Use Usage Reporting in Your Android Application

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Use Usage Reporting in Your Android Application

Details

Use Usage Reporting in Your Android Application

Bruce Meng

January 7, 2021

Created by

January 30, 2019

Beginner

30 min.

See how the Usage Reporting feature can help provide information on how your app is being used.

You will learn

How the Usage Reporting feature works
How to customize the consent screen
How to further instrument the Wizard app
How to add code to enable auto-upload of usage data based on the client policy

Prerequisites

You completed Try Out the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for Android Wizard.

Step 1: Manual upload of usage data

As shown in the tutorial, Try Out the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for Android Wizard, ensure that Enable Usage Reporting is checked when creating the app.

When the app is first installed, a consent screen will automatically be shown to users.

The app must first receive permission to collect usage information from the user.

Tap ALLOW to allow the app to record how the app is being used.

If DENY was selected, the user’s choice can later be changed in the app’s Settings screen.

Once you try to enable Consent to Usage Collection, the consent screen will be displayed again to confirm your choice.
From the Settings screen, tap Upload Usage Data.

The upload will fail with a HTTP 403 error if usage was not enabled in the Mobile Services cockpit.
To review this policy setting, in the Mobile Services cockpit, access Mobile Client Usage and User Feedback by navigating to Mobile Applications > Native/Hybrid > com.sap.wizapp > Mobile Client Usage and User Feedback.

The Client Usage Configuration specifies whether uploads of usage data are allowed and the time interval between automatic usage report uploads.

The preset value for Upload Report After is 0 (usage reports will not be uploaded automatically), which we will use in the implementation of automatically uploading usage reports to the server. Finally, click Save to save any changes.
If an empty usage report notification is shown when Upload Usage Data is selected, navigate away from the app by going to your phone’s Home screen and re-entering the app. Then try uploading the usage report again. Placing the app in the background will complete or end the current usage session. Partial sessions can not be uploaded.

If Upload Usage Data was successful, then a Toast message should pop up informing you that the usage information has been uploaded to the server.

Done

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Step 2: Examine uploaded usage data

View Full Instructions

To view the application usage report, go to your management cockpit under Analytics > User Data.

Different charts become available when you switch the tabs between Sessions, Demographics, and Behavior. The mark in the yellow box controls whether to display filters that are in the red box right below User Data.
To download the usage report, go to Mobile Applications > Native/Hybrid > com.sap.wizapp > Mobile Client Usage and User Feedback. You can filter the data by changing the value of the Last 7 Days dropdown. Click the Download icon to export the filtered data to a .csv file.

Open the downloaded clientUsage_uploads.csv. The file contains usage entries from the app that record different actions, such as button taps and timers.

Column	Description
`APPLICATIONID`	Identifies the app the usage report events were generated from
`DEVICEMODEL`	Device type (Samsung, Android Emulator, etc.)
`DEVICEPLATFORM`	Android or iOS
`DEVICEVERSION`	Device software version
`REGISTRATIONID`	A unique ID generated when you first register your device
`USERSESSIONID`	A unique ID generated every time the application is re-opened
`RECORDKEY`	What kind of information is being described (information about the device (`DeviceInfo`), an event within the application (`BehaviorEvent`), etc.)
`RECORDTYPE`	`BehaviorEvent` type (e.g. `viewDisplayed`, `userInteraction`)
`TIMERSTART`	Time the event began
`TIMERDURATION`	How long an event ran for, in seconds
`I_SCREEN`	Screen resolution of the device using the current `OSLifecycle` state as the key
`I_VIEW`	The name of the Screen/View where `BehaviourEvents` are generated
`I_ELEMENT`	UI element or screen control that was interacted with
`I_ACTION`	Action that the user performed
`I_VALUE`	Value related to the interaction, if applicable

In the following example, there are three different Android devices with varying software versions.

CSV Information on Device Specifications

In the next example, the timer recorded how long the user kept the application active on their device before exiting for five different sessions. Recording how long users spend in the application is a typical measurement. You can also specify other processes to time, such as application startup, data requests, or the time taken to open an offline store.

A session is typically defined as how long the app has been open for in the foreground, but different records within the application can also be modified to act as sessions.

