A first version of having the possibility to create mobile apps #8045

tsteur · 2015-06-05T05:26:30Z

New wording

Type: Can be a "Website", "Mobile App", later a car, a server, ...
Properties: So far we only had "Websites". We will use the term "Properties" as soon as multiple types are enabled and / or if multiple types are actually used. It depends where it is used. In the future we will no longer work based on Sites but on Properties. Not for now though...

This is only a first version since we will need this feature for a Piwik Pro plugin soon. To make it really nice we need to refactor the Settings API (which let's you currently create PluginSettings only, so everything is related to plugins, not properties). Also we need to change many other things and this is not doable in a short time frame. Therefore I made it more or less "work". It will be a bit nicer for Piwik 3.0.0 when we can also change APIs and spend more time on it. None of the new PropertySettings API etc will be actually public API as we will remove/change it very soon again.

There are new plugins WebsiteType and MobileAppType. Let me now re naming. I can name it only Website and MobileApp but we might want to use this for other things in the future. I do not really mind. MobileAppType is disabled by default so far most users nothing really changes. I do not think we will announce this MobileAppType thing big is it does not yet have a real value. This will be added over time.

Once multiple types are enabled we use "Add new property" (in Sites Management only so far) and we will let a user choose what type to create. The PropertySettings API let's you define custom settings for properties. Eg the type MobileAppType defines a custom setting "App ID". On top plugins can add custom settings for all properties or only settings for a certain type.

@mattab you might want to have a look re the descriptions in the Types. I will leave a note in the code.

tsteur · 2015-06-05T05:30:02Z

core/Db/Schema/Mysql.php

@@ -102,6 +102,14 @@ public function getTablesCreateSql()
                            ) ENGINE=$engine DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8
            ",

+            'site_setting'    => "CREATE TABLE {$prefixTables}site_setting (


We will store property settings in this table. The setting_value will be serialized as a Setting can define a type and we do not want to lose that type, eg an array.

Will it be serialized using serialize()? Unless it's really not practical it would be good to find alternatives instead of storing serialized strings: it is only readable by PHP, it forces us to keep the same class/property names for objects, the format could change (e.g. even today a Piwik install cannot be migrated from PHP to HHVM because of that: not same serialization format), etc.

It will be serialized for now yes. We might change it later but since it can store anything and we do need to keep the type of the setting_value for now. json etc would lose the type under circumstances eg Array vs Objects.

It doesn't store any instances there. Only array, stdClass, int, float, ...

mnapoli · 2015-06-07T15:04:53Z

I haven't had a look in details yet:

I don't get the name "property", I don't see what it is a property of? Could we use something like "application"? (e.g. track a web application, mobile application, …) or even "project" even though it's generic. But I feel very lost by "property".

There are new plugins WebsiteType and MobileAppType. Let me now re naming. I can name it only Website and MobileApp but we might want to use this for other things in the future.

+1 for naming them with the Type suffix as that's what they are. A Website object should represent a website, not the "website type". I'd like Piwik to have objects instead of arrays for representing model "structures", so Website would be such a class.

tsteur · 2015-06-07T20:56:53Z

We thought about many possible names for that and none of them was really good. Application is not really good as it could be anything, even a Retail Store. In the end we went with Properties so far as GA uses this naming as well so it will be at least familiar for many users and we reckon they had a lot of thoughts about the best naming for this.

Something generic is actually good since it is a name for something generic, although not sure if "Projects" is better. Maybe there are some other suggestions by anyone?

mattab · 2015-06-07T23:21:16Z

plugins/MobileAppType/plugin.json

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+  "name": "MobileAppType",
+  "description": "Allows you to create Mobile Apps"


suggested: Analytics for Mobile: lets you create 'Mobile App' properties. Measure user interactions on mobile with a SDK for iOS, Android or Titanium.

