Flutter integration:: Mobile Engage - Flutter plug-in for SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement – Emarsys

What is the Emarsys SDK?

The Emarsys SDK enables you to use Mobile Engage and Predict in a very straightforward way. By incorporating the SDK in your app, we, among others, support you in handling credentials, API calls, tracking of opens and events as well as logins and logouts in the app.

The Flutter plug-in for SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement

The currently supported platforms are iOS and Android.

The Flutter plug-in for SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement is the official plug-in to help you to integrate Emarsys into your Flutter application. We have created a sample application to help in the integration and to give an example. The Flutter sample application is published here.

On this page, we will not go into details about how the SDK works, and what the supported features can be used for.

For more detailed information about the different features, please visit the documentation for the iOS SDK or Android SDK.

As this Flutter plug-in uses the respective iOS SDK or Android SDK, make sure to fulfill the requirements of those SDKs.

Requirements

Android

The minimum Android version should be at least API level 24.
Requires compileSdkVersion 28 or higher.
Emarsys SDK is using AndroidX.

iOS

The iOS target should be iOS 11 or higher.
In order to be able to send push messages to your app, you need to have certifications from Apple Push Notification service (APNs).

Flutter Plug-in installation

1. Install the Emarsys SDK

To make available the Emarsys SDK for your project, you have to open the project's pubspec.yaml file and add this into the dependencies section:

emarsys_sdk: ^1.3.0

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After our SDK as dependency has been added to the pubspec.yaml, you have to call flutter pub get in the terminal to download the library.

The official pub.dev page of the plug-in is available here.

2. Setup the Emarsys SDK

To make the SDK usable in your project, you have to do a few initial steps in the native part.

Android

Since the Plug-in uses AGP 8.1+ remove your package from the AndroidManifest and define the namespace property in the build.gradle as stated in the AGP 8.0 instead. For more information, see AGP Release Notes.

android {
    namespace 'com.example.yourapp'
}

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It is also necessary to set the JVM version to 17 in the build.gradle. Add the following lines inside the Android block.

android {

    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_17
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_17
    }
    kotlin {
        jvmToolchain(17)
    }

}

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Extend from FlutterFragmentActivity instead of FlutterActivity in the android/app/.../MainActivity. This is necessary for the SDK, to be able to show in-app and Push to In-app messages.

To be able to receive push messages, please see the following sections to enable support for Firebase and/or Huawei services.

Firebase

Add google-services to your android/app/build.gradle apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'
Specify your google-services version in your android/build.gradle, under buildscript/dependencies.
classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.3.8'
Copy your google-services.json file to the android/app directory of your Flutter application.
Open the AndroidManifest.xml and add the following part in the application section:

<service android:name="com.emarsys.emarsys_sdk.api.EmarsysFirebaseMessagingService">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.google.firebase.MESSAGING_EVENT" />
    </intent-filter>
</service>

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Extend from FlutterFragmentActivity instead of FlutterActivity in the android/app/.../MainActivity; it is necessary for the SDK, to be able to show In-App and Push to In-App messages.

Huawei

Push sending for Huawei is unavailable for devices below API level 22.

Emarsys SDK checks if the device has Google Play Services available; if not, it is considered as a Huawei device. Please note that as Google Play Services are NOT available with Huawei-only integration, Geofencing will not work.

Copy your agconnect-services.json to the android/app directory of your Flutter application. Open the AndroidManifest.xml and add the following parts in the application section:

<meta-data
    android:name="com.huawei.hms.client.channel.androidMarket"
    android:value="false" />
<meta-data
    android:name="push_kit_auto_init_enabled"
    android:value="true" />
<service android:name="com.emarsys.emarsys_sdk.api.EmarsysHuaweiMessagingService">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.google.huawei.MESSAGING_EVENT" />
    </intent-filter>
</service>

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iOS

Open the iOS app in XCode and add the following capabilities to the applications target:

Push Notifications
Background Modes, with Background fetch, Remote Notifications, Background processing enabled

Then add a Notification Extension Service target to your project.