There can be multiple USERSESSIONIDs associated with a single REGISTRATIONID. REGISTRATIONID is independent of your username and you can see a complete list of all user registrations for the app in the Mobile Services cockpit by navigating to Mobile Applications > Native/Hybrid > com.sap.wizapp > Mobile Settings Exchange > User Registrations.

In the following example the same user registered on two different devices and ran three user sessions.

When the application is initially launched, the report will contain entries that describe the device screen, memory and networking capabilities in a condensed form in four columns, marking the end of a session.

`I_VALUE`	Description
`EnterApplication`	Screen resolution of the device (`I_SCREEN`)
`location`	Location permission for the application (denied or authorized); if authorized then it will list the latitude (`I_VIEW`), longitude (`I_ELEMENT`), and city (`I_ACTION`)
`device`	Reiterates the screen resolution (`I_SCREEN` and `I_VIEW`), device platform (`I_ELEMENT`), and specifies the device language (`I_ACTION`)
`memory`	Device RAM (`I_SCREEN`), internal storage (`I_VIEW`), and available space on the SD card (`I_ELEMENT`)

The app also records a few of the screens that user opens, and more usage reporting statements can be added in the code to track other specific screens.

In the example below, the user navigated to the Entity List screen, accessed the categories at positions 6 and 1, then entered the Settings screen.

The code segment that records EntitySetListActivity is in the onCreate method in EntitySetListActivity.java.

UsageService usageService = SDKInitializer.INSTANCE.getService(JvmClassMappingKt.getKotlinClass(UsageService.class));
if (usageService != null) {
    usageService.eventBehaviorViewDisplayed(EntitySetListActivity.class.getSimpleName(),
            "elementId", "onCreate", "called");
}

The code segment that records EntitySetListActivity is in the onCreate method in EntitySetListActivity.kt.

SDKInitializer.getService(UsageService::class)?.eventBehaviorViewDisplayed(EntitySetListActivity::class.java.simpleName, "elementId", "onCreate", "called")

What does the Usage Reporting feature do? It secretly records information. With a user's consent, it records and uploads information on how an app is being used and information about the device. It sends notifications to users about new features in the app. It controls the theme of the app.

Step 3: Add further usage instrumentation

View Full Instructions

The Usage feature can be used to instrument an app to track things that might provide insight into a user’s behaviors.

The following steps record how often users start adding or updating products but cancel their changes. This is somewhat similar to a metric in a shopping cart type app, where it might be interesting to know how often items are added to a shopping cart, but the sale is not completed.

In Android Studio, on Windows, press Ctrl+N, or, on a Mac, press command+O, and type ProductsCreateFragment to open ProductsCreateFragment.java.
On Windows, press Ctrl+F12, or, on a Mac, press command+F12, and type onCreate, to move to the onCreate method in the same file.
Find the following line:
```
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
```

Then add the following code segment immediately after:

UsageService.getInstance().eventBehaviorUserInteraction(ProductsCreateFragment.class.getSimpleName(), "elementId", "createOrEditProductClicked", "Begin Create or Edit Product");

This generates a usage event record for when a user taps the Add or Edit icon within Products.

On Windows, press Ctrl+F12, or, on a Mac, press command+F12, and type onOptionsItemSelected to move to the onOptionsItemSelected method. Add the following code segment before the default: case in the same file:
```
case android.R.id.home:
  UsageService.getInstance().eventBehaviorUserInteraction(ProductsCreateFragment.class.getSimpleName(), "elementId", "onBackPressed", "Create or Edit Product Cancelled");
  return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
```
This generates the usage event record whenever the user navigates away from an editing screen without saving.
Build and run the app.
Generate usage information by accessing Products.
Tap the floating Add button to create a product.
Press the Back button to exit the page without saving.
Repeat those steps two more times to generate multiple entries for the usage report.
Select an existing product and tap its Edit button.
Then immediately tap the check mark button to save the information.
End the usage session by placing the app in the background. Navigate back into the app.
Upload the usage by going to Settings and tap on Upload Usage Data.
After downloading the clientUsage_uploads.csv file from the Mobile Services cockpit, you should be able to see new entries with I_VIEW values of ProductsCreateFragment and I_ACTION values of onBackPressed and createOrEditProductClicked.
In four empty cells that are not in the P ( I_ACTION ) column on the Excel spreadsheet, label two of them with Product Create or Edit Clicked and Cancelled Product Create or Edit respectively. Next to Product Create or Edit Clicked, use the following formula to find the number of times the user intended to add/update a product:
```
=COUNTIF(P:P, "*createOrEditProductClicked*")
```
Next to Cancelled Product Create or Edit, use the following formula to find the number of times the user cancelled an add/update product action:
```
=COUNTIF(P:P, "*onBackPressed*")
```
In the example, the user tried to create a product four times, but cancelled three times.