What about something like Analytics for Mobile: lets you manage 'Mobile App' properties and creates an optimized perspective of your mobile data.. The SDKs are rather irrelevant and what the type actually does is presenting the data in a different perspective by showing different reports, using different naming, etc.

diosmosis · 2015-06-08T00:05:27Z

Haven't looked much, quick wording suggestions:

Instead of Type, how about Trackable?
Instead of Properties, how about TypeProperties (or TrackableProperties)? If Properties are meant to describe properties of Types, then adding that context to the word will make it clearer what it is.

~~Also, I cannot tell what the difference between Properties & Types are. Is one a word and the other a class name?~~ Think I understand this, correct me if I'm wrong.

Can you provide in the ticket description an overview of the entire system?

mnapoli · 2015-06-08T09:35:59Z

@diosmosis If I understand correctly a Type is the same as a class, and a Property is the instance of the Type (i.e. same as object).

E.g. type could be "Mobile App", and property could be "Uber" (which is a mobile app).

The thing is I don't see what they are a property of? When I lookup the definition of the word, the closest thing is:

An attribute or abstract quality associated with an individual, object or concept

Or also:

An editable or read-only parameter associated with an application, component or class, or the value of such a parameter.

I find this word very confusing as it suggests there is a larger entity to which properties are attached (and properties "describe" this larger entity).

How about Resource? This is a term used in GA's documentation.

Google Analytics understands a property only as a resource associated with your tracking code. When you track a resource using Google Analytics, you include a property ID in the tracking code that you put on your web pages or in your app source code.

mattab · 2015-06-08T09:48:55Z

definitely it's good to discuss whether there is a better name

An attribute or abstract quality associated with an individual, object or concept

The thing is I don't see what they are a property of?

eg. a website property is an abstract quality of an individual (or organisation or business)

It is a bit far fetched but it works

How about Resource? This is a term used in GA's documentation.

Resource is not bad, we didn't consider this one before. is it used consistently across GA doc instead of Property, ie. do they use both terms for same meaning?

tsteur · 2015-06-08T20:48:03Z

Instead of Type, how about Trackable?

Not really. In the future we will not only have Trackable things. We will also import data etc.

Can you provide in the ticket description an overview of the entire system?

What do you mean of the entire system? I haven't added "much" yet so not sure what do describe.

How about Resource?

That could work. I think they see "Property" rather as "Possessions/Goods/Wares/Things/Movables/..." it's also a synonym for Resource. As a developer we might see this rather from a technical view which makes it more confusing for us than for users. The closest definition that you mentioned are only the closest from a technical view, not from an everyday English equivalent.

When choosing a name please also keep in mind that we do not only want to have tracked "things" but also imported "things" etc.

@diosmosis If I understand correctly a Type is the same as a class, and a Property is the instance of the Type (i.e. same as object). E.g. type could be "Mobile App", and property could be "Uber" (which is a mobile app)

Yep that's pretty much it. A property can be associated with any type, eg "Mobile App".

diosmosis · 2015-06-10T06:53:35Z

Measurable seems a little too forced but it's more of a feeling.

I think I understand what you're saying, measuring relates more to individual metrics (ie, measuring length or measuring time) rather than whole reports. Which isn't to say tracking relates to reporting in any way. It just doesn't make you think about measurements vs aggregated reports, so you don't notice it. I suppose this is a variation of the problem w/ Trackable, which makes you think of tracking, even though tracking may not be involved.

I think Measurable still works as viable wording though, and it's definitely better than Property/Resource, IMO ;)

tsteur · 2015-06-11T05:13:14Z

So from my understanding we go with Measurable and MeasurableType for now?

I'd maybe also rename the plugins WebsiteType and MobileAppType to WebsiteMeasurable and MobileAppMeasurable? or WebsiteMeasurableType and MobileAppMeasurableType or keep the names?

mnapoli · 2015-06-11T12:10:03Z

So from my understanding we go with Measurable and MeasurableType for now?

+1

For the plugins we could name them on what they do (what they bring to Piwik): e.g. WebsiteTracking and MobileAppTracking? WebsiteMeasurable & others sound redundant, like ManHuman (i.e. a website is a measurable already).

mnapoli · 2015-06-11T12:16:22Z

core/Property/Property.php

+/**
+ * Provides access to individual properties.
+ */
+class Property extends Site


Why does property/measurable extends site (and not the other way around)? Is it only a shortcut for now (will be changed later)?

