Advanced guide

Last updated 10/03/2026

1. Set user IDs

By default, the SDK instance uses a random UUID as each user's default distinct ID, which serves as the user's identifier when they are not logged in. Note that the distinct ID changes when the user reinstalls the app or switches devices.

1.1 Set the distinct ID

tip

In most cases, you don't need to customize the distinct ID. Make sure that you understand the user identification rules before you set a distinct ID.

If you need to replace the distinct ID, call the method immediately after the SDK is initialized. Do not call it multiple times, to avoid creating useless accounts.

If your app has its own distinct ID management system for each user, you can call setDistinctId to set the distinct ID:

// Set the distinct ID to Thinker
TDAnalytics.setDistinctId("Thinker");

To get the current distinct ID, call getDistinctId:

//Return the distinct ID
String distinctId = await TDAnalytics.getDistinctId();

1.2 Set the account ID

When a user logs in, you can call login to set the user's account ID. The AE platform uses the account ID as the identifier, and the account ID you set is kept until logout is called. Calling login multiple times overwrites the previous account ID.

// The unique login identifier of the user, which corresponds to #account_id in the reported data. In this case, the value of #account_id is TA
TDAnalytics.login("TA");

This method does not upload a login event

1.3 Clear the account ID

After a user logs out, you can call logout to clear the account ID. Until login is called again, the distinct ID is used as the identifier.

TDAnalytics.logout();

We recommend calling logout only on explicit logout events, for example when the user deletes their account, rather than when the app is closed.

This method does not upload a logout event

2. Send events

After the SDK is initialized, you can start tracking data to collect user behavior. In most cases, regular events meet business needs. You can also use first events, updatable events, and other event types based on your actual business scenarios.

2.1 Regular events

You can call track to upload events. We recommend setting event properties and the conditions for sending events according to the document you prepared earlier. The following example tracks a user purchasing a product:

TDAnalytics.track('product_buy', properties: <String, dynamic>{'product_name': 'Product Name'});

2.2 First events

A first event is an event that is recorded only once for a given device or an ID of another dimension. For example, in some scenarios you may want to record the activation event on a device; you can report this data as a first event.

//Example: report a device first event, assuming the event name is device_activation
var properties = {'key': 'value'};
TDFirstEventModel firstModel =TDFirstEventModel('device_activation','', properties);
TDAnalytics.trackEventModel(firstModel);

If you want to determine whether an event is the first one based on a dimension other than the device, you can customize first_check_id for the first event:

// Set the user ID as the first_check_id of the first event to track first-time user activation
var properties = {'key': 'value'};
TDFirstEventModel firstModel =TDFirstEventModel('device_activation','TA', properties);
TDAnalytics.trackEventModel(firstModel);

Note: Because the first-event check is performed on the server, first events are stored with a 1-hour delay by default.

2.3 Updatable events

You can use updatable events to modify event data in specific scenarios. An updatable event requires an ID that identifies the event, which you pass in when you create the updatable event object. The AE backend determines which data to update based on the event name and event ID.

// Example: report an updatable event, assuming the event name is UPDATABLE_EVENT
// After reporting, the event property status is 3 and price is 100
var properties = {
  'status': 3,
  'price': 100
};
TDUpdatableEventModel updateModel = TDUpdatableEventModel('UPDATABLE_EVENT', 'test_event_id', properties);
TDAnalytics.trackEventModel(updateModel);

// After reporting, the event property status is updated to 5 and price is unchanged
var properties_new = {
  'status': 5
};
var updateModel_new = TDUpdatableEventModel('UPDATABLE_EVENT', 'test_event_id', properties_new);
TDAnalytics.trackEventModel(updateModel_new);

2.4 Overwritable events

Overwritable events are similar to updatable events, except that an overwritable event completely overwrites historical data with the latest data. In effect, the previous record is deleted and the latest data is ingested. The AE backend determines which data to update based on the event name and event ID.