In Android Studio, on Windows, press Ctrl+N, or, on a Mac, press command+O, and type ProductsCreateFragment to open ProductsCreateFragment.kt.
On Windows, press Ctrl+F12, or, on a Mac, press command+F12 and type onCreate, to move to the onCreate method in the same file.
Find the following line:
```
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
```

Add the following code segment immediately after:

UsageService.getInstance().eventBehaviorUserInteraction(ProductsCreateFragment::class.java.simpleName, "elementId", "createOrEditProductClicked", "Begin Create or Edit Product")

This generates a usage event record for when a user taps the Add or Edit icon within Products.

On Windows, press Ctrl+F12, or, on a Mac, press command+F12 and type onOptionsItemSelected, to move to the onOptionsItemSelected method. Add the following code segment before the else case in the same file:
```
android.R.id.home -> {
  UsageService.getInstance().eventBehaviorUserInteraction(ProductsCreateFragment::class.java.simpleName, "elementId", "onBackPressed", "Create or Edit Product Cancelled")
  super.onOptionsItemSelected(item)
}
```
This generates the usage event record whenever the user navigates away from an editing screen without saving.
Build and run the app.
Generate usage information by accessing Products.
Tap the floating Add button to create a product.
Press the Back button to exit the page without saving.
Repeat those steps two more times to generate multiple entries for the usage report.
Select an existing product and tap its Edit button.
Then immediately tap the check mark button to save the information.
End the usage session by placing the app in the background. Navigate back into the app.
Upload the usage by going to Settings and tap on Upload Usage Data.
After downloading the clientUsage_uploads.csv file from the Mobile Services cockpit, you should be able to see new entries with I_VIEW values of ProductsCreateFragment and I_ACTION values of onBackPressed and createOrEditProductClicked.
In four empty cells that are not in the P ( I_ACTION ) column on the Excel spreadsheet, label two of them with Product Create or Edit Clicked and Cancelled Product Create or Edit respectively. Next to Product Create or Edit Clicked, use the following formula to find the number of times the user intended to add/update a product:
```
=COUNTIF(P:P, "*createOrEditProductClicked*")
```
Next to Cancelled Product Create or Edit, use the following formula to find the number of times the user cancelled an add/update product action:
```
=COUNTIF(P:P, "*onBackPressed*")
```
In the example, the user tried to create a product four times, but cancelled three times.

Done

Log on to answer question

Step 4: Auto-upload of usage data

View Full Instructions

Mobile Services provides a Client Usage Configuration under Mobile Client Usage and User Feedback specifying whether uploads to Mobile Services are allowed and how often they should occur. The following instructions demonstrate how to modify the app to read and store the configuration (same as the concept of the following policy) and upload the usage data to Mobile Services using the specified interval.

Input the number of days after which a report should automatically be uploaded and click Save. For the purposes of this tutorial, use the value 1 to simplify testing later on.
In Android Studio, on Windows, press Ctrl+N, or, on a Mac, press command+O, and type MainBusinessActivity to open MainBusinessActivity.java.

Add the following variables to the top of the MainBusinessActivity class:

//Make sure to import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(MainBusinessActivity.class);

private static final String USAGE_POLICY_ENABLED = "dataCollectionEnabled";
private static final String USAGE_POLICY_UPLOAD_AFTER_DAYS = "uploadDataAfterDays";
private static final String SETTINGS_USAGE = "usagePolicy";

private static boolean isUsageEnabled;
private static int uploadInterval;

On Windows, press Ctrl+F12, or, on a Mac, press command+F12, and type startEntitySetListActivity to move to the startEntitySetListActivity method.

