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A/B Smartly SDK

A/B Smartly - Java SDK

Compatibility

The A/B Smartly Java SDK is compatible with Java versions 1.6 and later. It provides both a blocking and an asynchronous interfaces. The asynchronous functions return a custom backport of the Java 8 CompletableFuture API.

Android

The A/B Smartly SDK is compatible with Android 4.4 and later (API level 19+).

The android.permission.INTERNET permission is required. To add this permission to your application ensure the following line is present in the AndroidManifest.xml file:

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

If you target Android 6.0 or earlier, a few extra steps are outlined below for installation and initialization.

Upgrading from 1.6.3

The public unit getters remain compatible with 1.6.3: getUnit returns a String and getUnits returns Map<String, String>. Unit UIDs may now also be numeric; numeric values are returned by the new getUnitValue and getUnitValues accessors, while the original getters return their string form.

Context reads retain the 1.6.3 lifecycle behavior. Before ready they throw "ABSmartly Context is not yet ready"; while closing and after close they throw "ABSmartly Context is closing" and "ABSmartly Context is closed", respectively. Custom-field reads remain available once the context is ready, including while closing and after close.

Installation

Gradle

To install the ABSmartly SDK, place the following in your build.gradle and replace {VERSION} with the latest SDK version available in MavenCentral.

dependencies {
  compile 'com.absmartly.sdk:core-api:{VERSION}'
}

Maven

To install the ABSmartly SDK, place the following in your pom.xml and replace {VERSION} with the latest SDK version available in MavenCentral.

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.absmartly.sdk</groupId>
    <artifactId>core-api</artifactId>
    <version>{VERSION}</version>
</dependency>

Android 6.0 or earlier

When targeting Android 6.0 or earlier, the default Java Security Provider will not work. Using Conscrypt is recommended. Follow these instructions to install it as dependency.

Proguard rules

ProGuard is a command-line tool that reduces app size by shrinking bytecode and obfuscates the names of classes, fields and methods. It's an ideal fit for developers working with Java or Kotlin who are primarily interested in an Android optimizer. If you are using Proguard, you will need to add the following rule to your Proguard configuration file. This prevent proguard to change data classes used by the SDK and the missing of this rule will result in problems in the serialization/deserialization of the data.

-keep public class com.absmartly.sdk.json.** { *; }

Getting Started

Please follow the installation instructions before trying the following code:

Initialization

This example assumes an Api Key, an Application, and an Environment have been created in the A/B Smartly web console.

Quickstart

import com.absmartly.sdk.*;

final ABSmartly sdk = ABSmartly.builder()
    .endpoint("https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1")
    .apiKey(System.getenv("ABSMARTLY_APIKEY"))
    .application("website")
    .environment("production")
    .build();

The builder pattern lets you configure the SDK with named parameters, removing the need to configure ClientConfig and ABSmartlyConfig manually.

Alternative: Using Configuration Objects

For use cases where you need full control over the Client and configuration:

final ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.create()
    .setEndpoint("https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1")
    .setAPIKey("YOUR-API-KEY")
    .setApplication("website")
    .setEnvironment("development");

final Client absmartlyClient = Client.create(clientConfig);

final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create()
    .setClient(absmartlyClient);

final ABSmartly sdk = ABSmartly.create(sdkConfig);

SDK Options

Config Type Required? Default Description
endpoint String ✅ null The URL to your API endpoint. Most commonly "https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1"
apiKey String ✅ null Your API key which can be found on the Web Console.
environment String ✅ null 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 ✅ null 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.
applicationVersion String or long ❌ null The version of your application, e.g. "2.4.1". Sent as X-Application-Version only when it is a whole number (otherwise 0); with system attributes enabled, the full value is available to targeting as app_version.
timeout int ❌ 3000 HTTP connection timeout in milliseconds
retries int ❌ 5 Maximum number of retry attempts for failed HTTP requests
contextEventLogger ContextEventLogger ❌ null Callback to handle SDK events (ready, exposure, goal, etc.)
contextDataProvider ContextDataProvider ❌ auto Custom provider for context data (advanced usage)
contextEventHandler ContextEventHandler ❌ auto Custom handler for publishing events (advanced usage)
variableParser VariableParser ❌ auto Custom parser for experiment variables (advanced usage)
audienceDeserializer AudienceDeserializer ❌ auto Custom deserializer for audience data (advanced usage)
scheduler ScheduledExecutorService ❌ auto Custom scheduler for context refresh (advanced usage)
httpClient HTTPClient ❌ auto Custom HTTP client implementation (advanced usage)

