Activity Stream Pings¶
The Activity Stream system add-on sends various types of pings to the backend (HTTPS POST) Onyx server :
a
healthping that reports whether or not a user has a custom about:home or about:newtab pagea
sessionping that describes the ending of an Activity Stream session (a new tab is closed or refreshed), andan
eventping that records specific data about individual user interactions while interacting with Activity Streaman
impression_statsping that records data about Pocket impressions and user interactions
Schema definitions/validations that can be used for tests can be found in system-addon/test/schemas/pings.js.
Example Activity Stream health log¶
{
"addon_version": "20180710100040",
"client_id": "374dc4d8-0cb2-4ac5-a3cf-c5a9bc3c602e",
"locale": "en-US",
"version": "62.0a1",
"release_channel": "nightly",
"event": "AS_ENABLED",
"value": 10,
// These fields are generated on the server
"date": "2016-03-07",
"ip": "10.192.171.13",
"ua": "python-requests/2.9.1",
"receive_at": 1457396660000
}
Example Activity Stream session Log¶
{
// These fields are sent from the client
"action": "activity_stream_session",
"addon_version": "20180710100040",
"client_id": "374dc4d8-0cb2-4ac5-a3cf-c5a9bc3c602e",
"locale": "en-US",
"page": ["about:newtab" | "about:home" | "about:welcome" | "unknown"],
"session_duration": 1635,
"session_id": "{12dasd-213asda-213dkakj}",
"profile_creation_date": 14786,
"user_prefs": 7
// These fields are generated on the server
"date": "2016-03-07",
"ip": "10.192.171.13",
"ua": "python-requests/2.9.1",
"receive_at": 1457396660000
}
Example Activity Stream user_event Log¶
{
"action": "activity_stream_user_event",
"action_position": "3",
"addon_version": "20180710100040",
"client_id": "374dc4d8-0cb2-4ac5-a3cf-c5a9bc3c602e",
"event": "click or scroll or search or delete",
"locale": "en-US",
"page": ["about:newtab" | "about:home" | "about:welcome" | "unknown"],
"source": "top sites, or bookmarks, or...",
"session_id": "{12dasd-213asda-213dkakj}",
"recommender_type": "pocket-trending",
"metadata_source": "MetadataService or Local or TippyTopProvider",
"user_prefs": 7
// These fields are generated on the server
"ip": "10.192.171.13",
"ua": "python-requests/2.9.1",
"receive_at": 1457396660000,
"date": "2016-03-07",
}
Example Activity Stream impression_stats Logs¶
{
"impression_id": "{005deed0-e3e4-4c02-a041-17405fd703f6}",
"addon_version": "20180710100040",
"locale": "en-US",
"source": "pocket",
"page": ["about:newtab" | "about:home" | "about:welcome" | "unknown"]
"tiles": [{"id": 10000}, {"id": 10001}, {"id": 10002}]
"user_prefs": 7,
"window_inner_width": 1000,
"window_inner_height" 900
}
{
"impression_id": "{005deed0-e3e4-4c02-a041-17405fd703f6}",
"addon_version": "20180710100040",
"locale": "en-US",
"source": "pocket",
"page": "unknown",
"user_prefs": 7,
"window_inner_width": 1000,
"window_inner_height" 900,
// "pos" is the 0-based index to record the tile's position in the Pocket section.
// "shim" is a base64 encoded shim attached to spocs, unique to the impression from the Ad server.
"tiles": [{"id": 10000, "pos": 0, "shim": "enuYa1j73z3RzxgTexHNxYPC/b,9JT6w5KB0CRKYEU+"}],
// A 0-based index to record which tile in the "tiles" list that the user just interacted with.