Before the method startEntitySetListActivity, add the following code:

private void getClientPolicyFromServer() {
    Settings settings = new Settings();
    settings.load(Settings.SettingTarget.DEVICE, "mobileservices/settingsExchange", new PolicyCallbackListener());
}

private class PolicyCallbackListener implements Settings.CallbackListener {

    @Override
    public void onSuccess(@NonNull JSONObject result) {
        JSONObject usagePolicyJson = result.optJSONObject(SETTINGS_USAGE);
        if (usagePolicyJson != null) {
            isUsageEnabled = usagePolicyJson.optBoolean(USAGE_POLICY_ENABLED, false);
            uploadInterval = usagePolicyJson.optInt(USAGE_POLICY_UPLOAD_AFTER_DAYS, 0);
        }
        uploadUsage();
    }

    @Override
    public void onError(@NonNull Throwable throwable) {
        LOGGER.error("Could not download the policy from the server due to error: " + throwable.getMessage());
    }
}

This code gets the usage policy information from the server client policy and stores it inside global variables.

There may be an error on Settings. Select it and press Alt+Enter on Windows, or, press option+Enter on Macs, to import the related class from com.sap.cloud.mobile.foundation.settings.

Add the following method in the file:

private void uploadUsage() {
    int newDays = uploadInterval;
    UsageBroker.setDaysToWaitBetweenUpload(newDays);

    //if newDays is greater than 0 then auto-upload is considered to be enabled on Mobile Services
    if (newDays > 0) {
        // The upload will only occur if the last upload was more than newDays ago
        AppUsageUploader.addUploadListener(new AppUsageUploader.UploadListener() {
            @Override
            public void onSuccess() {
                Toast.makeText(getApplication(),
                        getResources().getString(R.string.usage_upload_ok),
                        Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            }

            @Override
            public void onError(Throwable error) {
                // make sure to import com.sap.cloud.mobile.foundation.networking.HttpException;
                if (error instanceof HttpException) {
                    LOGGER.debug("Usage Upload server error: {}, code = {}",
                            ((HttpException) error).message(), ((HttpException) error).code());
                } else {
                    LOGGER.debug("Usage Upload error: {}", error.getMessage());
                }
                String errorMessage = getResources().getString(R.string.usage_upload_failed);
                LOGGER.error(errorMessage, error);
            }

            @Override
            public void onProgress(int i) {
                LOGGER.debug("Usage upload progress: " + i);
            }
        });
        UsageBroker.upload(this, false);
    }
}

This code sets the upload interval for the application’s UsageBroker object and then requests an upload of usage. If the amount of days between uploading is sufficient, it will upload the data and, if not, it will delay the upload. If the Upload Report After interval is 0 it will not upload any usage.

There may be an error on HttpException. Select it and press Alt+Enter on Windows, or, press option+Enter on Macs, to import the related class from com.sap.cloud.mobile.foundation.networking.

On Windows, press Ctrl+F12, or, on a Mac, press command+F12, and type startEntitySetListActivity to move to the startEntitySetListActivity method.
At the very beginning of the method, add the following method call:
```
getClientPolicyFromServer();
```
In Android Studio, on Windows, press Ctrl+N, or, on a Mac, press command+O, and type SettingsFragment to open SettingsFragment.java.
On Windows, press Ctrl+F, or, on a Mac, press command+F, to find:
```
UsageBroker.upload(getContext(), false);
```
Change false to true.

This will allow the user to upload the usage report via the app’s settings screen regardless of the number of days specified in the policy.

When the app is run and the number of days in the policy has passed, there should be a Toast notification showing that the usage report has been uploaded successfully.
To test this feature, in Settings > System > Date & time from the emulator, toggle Use network-provided time to off.
Change the Date to a day in the future and re-run the app (quit first). The usage report should be uploaded automatically.