Android 6.0 or earlier

When targeting Android 6.0 or earlier, set the default Java Security Provider for SSL to Conscrypt by creating the Client instance as follows:

import com.absmartly.sdk.*;
import org.conscrypt.Conscrypt;

    // ...
    final ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.create()
        .setEndpoint("https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1")
        .setAPIKey("YOUR-API-KEY")
        .setApplication("website")
        .setEnvironment("development");

    final DefaultHTTPClientConfig httpClientConfig = DefaultHTTPClientConfig.create()
        .setSecurityProvider(Conscrypt.newProvider());

    final DefaultHTTPClient httpClient = DefaultHTTPClient.create(httpClientConfig);

    final Client absmartlyClient = Client.create(clientConfig, httpClient);

    final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create()
        .setClient(absmartlyClient);

    final ABSmartly sdk = ABSmartly.create(sdkConfig);
    // ...

Creating a New Context

Synchronously

final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
    .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8");

final Context context = sdk.createContext(contextConfig)
    .waitUntilReady();

Asynchronously

final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
    .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8");

final Context context = sdk.createContext(contextConfig)
    .waitUntilReadyAsync()
    .thenAccept(ctx -> System.out.printf("context ready!"));

With Pre-fetched Data

Creating a context involves a round-trip to the A/B Smartly event collector. We can avoid repeating the round-trip on the client-side by re-using data previously retrieved.

final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
    .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8");

final Context context = sdk.createContext(contextConfig)
    .waitUntilReady();

final ContextConfig anotherContextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
    .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8");

final Context anotherContext = sdk.createContextWith(anotherContextConfig, context.getData());
assert(anotherContext.isReady()); // no need to wait

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. To mitigate this, we can use the setRefreshInterval() method on the context config.

final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
    .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8")
    .setRefreshInterval(TimeUnit.HOURS.toMillis(4)); // every 4 hours

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 getTreatment() is called again.

context.refresh();

Setting Extra Units

You can add additional units to a context by calling the setUnit() or the setUnits() method. This method may be used for example, when a user logs in to your application, and you want to use the new unit type to the context. Please note that you cannot override an already set unit type as that would be a change of identity, and will throw an exception. In this case, you must create a new context instead. The setUnit() and setUnits() methods can be called before the context is ready.

context.setUnit("db_user_id", "1000013");

context.setUnits(Map.of(
    "db_user_id", "1000013"
));

Basic Usage

Selecting a Treatment

if (context.getTreatment("exp_test_experiment") == 0) {
    // user is in control group (variant 0)
} else {
    // user is in treatment group
}

Treatment Variables

final Object variable = context.getVariable("my_variable");

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 peekTreatment() method for that.

if (context.peekTreatment("exp_test_experiment") == 0) {
    // user is in control group (variant 0)
} else {
    // user is in treatment group
}

Peeking at Variables

final Object variable = context.peekVariable("my_variable");

Overriding Treatment Variants

During development, for example, it is useful to force a treatment for an experiment. This can be achieved with the setOverride() and/or setOverrides() methods. The setOverride() and setOverrides() methods can be called before the context is ready.

context.setOverride("exp_test_experiment", 1);
context.setOverrides(Map.of(
    "exp_test_experiment", 1,
    "exp_another_experiment", 0
));

Advanced

Context Attributes

The setAttribute() and setAttributes() methods can be called before the context is ready.

context.setAttribute("user_agent", req.getHeader("User-Agent"));

context.setAttributes(Map.of(
    "customer_age", "new_customer"
));

System Attributes

Set includeSystemAttributes to make the SDK supply attributes about itself and your application:

final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
    .setUnit("session_id", "5ebf06d8cb5d8137290c4abb64155584fbdb64d8")
    .setIncludeSystemAttributes(true);

With it enabled:

  • application, environment and app_version (from ClientConfig.setApplicationVersion) can be used in audience filters and assignment rule conditions. An attribute you set with the same name takes precedence.
  • Every publish also includes sdk_name, sdk_version, application, environment and app_version as attributes. app_version is left out when no application version is set, or it is 0. They are stamped with the time of the earliest exposure or goal in the publish, and one you have set yourself with the same name is sent only as your value.