We will most likely change it later. For now not really important. I only want to add this feature on top of the current solution as simple as possible so we can later easily change it again

tsteur · 2015-06-12T00:19:25Z

WebsiteTracking and MobileAppTracking sounds good

tsteur · 2015-06-12T02:19:50Z

Actually, after starting to rename them I'm not sure about WebsiteTracking and MobileAppTracking anymore. Doesn't it kinda indicate one needs them to track websites or mobile apps? One can still track them without them. Only which reports are presented changes when they are used and some naming. It would be maybe still better than WebsiteType but think there would be a better solution.

tsteur · 2015-06-12T02:24:08Z

The classes MeasurableSettings and MeasurableSetting etc. will sound a bit weird as well or not? It indicates we create a setting that is measurable. Was PropertySettings and PropertySetting before.
Same would be fore TrackableSettings etc.

tsteur · 2015-06-15T01:53:12Z

Changed the naming to Measurables, added a few UI tests (not too many since we will change it soon again anyway) see https://github.com/piwik/piwik-ui-tests/commit/70c0d772fb74ff3c2c08d1ded9b155517e7b6a2a and applied some feedback from reviews.

Renamed the plugins to WebsiteMeasurable and MobileAppMeasurable see previous commit. WebsiteTracking would be kinda wrong and could lead to false expectations. We can still change it any time. Nothing of it will be public API.

mnapoli · 2015-06-15T09:22:00Z

core/Measurable/Type/Manager.php

+use Piwik\Plugin\Manager as PluginManager;
+use Piwik\Measurable\Type;
+
+class Manager


If we could avoid another Manager class that would be great :)

use Piwik\Plugin\Manager as PluginManager are so boring to write (e.g. in this very file), and Manager type-hints are confusing. TypeManager or MeasurableTypeManager? (I have no preference between both)

I will rename it but we should discuss this in general at some point. I don't mind writing the as statements. MeasurableTypeManager then we can also just avoid namespaces and put everything in one folder :)

Renamed it to TypeManager. Btw I often just write Type\Manager see eg 1e9e91b#diff-700dbb21e8c2b2cf9dc0a56a71eb86b4L49

Created follow up issue #8115

mnapoli · 2015-06-15T09:23:23Z

one last comment about a class name (above) and looks good to me

mattab · 2015-06-16T01:14:44Z

Hi @kaz231 - this is the Pull request that should help you with Mobile App Manager. feel free to ask thomas any question if you have!

A first version of having the possibility to create mobile apps

tsteur added this to the 2.14.0 milestone Jun 5, 2015

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tsteur force-pushed the 7893 branch from 7aa8c7d to af8f667 Compare June 15, 2015 01:25

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tsteur mentioned this pull request Jun 16, 2015

Naming of classes like Manager #8115

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tsteur force-pushed the 7893 branch from 1e9e91b to 0ec0da5 Compare June 17, 2015 03:05

tsteur added 4 commits June 17, 2015 05:09

refs #7893 added possibility to measure mobile apps

1850138

added some ui tests

cf2e367

renamed Manager to TypeManager

ba7ca3d

fix system test

83fa1e7

tsteur force-pushed the 7893 branch from 17445bb to 83fa1e7 Compare June 17, 2015 05:09

tsteur added a commit that referenced this pull request Jun 17, 2015

Merge pull request #8045 from piwik/7893

3708094

A first version of having the possibility to create mobile apps

tsteur merged commit 3708094 into master Jun 17, 2015

tsteur deleted the 7893 branch June 17, 2015 05:10

mattab added the c: i18n For issues around internationalisation and localisation. label Oct 13, 2015

mattab added the answered For when a question was asked and we referred to forum or answered it. label Oct 5, 2016

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A first version of having the possibility to create mobile apps #8045

A first version of having the possibility to create mobile apps #8045

tsteur commented Jun 5, 2015

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A first version of having the possibility to create mobile apps #8045

A first version of having the possibility to create mobile apps #8045

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