

Required. Currency code. Use three-character ISO-4217 code.
transactionId

string

The transaction ID with a length limit of 128 characters.
value

number

Required. Total non-zero value associated with the transaction. This value may include shipping, tax, or other adjustments to the total value that you want to include.
tax

number

All the taxes associated with the transaction.
cost

number

All the costs associated with the products. These can be manufacturing costs, shipping expenses not borne by the end user, or any other costs, such that:
discountValue

number

The total discount(s) value applied to this transaction. This figure should be excluded from TransactionInfo.value

For example, if a user paid TransactionInfo.value amount, then nominal (pre-discount) value of the transaction is the sum of TransactionInfo.value and TransactionInfo.discount_value

This means that profit is calculated the same way, regardless of the discount value, and that TransactionInfo.discount_value can be larger than TransactionInfo.value:

MediaInfo

Media-specific user event information.

JSON representation 
{
  "mediaProgressDuration": string,
  "mediaProgressPercentage": number
}
Fields
mediaProgressDuration

string (Duration format)

The media progress time in seconds, if applicable. For example, if the end user has finished 90 seconds of a playback video, then MediaInfo.media_progress_duration.seconds should be set to 90.

A duration in seconds with up to nine fractional digits, ending with 's'. Example: "3.5s".
mediaProgressPercentage

number

Media progress should be computed using only the mediaProgressDuration relative to the media total length.

This value must be between [0, 1.0] inclusive.

If this is not a playback or the progress cannot be computed (e.g. ongoing livestream), this field should be unset.

Methods

collect

 Writes a single user event from the browser.

import

 Bulk import of User events.

purge

 Deletes permanently all user events specified by the filter provided.

write

 Writes a single user event.