The application, environment and application version come from the client. A context created without one (with the public Context.create, or through an ABSmartly with no client configured) includes only sdk_name and sdk_version.

It is disabled by default.

Assignment Rules

Experiments can define assignment rules on the Web Console. They are evaluated in order, and the first matching rule decides the variant, taking precedence over holdout suppression, audience targeting, traffic allocation and custom assignments. Holdouts are still evaluated and still record their own exposures.

  • An assign rule gives a fixed variant.
  • A split rule randomizes the unit over its own percentages, e.g. 20/30/50. While the experiment's unit is missing, a split rule gives the full-on variant (0 for an experiment that is not full-on); once the unit is set, the variant is re-randomized, unless it was already exposed.

If the first matching rule's variant is out of range, or its split does not have one percentage per variant, it is ignored and normal assignment applies; later rules are not tried.

A rule matches when its conditions evaluate to true against the context attributes and, if it is scoped to environments, the client's environment is one of them. A rule without conditions always matches, and an empty environments list means every environment. Environment names are case-sensitive. Contexts without a client have no environment, so rules scoped to environments never match there. Rule-assigned exposures are flagged ruleOverride so the backend can exclude them from analysis. setOverride() still takes precedence over every rule.

Conditions can compare versions with semver_eq, semver_gt, semver_gte, semver_lt and semver_lte, for example against app_version. A leading v or V and build metadata are ignored, missing parts count as 0, and a pre-release is lower than its release (1.0.0-beta < 1.0.0).

SDK Identification

The SDK sends X-Agent: absmartly-java-sdk/<version> when it publishes events, so the backend can report which SDK versions your applications use.

Tracking Goals

Goals are created in the A/B Smartly web console.

context.track("payment", Map.of(
    "item_count", 1,
    "total_amount", 1999.99
));

Publishing Pending Data

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() or publishAsync() methods.

context.publish();

Finalizing

The close() and closeAsync() methods 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();

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 ContextConfig.

public class CustomEventLogger implements ContextEventLogger {
    @Override
    public void handleEvent(Context context, ContextEventLogger.EventType event, Object data) {
        switch (event) {
        case Exposure:
            final Exposure exposure = (Exposure)data;
            System.out.printf("exposed to experiment %s", exposure.name);
            break;
        case Goal:
            final GoalAchievement goal = (GoalAchievement)data;
            System.out.printf("goal tracked: %s", goal.name);
            break;
        case Error:
            System.out.printf("error: %s", data);
            break;
        case Publish:
        case Ready:
        case Refresh:
        case Close:
            break;
        }
    }
}

Usage:

// For all contexts, during SDK initialization
final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create();
sdkConfig.setContextEventLogger(new CustomEventLogger());

// OR, alternatively, during a particular context initialization
final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create();
contextConfig.setEventLogger(new CustomEventLogger());

Event Types

Event When Data
Error Context receives an error Throwable object
Ready Context turns ready ContextData used to initialize
Refresh Context.refresh() method succeeds ContextData used to refresh
Publish Context.publish() method succeeds PublishEvent sent to collector
Exposure Context.getTreatment() succeeds on first exposure Exposure enqueued for publishing
Goal Context.track() method succeeds GoalAchievement enqueued for publishing
Close Context.close() method succeeds the first time null

Platform-Specific Examples

Using with Spring Boot

// Application.java
import com.absmartly.sdk.*;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;

@SpringBootApplication
public class Application {

    @Value("${absmartly.endpoint}")
    private String endpoint;