"click|block|pocket": 0
}
Example Activity Stream Router Pings¶
{
"client_id": "n/a",
"action": ["snippets_user_event" | "onboarding_user_event"],
"impression_id": "{005deed0-e3e4-4c02-a041-17405fd703f6}",
"source": "pocket",
"addon_version": "20180710100040",
"locale": "en-US",
"source": "NEWTAB_FOOTER_BAR",
"message_id": "some_snippet_id",
"event": "IMPRESSION",
"event_context": "{\"view\":\"application_menu\"}"
}
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| KEY | DESCRIPTION | |
+============================+======================================================================================================================================================+==================+
| ``action_position`` | [Optional] The index of the element in the ``source`` that was clicked. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``action`` | [Required] Either ``activity_stream_event`` or ``activity_stream_session``. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``addon_version`` | [Required] Firefox build ID, i.e. ``Services.appinfo.appBuildID``. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``advertiser`` | [Optional] An identifier for the advertiser used by the sponsored TopSites telemetry pings. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``client_id`` | [Required] An identifier for this client. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``card_type`` | [Optional] ("bookmark", "pocket", "trending", "pinned", "search", "spoc", "organic") | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``context_id`` | [Optional] An identifier used by the sponsored TopSites telemetry pings. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``search_vendor`` | [Optional] the vendor of the search shortcut, one of ("google", "amazon", "wikipedia", "duckduckgo", "bing", etc.). This field only exists when | |
| | ``card_type = "search"`` | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``date`` | [Auto populated by Onyx] The date in YYYY-MM-DD format. | :three: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``shield_id`` | [Optional] DEPRECATED: use `experiments` instead. The unique identifier for a specific experiment. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``event`` | [Required] The type of event. Any user defined string ("click", "share", "delete", "more\_items") | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``event_context`` | [Optional] A string to record the context of an AS Router event ping. Compound context values will be stringified by JSON.stringify | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``highlight_type`` | [Optional] Either ["bookmarks", "recommendation", "history"]. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``impression_id`` | [Optional] The unique impression identifier for a specific client. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``ip`` | [Auto populated by Onyx] The IP address of the client. | :two: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``locale`` | [Auto populated by Onyx] The browser chrome's language (eg. en-US). | :two: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``load_trigger_ts`` | [Optional][Server Counter][Server Alert for too many omissions] DOMHighResTimeStamp of the action perceived by the user to trigger the load of this | |
| | page. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``load_trigger_type`` | [Server Counter][Server Alert for too many omissions] Either ["first\_window\_opened", "menu\_plus\_or\_keyboard", "unexpected"]. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``metadata_source`` | [Optional] The source of which we computed metadata. Either (``MetadataService`` or ``Local`` or ``TippyTopProvider``). | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``page`` | [Required] One of ["about:newtab", "about:home", "about:welcome", "unknown" (which either means not-applicable or is a bug)]. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``position`` | [Optional] An integer indicating the placement (1-based) of the sponsored TopSites tile. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``recommender_type`` | [Optional] The type of recommendation that is being shown, if any. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``reporting_url`` | [Optional] A URL used by Mozilla services for impression and click reporting for the sponsored TopSites. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``session_duration`` | [Optional][Server Counter][Server Alert for too many omissions] Time in (integer) milliseconds of the difference between the new tab becoming visible| :one: |
| | and losing focus | |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``session_id`` | [Optional] The unique identifier for a specific session. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``source`` (AS) | [Required] Either ("recent\_links", "recent\_bookmarks", "frecent\_links", "top\_sites", "spotlight", "sidebar") and indicates what ``action``. | :two: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``source`` (CS) | [Optional] Either "newtab" or "urlbar" indicating the location of the TopSites pings for Contextual Services. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``received_at`` | [Auto populated by Onyx] The time in ms since epoch. | :three: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``tile_id`` | [Optional] An integer identifier for a sponsored TopSites tile. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``total_bookmarks`` | [Optional] The total number of bookmarks in the user's places db. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``total_history_size`` | [Optional] The number of history items currently in the user's places db. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``ua`` | [Auto populated by Onyx] The user agent string. | :two: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``unload_reason`` | [Required] The reason the Activity Stream page lost focus. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``url`` | [Optional] The URL of the recommendation shown in one of the highlights spots, if any. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``value`` (event) | [Optional] An object with keys "icon\_type", "card\_type" and "pocket\_logged\_in\_status" to record the extra information for event ping | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``ver`` | [Auto populated by Onyx] The version of the Onyx API the ping was sent to. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``highlights_size`` | [Optional] The size of the Highlights set. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| highlights_data_late_by_ms | [Optional] Time in ms it took for Highlights to become initialized | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| topsites_data_late_by_ms | [Optional] Time in ms it took for TopSites to become initialized | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| topsites_first_painted_ts | [Optional][Service Counter][Server Alert for too many omissions] Timestamp of when the Top Sites element finished painting (possibly with only | |
| | placeholder screenshots) | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``custom_screenshot`` | [Optional] Number of topsites that display a custom screenshot. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``screenshot_with_icon`` | [Optional] Number of topsites that display a screenshot and a favicon. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``screenshot`` | [Optional] Number of topsites that display only a screenshot. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``tippytop`` | [Optional] Number of topsites that display a tippytop icon. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``rich_icon`` | [Optional] Number of topsites that display a high quality favicon. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``no_image`` | [Optional] Number of topsites that have no screenshot. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``topsites_pinned`` | [Optional] Number of topsites that are pinned. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| topsites_search_shortcuts | [Optional] Number of search shortcut topsites. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| visibility_event_rcvd_ts | [Optional][Server Counter][Server Alert for too many omissions] DOMHighResTimeStamp of when the page itself receives an event that | |