Extend your Podfile with:

target '<Your Notification Extension Service Name>' do
  use_frameworks!
  use_modular_headers!

  pod 'EmarsysNotificationService'
end

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After a pod deintegrate and pod install extend your Notification Extension Service from EMSNotificationService.

import UserNotifications
import EmarsysNotificationService

class NotificationService: EMSNotificationService {
}

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You have to extend your AppDelegate from our EmarsysAppDelegate class to make the SDK usable and add this code part: GeneratedPluginRegistrant.register(with: self) to the first line of your didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method.

Without any further modifications, your whole class should look like this:

import UIKit
import Flutter
import emarsys_sdk

@UIApplicationMain
@objc class AppDelegate: EmarsysAppDelegate {
    
    override func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey : Any]? = nil) -> Bool {
        GeneratedPluginRegistrant.register(with: self)
        return super.application(application, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: launchOptions)
    }
}

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Flutter

To be able to use the SDK in your project, import the Emarsys plug-in as in the following example:

import 'package:emarsys_sdk/emarsys_sdk.dart';

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Then in the main method after the WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized(); line, you have to set up the Emarsys SDK with the following config:

Please make sure that WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized(); has been added to the first line of the main method.

void main() {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();
  Emarsys.setup(
      EmarsysConfig(<contactFieldId: int>, <applicationCode: String>));

  runApp(MyApp());
}

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3. Contact management

The setContactFieldId should not be set to 3 (email). In order to prevent your customers' personal data (PII) being stored in our cloud infrastructure, we require the use of unique, non-guessable and immutable contact identifiers. Customer ID's are considered secure. Salted email hash is no longer supported for new Mobile Engage implementations. To make sure the behavioural tracking is cross devices (i.e. mobile and web), the Web Extend contact ID should also use Customer ID and match that used on mobile.

3.1. setContact

After application setup is finished, you can use setContact method to identify the user with contactFieldValue.

Emarsys.setContact(<contactFieldId: int>, <contactFieldValue: String>);

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3.2. clearContact

When the user signs out, the clearContact method should be used:

You only need to call clearContact when you explicitly want to sign out the contact from Emarsys, even if the user is not logged in into your application.

Emarsys.clearContact();

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4. Push

4.1. pushSendingEnabled

By default, the Emarsys SDK plug-in will set pushSendingEnabled to true, to ensure that the application will be able to receive remote notifications.

Emarsys.push.pushSendingEnabled(true);

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To be able to show push notifications, the Android notification channels have to be set since API level 26 (Oreo). To make integration easier with the SDK, we have created a wrapper around the Notification Channels API.

Emarsys.push.registerAndroidNotificationChannels([
    NotificationChannel(
        id: "ems_sample_news",
        name: "News",
        description: "News and updates go into this channel",
        importance: NotificationChannel.IMPORTANCE_HIGH),
    NotificationChannel(
        id: "ems_sample_messages",
        name: "Messages",
        description: "Important messages go into this channel",
        importance: NotificationChannel.IMPORTANCE_HIGH),
  ]);

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4.2. pushEventStream

Unlike the native Emarsys SDK, you cannot register eventHandlers, but can react to an event by subscribing to event streams:

Emarsys.push.pushEventStream.listen((event) {
    print(event.name);
    print(event.payload);
});

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4.3. silentPushEventStream

Unlike the native Emarsys SDK, you cannot register eventHandlers, but can react to an event by subscribing to event streams:

Emarsys.push.silentPushEventStream.listen((event) {
    print(event.name);
    print(event.payload);
});

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4.4. setPushToken

The Emarsys SDK automatically handles setPushToken for the device and it is Emarsys' official recommendation to leave this to the SDK. If you need your own implementation you can set the pushToken manually with the the following command, where the pushToken is the token itself as a String.

Emarsys.setPushToken(pushToken)

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5. In-app

5.1. Overlay In-App

A full screen In-App dialog that hovers in front of the application. Only one can be displayed at a time.

5.1.1. pause

When a critical activity starts and should not be interrupted by In-App, pause In-App messages.

 Emarsys.inApp.pause();

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5.1.2. resume

In order to show In-App messages after being paused, use the resume method.