    @Value("${absmartly.apiKey}")
    private String apiKey;

    @Value("${absmartly.application}")
    private String application;

    @Value("${absmartly.environment}")
    private String environment;

    @Bean
    public ABSmartly absmartly() {
        final ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.create()
            .setEndpoint(endpoint)
            .setAPIKey(apiKey)
            .setApplication(application)
            .setEnvironment(environment);

        final Client client = Client.create(clientConfig);

        final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create()
            .setClient(client);

        return ABSmartly.create(sdkConfig);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
    }
}

// application.properties
absmartly.endpoint=https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1
absmartly.apiKey=YOUR-API-KEY
absmartly.application=website
absmartly.environment=production

// ProductController.java
import com.absmartly.sdk.*;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;
import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpSession;

@Controller
public class ProductController {

    @Autowired
    private ABSmartly absmartly;

    @GetMapping("/product")
    public ModelAndView showProduct(HttpSession session) {
        final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
            .setUnit("session_id", session.getId());

        final ModelAndView mav = new ModelAndView();

        try (Context context = absmartly.createContext(contextConfig)
                .waitUntilReady()) {
            final int treatment = context.getTreatment("exp_product_layout");

            if (treatment == 0) {
                mav.setViewName("product_control");
            } else {
                mav.setViewName("product_treatment");
            }
        }

        return mav;
    }
}

Using with Jakarta EE / JAX-RS

// ABSmartlyProducer.java
import com.absmartly.sdk.*;
import jakarta.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped;
import jakarta.enterprise.inject.Produces;

@ApplicationScoped
public class ABSmartlyProducer {

    @Produces
    @ApplicationScoped
    public ABSmartly produceABSmartly() {
        final ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.create()
            .setEndpoint(System.getenv("ABSMARTLY_ENDPOINT"))
            .setAPIKey(System.getenv("ABSMARTLY_API_KEY"))
            .setApplication("website")
            .setEnvironment(System.getenv("ENV"));

        final Client client = Client.create(clientConfig);

        final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create()
            .setClient(client);

        return ABSmartly.create(sdkConfig);
    }
}

// ProductResource.java
import com.absmartly.sdk.*;
import jakarta.inject.Inject;
import jakarta.ws.rs.GET;
import jakarta.ws.rs.Path;
import jakarta.ws.rs.core.Response;
import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;

@Path("/product")
public class ProductResource {

    @Inject
    private ABSmartly absmartly;

    @Inject
    private HttpServletRequest request;

    @GET
    public Response getProduct() {
        final String sessionId = request.getSession().getId();

        final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
            .setUnit("session_id", sessionId);

        try (Context context = absmartly.createContext(contextConfig)
                .waitUntilReady()) {
            final int treatment = context.getTreatment("exp_product_layout");

            return Response.ok()
                .entity(Map.of("treatment", treatment))
                .build();
        }
    }
}

Using with Android Activities

// MainActivity.java
import android.os.Bundle;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import com.absmartly.sdk.*;
import java.util.UUID;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private static ABSmartly sdk;
    private Context absmartlyContext;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        // Initialize SDK once (typically in Application class)
        if (sdk == null) {
            final ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.create()
                .setEndpoint("https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1")
                .setAPIKey("YOUR-API-KEY")
                .setApplication("android-app")
                .setEnvironment("production");

            final Client client = Client.create(clientConfig);

            final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create()
                .setClient(client);

            sdk = ABSmartly.create(sdkConfig);
        }

        // Create context for this user
        String deviceId = getDeviceId(); // Get from SharedPreferences

        final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
            .setUnit("device_id", deviceId);

        final Context contextInstance = sdk.createContext(contextConfig);
        absmartlyContext = contextInstance;

        contextInstance.waitUntilReadyAsync()
            .thenAccept(ctx -> {
                runOnUiThread(() -> setupUI(ctx));
            })
            .exceptionally(throwable -> {
                runOnUiThread(() -> setupUIWithDefault());
                return null;
            });
    }

    private void setupUI(Context context) {
        int treatment = context.getTreatment("exp_button_color");

        if (treatment == 0) {
            setContentView(R.layout.activity_main_control);
        } else {
            setContentView(R.layout.activity_main_treatment);
        }
    }

    private void setupUIWithDefault() {
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main_control);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();
        if (absmartlyContext != null) {
            absmartlyContext.close();
        }
    }

    private String getDeviceId() {
        // IMPORTANT: Device ID must be persisted across app sessions in SharedPreferences
        // to ensure consistent experiment assignments for the same user/device.
        // This example uses a random UUID for demonstration purposes only.
        return UUID.randomUUID().toString();
    }
}