Input the number of days after which a report should automatically be uploaded and click Save. For the purposes of this tutorial, use the value 1 to simplify testing later on.
In Android Studio, on Windows, press Ctrl+N, or, on a Mac, press command+O, and type MainBusinessActivity to open MainBusinessActivity.kt.

Near the end of the class, add the following companion objects:

companion object{
    //Make sure to import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
    private val LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(MainBusinessActivity::class.java)

    private val USAGE_POLICY_ENABLED = "dataCollectionEnabled"
    private val USAGE_POLICY_UPLOAD_AFTER_DAYS = "uploadDataAfterDays"
    private val SETTINGS_USAGE = "usagePolicy"

    private var isUsageEnabled: Boolean = false
    private var uploadInterval: Int = 0
}

On Windows, press Ctrl+F12, or, on a Mac, press command+F12, and type startEntitySetListActivity to move to the startEntitySetListActivity method.

Before the method startEntitySetListActivity, add the following code:

private fun getClientPolicyFromServer() {
    val settings = Settings()
    settings.load(Settings.SettingTarget.DEVICE, "mobileservices/settingsExchange", PolicyCallbackListener())
}

private inner class PolicyCallbackListener: Settings.CallbackListener {

    override fun onSuccess(result: JSONObject) {
        val usagePolicyJson = result.optJSONObject(SETTINGS_USAGE)
        usagePolicyJson?.let {
            isUsageEnabled = it.optBoolean(USAGE_POLICY_ENABLED, false)
            uploadInterval = it.optInt(USAGE_POLICY_UPLOAD_AFTER_DAYS, 0)
        }
        uploadUsage()
    }

    override fun onError(throwable: Throwable) {
        LOGGER.error("Could not download the policy from the server due to error: " + throwable.message)
    }
}

This code gets the usage policy information from the server client policy and stores it inside global variables.

There may be an error on Settings. Select it and press Alt+Enter on Windows, or, press option+Enter on Macs, to import the related class from com.sap.cloud.mobile.foundation.settings.

Add the following method in the file:

private fun uploadUsage() {
    val newDays = uploadInterval
    UsageBroker.setDaysToWaitBetweenUpload(newDays)

    //if newDays is greater than 0 then auto-upload is considered to be enabled on Mobile Services
    if (newDays > 0) {
        // The upload will only occur if the last upload was more than newDays ago
        AppUsageUploader.addUploadListener(object: AppUsageUploader.UploadListener {
            override fun onSuccess() {
                Toast.makeText(application, resources.getString(R.string.usage_upload_ok), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
            }

            override fun onError(error: Throwable) {
                // make sure to import com.sap.cloud.mobile.foundation.networking.HttpException;
                if (error is HttpException) {
                    LOGGER.debug("Usage Upload server error: {}, code = {}", error.message(), error.code())
                } else {
                    LOGGER.debug("Usage Upload error: {}", error.message)
                }

                val errorMessage = resources.getString(R.string.usage_upload_failed)
                LOGGER.error(errorMessage, error)
            }

            override fun onProgress(i: Int) {
                LOGGER.debug("Usage upload progress: $i")
            }
        })
        UsageBroker.upload(this, false)
    }
}

There may be an error on HttpException. Select it and press Alt+Enter on Windows, or, press option+Enter on Macs, to import the related class from com.sap.cloud.mobile.foundation.networking.

On Windows, press Ctrl+F12, or, on a Mac, press command+F12, and type startEntitySetListActivity to move to the startEntitySetListActivity method.
At the very beginning of the method, add the following method call:
```
getClientPolicyFromServer()
```
In Android Studio, on Windows, press Ctrl+N, or, on a Mac, press command+O, and type SettingsFragment to open SettingsFragment.kt.
On Windows, press Ctrl+F, or, on a Mac, press command+F, to find:
```
UsageBroker.upload(requireContext(), false)
```
Change false to true.

This will allow the user to upload the usage report via the app’s settings screen regardless of the number of days specified in the policy.

When the app is run and the number of days in the policy has passed, there should be a Toast notification showing that the usage report has been uploaded successfully.
To test this feature, in Settings > System > Date & time from the emulator, toggle Use network-provided time to off.
Change the Date to a day in the future and re-run the app (quit first). The usage report should be uploaded automatically.