// Example: report an overwritable event, assuming the event name is OVERWRITABLE_EVENT
// After reporting, the event property status is 3 and price is 100
var properties = {
    'status': 3,
    'price': 100
};
var overwriteModel = TDOverWritableEventModel('OVERWRITABLE_EVENT', 'test_event_id', properties);
TDAnalytics.trackEventModel(overwriteModel);

// After reporting, the event property status is 5 and the price property is deleted
var properties_new = {
    'status': 5
};
var overwriteModel_new = TDOverWritableEventModel('OVERWRITABLE_EVENT', 'test_event_id', properties_new);
TDAnalytics.trackEventModel(overwriteModel_new);

2.5 Super properties

Super properties are properties that are uploaded with every event. Based on how often they are updated, super properties are divided into static super properties and dynamic super properties. You can choose different ways to set super properties based on your business scenarios; we recommend setting super properties before sending events. For the same event, when a super property, a custom event property, and a preset property have the same key, values are assigned in the following order of priority: custom properties > dynamic super properties > static super properties > preset properties.

2.5.1 Static super properties

Static super properties are properties that change infrequently and are carried by every event, such as a user's membership level. After you set static super properties through setSuperProperties, the SDK adds them to each event as event properties when the event is collected.

Map<String, dynamic> superProperties = {
  'vip_level': 2
};
TDAnalytics.setSuperProperties(superProperties);

Static super properties are saved in the cache, so you don't need to call this every time the app starts. If a property already exists, the new value overwrites the existing value; if the property did not exist before, it is created. Besides setting properties, we also provide other APIs for working with static super properties to meet day-to-day business needs.

// Clear the super property named SUPER_LIST
TDAnalytics.unsetSuperProperty('SUPER_LIST');
// Clear all super properties
TDAnalytics.clearSuperProperties();
//Get all super properties
await TDAnalytics.getSuperProperties();

2.5.2 Dynamic super properties

Dynamic super properties are properties that change frequently and are carried by every event, such as the number of coins a user has. After you use setDynamicSuperProperties to set the dynamic super property class, the SDK automatically gets the dynamic super properties when an event is collected and adds them to the triggered event. To set dynamic super properties, pass in a function that returns the Map<String, dynamic> type, as shown below:

// Set dynamic super properties. Dynamic super properties don't support auto-tracked events
TDAnalytics.setDynamicSuperProperties((){
  return <String, dynamic> {
    'DYNAMIC_DATE': DateTime.now().toUtc(),
  };
});

Dynamic super properties currently don't support auto-tracked events.

2.6 Track event duration

To record how long an event lasts, call timeEvent to start timing. Specify the name of the event you want to time; when you upload that event, the #duration property is automatically added to its event properties to indicate the recorded duration in seconds. Note that only one timing task can run for the same event name at a time.

//The following example measures how long a user stays on a product page
//The user enters the product page and timing starts
TDAnalytics.timeEvent('stay_shop');
// do some thing...
//The user leaves the product page and timing ends. The "stay_shop" event will carry the #duration property that indicates the event duration
TDAnalytics.track("stay_shop");

3. User properties

The user property APIs currently supported by the AE platform are userSet, userSetOnce, userAdd, userUnset, userDelete, userAppend, and userUniqAppend

3.1 userSet

For general user properties, you can call userSet to set them. Properties uploaded through this API overwrite the existing property values. If the user property did not exist before, it is created with the same type as the value passed in. The following example sets the user name.

TDAnalytics.userSet(<String, dynamic>{'user_name': 'TA'});  //user_name is now TA
TDAnalytics.userSet(<String, dynamic>{'user_name': 'AE'});  //user_name is now AE

Property format requirements are the same as for event properties.

3.2 userSetOnce

If a user property only needs to be set once, you can call userSetOnce to set it. If the property already has a value, this call is ignored. The following example sets the first payment time:

//first_payment_time is 2018-01-01 01:23:45.678
TDAnalytics.userSetOnce(<String, dynamic>{'first_payment_time': '2018-01-01 01:23:45.678'});
//first_payment_time is still 2018-01-01 01:23:45.678
TDAnalytics.userSetOnce(<String, dynamic>{'first_payment_time': '2018-12-31 01:23:45.678'});

3.3 userAdd

When you upload a numeric property, you can call userAdd to accumulate its value. If the property has not been set yet, it is assigned 0 before the calculation. You can pass a negative value, which is equivalent to subtraction. The following example accumulates the total payment amount:

 //total_revenue is now 30
TDAnalytics.userAdd(<String, num>{ 'total_revenue': 30});
//total_revenue is now 678
TDAnalytics.userAdd(<String, num>{ 'total_revenue': 648});

3.4 userUnset

If you need to reset a property of a user, you can call userUnset to delete the value of the specified user property:

TDAnalytics.userUnset('USER_INT');

userUnset: The value passed in is the Key of the property to clear.