Advanced Request Configuration

HTTP Request Timeout Override

Configure timeout for individual requests using DefaultHTTPClientConfig:

import com.absmartly.sdk.*;

// Create HTTP client with custom timeout
final DefaultHTTPClientConfig httpClientConfig = DefaultHTTPClientConfig.create()
    .setConnectTimeout(1500)    // 1.5 seconds
    .setConnectionRequestTimeout(1500);

final DefaultHTTPClient httpClient = DefaultHTTPClient.create(httpClientConfig);

final ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.create()
    .setEndpoint("https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1")
    .setAPIKey("YOUR-API-KEY")
    .setApplication("website")
    .setEnvironment("development");

final Client client = Client.create(clientConfig, httpClient);

final ABSmartlyConfig sdkConfig = ABSmartlyConfig.create()
    .setClient(client);

final ABSmartly sdk = ABSmartly.create(sdkConfig);

final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
    .setUnit("session_id", "abc123");

final Context context = sdk.createContext(contextConfig)
    .waitUntilReady();

Request Cancellation with CompletableFuture

Cancel inflight requests when user navigates away:

import com.absmartly.sdk.*;
import java8.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
import java.util.concurrent.*;

public class CancellableContextExample {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        final ABSmartly sdk = ABSmartly.builder()
            .endpoint("https://your-company.absmartly.io/v1")
            .apiKey("YOUR-API-KEY")
            .application("website")
            .environment("development")
            .build();

        final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
            .setUnit("session_id", "abc123");

        final Context context = sdk.createContext(contextConfig);

        // Create future for context initialization
        final CompletableFuture<Context> future = context.waitUntilReadyAsync();

        // Cancel after 1.5 seconds if not ready
        final ScheduledExecutorService scheduler = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1);
        scheduler.schedule(() -> {
            if (!future.isDone()) {
                future.cancel(true);
                System.out.println("Context creation cancelled");
            }
        }, 1500, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);

        try {
            final Context readyContext = future.get();
            System.out.println("Context ready!");
            readyContext.close();
        } catch (CancellationException e) {
            System.out.println("Context creation was cancelled");
        } catch (ExecutionException e) {
            System.out.println("Context creation failed: " + e.getCause());
        } finally {
            scheduler.shutdown();
        }
    }
}

Android Activity Lifecycle Cancellation

import android.os.Bundle;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import com.absmartly.sdk.*;
import java8.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private static ABSmartly sdk; // Initialize SDK once (typically in Application class)
    private CompletableFuture<Context> contextFuture;
    private Context absmartlyContext;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        final ContextConfig contextConfig = ContextConfig.create()
            .setUnit("device_id", getDeviceId());

        absmartlyContext = sdk.createContext(contextConfig);
        contextFuture = absmartlyContext.waitUntilReadyAsync();

        contextFuture.thenAccept(ctx -> {
            runOnUiThread(() -> setupUI(ctx));
        });
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();

        // Cancel ongoing context creation if activity is destroyed
        if (contextFuture != null && !contextFuture.isDone()) {
            contextFuture.cancel(true);
        }

        if (absmartlyContext != null) {
            absmartlyContext.close();
        }
    }
}

About A/B Smartly

A/B Smartly is the leading provider of state-of-the-art, on-premises, full-stack experimentation platforms for engineering and product teams that want to confidently deploy features as fast as they can develop them. A/B Smartly's real-time analytics helps engineering and product teams ensure that new features will improve the customer experience without breaking or degrading performance and/or business metrics.

Have a look at our growing list of clients and SDKs:

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