| | document.visibilityState == visible. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``tiles`` | [Required] A list of tile objects for the Pocket articles. Each tile object mush have a ID, optionally a "pos" property to indicate the tile | |
| | position, and optionally a "shim" property unique to the impression from the Ad server | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``click`` | [Optional] An integer to record the 0-based index when user clicks on a Pocket tile. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``block`` | [Optional] An integer to record the 0-based index when user blocks a Pocket tile. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``pocket`` | [Optional] An integer to record the 0-based index when user saves a Pocket tile to Pocket. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``window_inner_width`` | [Optional] Amount of vertical space in pixels available to the window. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``window_inner_height`` | [Optional] Amount of horizontal space in pixels available to the window. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``user_prefs`` | [Required] The encoded integer of user's preferences. | :one: & :four: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``is_preloaded`` | [Required] A boolean to signify whether the page is preloaded or not | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``icon_type`` | [Optional] ("tippytop", "rich\_icon", "screenshot\_with\_icon", "screenshot", "no\_image", "custom\_screenshot") | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``region`` | [Optional] A string maps to pref "browser.search.region", which is essentially the two letter ISO 3166-1 country code populated by the Firefox | |
| | search service. Note that: 1). it reports "OTHER" for those regions with smaller Firefox user base (less than 10000) so that users cannot be | |
| | uniquely identified; 2). it reports "UNSET" if this pref is missing; 3). it reports "EMPTY" if the value of this pref is an empty string. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``profile_creation_date`` | [Optional] An integer to record the age of the Firefox profile as the total number of days since the UNIX epoch. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``message_id`` | [required] A string identifier of the message in Activity Stream Router. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``has_flow_params`` | [required] One of [true, false]. A boolean identifier that indicates if Firefox Accounts flow parameters are set or unset. | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``displayed`` | [required] 1: a SPOC is displayed; 0: non-displayed | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``reason`` | [required] The reason if a SPOC is not displayed, "n/a" for the displayed, one of ("frequency\_cap", "blocked\_by\_user", "flight\_duplicate", | |
| | "probability\_selection", "below\_min\_score", "out\_of\_position", "n/a") | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``full_recalc`` | [required] Is it a full SPOCS recalculation: 0: false; 1: true. Recalculation case: 1). fetch SPOCS from Pocket endpoint. Non-recalculation cases: | |
| | 1). An impression updates the SPOCS; 2). Any action that triggers the ``selectLayoutRender`` | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``experiments`` | [Optional] An object to record all active experiments (an empty object will be sent if there is no active experiment). The experiments IDs are | :one: |
| | stored as keys, and the value object stores the branch information. | |
| | `Example: {"experiment_1": {"branch": "control"}, "experiment_2": {"branch": "treatment"}}`. This deprecates the `shield_id` used in Activity Stream | |
| | and Messaging System. | |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``browser_session_id`` | [Optional] The unique identifier for a browser session, retrieved from TelemetrySession | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``attribution.source`` | [Optional] Referring partner domain, when install happens via a known partner | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``attribution.medium`` | [Optional] Category of the source, such as 'organic' for a search engine | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``attribution.campaign`` | [Optional] Identifier of the particular campaign that led to the download of the product | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``attribution.content`` | [Optional] Identifier to indicate the particular link within a campaign | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``attribution.experiment`` | [Optional] Funnel experiment identifier, see bug 1567339 | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``attribution.variantion`` | [Optional] Funnel experiment variant identifier, see bug 1567339 | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| ``attribution.ua`` | [Optional] Derived user agent, see bug 1595063 | :one: |
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------+
Where:
:one: Firefox data
:two: HTTP protocol data
:three: server augmented data
:four: User preferences encoding table
Note: the following session-related fields are not yet implemented in the system-addon, but will likely be added in future versions:
{
"total_bookmarks": 19,
"total_history_size": 9,
"highlights_size": 20
}
Encoding and decoding of user_prefs¶
This encoding mapping was defined in system-addon/lib/TelemetryFeed.jsm
+-------------------+------------------------+
| Preference | Encoded value (binary) |
+===================+========================+
| `showSearch` | 1 (00000001) |
+-------------------+------------------------+
| `showTopSites` | 2 (00000010) |
+-------------------+------------------------+
| `showTopStories` | 4 (00000100) |
+-------------------+------------------------+
| `showHighlights` | 8 (00001000) |
+-------------------+------------------------+
| `showSnippets` | 16 (00010000) |
+-------------------+------------------------+
| `showSponsored` | 32 (00100000) |
+-------------------+------------------------+
| `showCFRAddons` | 64 (01000000) |
+-------------------+------------------------+
| `showCFRFeatures` | 128 (10000000) |
+-------------------+------------------------+
| `showSponsoredTopSites` | 256 (100000000) |
+-------------------+------------------------+
Each item above could be combined with other items through bitwise OR (|) operation.
Examples:
Everything is on,
user_prefs = 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 32 | 64 | 128 | 256 = 511Everything is off,
user_prefs = 0Only show search and Top Stories,
user_prefs = 1 | 4 = 5Everything except Highlights,
user_prefs = 1 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 32 | 64 | 128 | 256 = 503
Likewise, one can use bitwise AND (&) for decoding.
Check if everything is shown,
user_prefs & (1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 32 | 64 | 128 | 256)oruser_prefs == 511Check if everything is off,
user_prefs == 0Check if search is shown,
user_prefs & 1Check if both Top Sites and Top Stories are shown,
(user_prefs & 2) && (user_prefs & 4), or(user_prefs & (2 | 4)) == (2 | 4)