A/B Smartly SDK
A/B Smartly Ruby SDK
Compatibility
The A/B Smartly Ruby SDK is compatible with Ruby versions 2.7 and later. For the best performance and code readability, Ruby 3 or later is recommended. This SDK is being constantly tested with the nightly builds of Ruby, to ensure it is compatible with the latest Ruby version.
Getting Started
Install the SDK
Install the gem and add to the application's Gemfile by executing:
$ bundle add absmartly-sdk
If bundler is not being used to manage dependencies, install the gem by executing:
$ gem install absmartly-sdk
Import and Initialize the SDK
Once the SDK is installed, it can be initialized in your project.
Absmartly.configure_client do |config|
config.endpoint = "https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1"
config.api_key = "YOUR-API-KEY"
config.application = "website"
config.environment = "development"
end
SDK Options
Config | Type | Required? | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
endpoint | string |
✅ | undefined |
The URL to your API endpoint. Most commonly "your-company.absmartly.io"
|
apiKey | string |
✅ | undefined |
Your API key which can be found on the Web Console. |
environment |
"production" or "development"
|
✅ | undefined |
The environment of the platform where the SDK is installed. Environments are created on the Web Console and should match the available environments in your infrastructure. |
application | string |
✅ | undefined |
The name of the application where the SDK is installed. Applications are created on the Web Console and should match the applications where your experiments will be running. |
retries | number |
❌ | 5 |
The number of retries before the SDK stops trying to connect. |
timeout | number |
❌ | 3000 |
An amount of time, in milliseconds, before the SDK will stop trying to connect. |
eventLogger | (context, eventName, data) => void |
❌ | See "Using a Custom Event Logger" below | A callback function which runs after SDK events. |
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 [CONTEXT_CONFIG_VARIABLE]
.
Custom Event Logger Code
The data parameter depends on the type of event. Currently, the SDK logs the following events:
eventName | when | data |
---|---|---|
"error" |
Context receives an error |
error object thrown |
"ready" |
Context turns ready |
data used to initialize the context |
"refresh" |
Context.refresh() method succeeds |
data used to refresh the context |
"publish" |
Context.publish() method succeeds |
data sent to the A/B Smartly event collector |
"exposure" |
Context.treatment() method succeeds on first exposure |
exposure data enqueued for publishing |
"goal" |
Context.track() method succeeds |
goal data enqueued for publishing |
"close" |
Context.close() method succeeds the first time |
nil |
Create a New Context Request
context_config = Absmartly.create_context_config
With Prefetched Data
client_config = ClientConfig.new(
endpoint: 'https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1',
api_key: 'YOUR-API-KEY',
application: 'website',
environment: 'development')
sdk_config = ABSmartlyConfig.create
sdk_config.client = Client.create(client_config)
sdk = Absmartly.create(sdk_config)
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.
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
treatment
is called again.
Setting Extra Units
You can add additional units to a context by calling the set_unit()
or
set_units()
methods. These methods may be used, for example, when a user
logs in to your application and you want to use the new unit type in the
context.
Please note, you cannot override an already set unit type as that would be
a change of identity and would throw an exception. In this case, you must
create a new context instead. The set_unit()
and
set_units()
methods can be called before the context is ready.
context_config.set_unit('session_id', 'bf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8')
context_config.set_unit('user_id', '123456')
context = Absmartly.create_context(context_config)
or
context_config.set_units(
session_id: 'bf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8',
user_id: '123456'
)
context = Absmartly.create_context(context_config)
Basic Usage
Selecting A Treatment
treatment = context.treatment('exp_test_experiment')
if treatment.zero?
# user is in control group (variant 0)
else
# user is in treatment group
end
Treatment Variables
default_button_color_value = 'red'
context.variable_value('experiment_name', default_button_color_value)
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 peek_treatment()
method for that.
treatment = context.peek_treatment('exp_test_experiment')
Peeking at variables
treatment = context.peek_variable_value('exp_test_experiment')
Overriding Treatment Variants
During development, for example, it is useful to force a treatment for an
experiment. This can be achieved with the set_override()
and/or set_overrides()
methods. These methods can be called before the context is ready.
context.set_override("exp_test_experiment", 1) # force variant 1 of treatment
context.set_overrides(
'exp_test_experiment' => 1,
'exp_another_experiment' => 0,
)
Advanced
Context Attributes
Attributes are used to pass meta-data about the user and/or the request.
They can be used later in the Web Console to create segments or audiences.
They can be set using the set_attribute()
or set_attributes()
methods, before or after the context is ready.
context.set_attribute('session_id', session_id)
context.set_attributes(
'customer_age' => 'new_customer'
)
Custom Assignments
Sometimes it may be necessary to override the automatic selection of a
variant. For example, if you wish to have your variant chosen based on
data from an API call. This can be accomplished using the
set_custom_assignment()
method.
chosen_variant = 1
context.set_custom_assignment('experiment_name', chosen_variant)
If you are running multiple experiments and need to choose different
custom assignments for each one, you can do so using the
set_custom_assignments()
method.
assignments = [
'experiment_name' => 1,
'another_experiment_name' => 0,
'a_third_experiment_name' => 2
]
context.set_custom_assignments(assignments)
Publish
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()
methods.
context.publish
Finalize
The close()
method 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
Tracking Goals
context.track(
'payment',
{ item_count: 1, total_amount: 1999.99 }
)