3.5 userDelete

To delete a user, you can call userDelete. After that, you can no longer query the user's user properties, but the events generated by the user can still be queried:

TDAnalytics.userDelete();

3.6 userAppend

You can call userAppend to append elements to user properties of the List type:

TDAnalytics.userAppend(<String, List>{
  'USER_LIST': ['apple','ball'],
});

3.7 userUniqAppend

You can call userUniqAppend to append values to a user property of the array type. userUniqAppend deduplicates the appended user property values, whereas userAppend doesn't, so the user property may contain duplicates.

//The value of user_list is now ["apple","ball"]
TDAnalytics.userAppend(<String, List>{ 'user_list': ['apple','ball']});
//The value of user_list is now ["apple","apple","ball","cube"]
TDAnalytics.userAppend(<String, List>{ 'user_list': ['apple','cube']});
//The value of user_list is now ["apple","ball","cube"]
TDAnalytics.userUniqAppend(<String, List>{ 'user_list': ['apple','cube']});

4. Encryption

The SDK supports encryption. The client encrypts data with AES+RSA, and the server then decrypts it. Encryption and decryption require cooperation between the client and the server. For details, contact your customer success representative. You can enable encryption for data transfer when you initialize the SDK.

TDConfig config = TDConfig();
config.appId = "APP_ID";
config.serverUrl = "SERVER_URL";
//Configure key information such as the version number and public key
config.enableEncrypt(1,"publicKey");
TDAnalytics.initWithConfig(config);

5. Integrate with H5 pages

To connect with the JavaScript SDK that collects data from H5 pages, call the following API. For details, see the Connect H5 with the app SDK section

controller = WebViewController();
TDAnalytics.setJsBridge(controller);

6. Other features

6.1 Get the device ID

After the SDK is initialized, it automatically generates a device ID and stores it in the local cache. For the same app or game, the device ID of a device doesn't change. You can call getDeviceId to get the device ID:

String deviceId = await TDAnalytics.getDeviceId();

6.2 Set the default time zone

By default, the occurrence time of all data is set to the local device time. If your product is used across multiple time zones and you want to align the data time to a specified time zone, you can pass in timeZone to set the time zone. timeZone must be a valid time zone string, such as UTC or Asia/Shanghai.

By default, the SDK reports the local device time at the moment of the API call as the event time. You can also specify a default time zone through the API for setting the default time zone, so that the event time of all events is aligned to the time zone you set:

TDConfig config = TDConfig();
config.appId = "appId";
config.serverUrl = "serverUrl";
config.timeZone = "UTC";
TDAnalytics.initWithConfig(config);

Aligning the event time to a specified time zone discards the device's local time zone information. To keep the device's local time zone information, you currently need to add the relevant property to events yourself.

6.3 Calibrate time

By default, the SDK uses the local device time as the event time. If users manually change the device time, your business analysis may be affected. In this case, you can calibrate the time to keep the event time accurate. We provide two time calibration methods: timestamp and NTP.

• You can calibrate the SDK time with the current timestamp obtained from the server. After that, all calls that don't specify a time, including event data and user property operations, use the calibrated time as the time of occurrence.

// 1585633785954 is the current Unix timestamp in milliseconds, corresponding to Beijing time 2020-03-31 13:49:45
TDAnalytics.calibrateTime(1585633785954);

• You can also set an NTP server address. The SDK then tries to get the current time from that NTP server and calibrates the SDK time. If no correct response is received within the default timeout (3 seconds), data is reported with the local time afterward.

// Calibrate time with the Apple NTP service
TDAnalytics.calibrateTimeWithNtp("time.apple.com");

1. Time calibration with an NTP service involves some uncertainty. We recommend calibrating with a timestamp whenever possible.

2. Choose your NTP server address carefully so that user devices can quickly get the server time when the network is in good condition.