Emarsys.inApp.resume();

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5.1.3. isPaused

Emarsys.inApp.isPaused();

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5.1.4. inAppEventStream

Unlike the native Emarsys SDK, you cannot register eventHandlers, but can react to an event by subscribing to event streams:

Emarsys.inApp.inAppEventStream.listen((event) {
    print(event.name);
    print(event.payload);
  });

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5.2. Inline In-App

In-App message that takes place in the application's view hierarchy. Multiple inline In-App components are allowed in one screen.

There are 2 possible ways to create InlineInAppViews on Android: a hybrid composition or a virtual display. This can be toggled with the androidUseVirtualDisplay flag while creating the InlineInAppView, by default we use the Hybrid composition.

In case of iOS, only hybrid composition is available, so there are no additional flags there.

Our InlineInAppView solution uses Flutter Platform views, which allows to embed native views. This Platform view by default has infinite size, which causes the application to crash if it is not wrapped in a sized container. The current recommendation is to wrap these views in a SizedBox or a Container like we do it in this example:

SizedBox(
    height: 100,
    child: InlineInAppView(
        viewId: <String: viewId>,
        androidUseVirtualDisplay: true,
        onAppEvent: (event) {
            print("eventName: ${event.name}, payload:${event.payload}");
            },
        onCompleted: () {
            print("in-app view has been loaded.");
            },
        onClose: () {
            setState(() {
                showInlineInApp = false;
            });
        },
    ))

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6. Inbox

User centric inbox solution. Emarsys SDK provides a Message named model class to make Inbox information easily accessible.

class Message extends Equatable {
  final String id;
  final String campaignId;
  final String? collapseId;
  final String title;
  final String body;
  final String? imageUrl;
  final int receivedAt;
  final int? updatedAt;
  final int? expiresAt;
  final List<String>? tags;
  final Map<String, String>? properties;
  final List<ActionModel>? actions;
}

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The following action types are supported:

App event action

 AppEventActionModel(
      {required this.id,
      required this.title,
      required this.type,
      required this.name,
      this.payload});

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Custom event action

  AppEventActionModel(
      {required this.id,
      required this.title,
      required this.type,
      required this.name,
      this.payload});

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Open External URL event action

  AppEventActionModel(
      {required this.id,
      required this.title,
      required this.type,
      required this.name,
      this.payload});

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6.1. fetchMessages

In order to receive the messageInbox content, you can use the fetchMessages method.

Future<List<Message>> messages = Emarsys.messageInbox.fetchMessages();

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6.2. addTag

To label a message with a tag, you can use the addTag method (for example: "READ", "SEEN" etc).

 Emarsys.messageInbox.addTag(message.id, <MESSAGE_TAG : String>);

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6.3. removeTag

To remove a label from a message, you can use removeTag method.

Emarsys.messageInbox.removeTag(message.id, <MESSAGE_TAG : String>);

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7. Tracking custom events

7.1. trackCustomEvent

If you want to track custom events, use the trackCustomEvent method, where the eventName parameter is required, but the attributes are optional.

Emarsys.trackCustomEvent(<eventName: String>, <attributes: Map<String, Object>?>);

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8. Geofence

Geofencing is disabled on Android devices that do not have Google Play Services!

Geofence makes it available to trigger certain actions, based on the user's location. When the user enters a predefined region, (represented by latitude, longitude, and radius) the EmarsysSDK fires a customEvent, which can trigger an action (for example a push notification). This requires permission for background locations from the user.

Currently supported triggers

The geofence feature has two different trigger types: ENTER and EXIT.

ENTER triggers when the user reaches the bounds of the geofence and enters it.
EXIT triggers when the user reaches the bounds of the geofence and exits it.

Based on our experiences so far, the accuracy of geofencing is inconsistent and can be different based on device types and the environment of usage. We recommend adding at least 100m of radius to your geofences, to ensure that the triggers happen. Based on the Android documentation, only 100 geofences/app can be used, so please be aware that our current geofencing solution works well only, if there are no other geofencing solutions used by the application.

For more instructions on how to turn on Geofencing for different platforms please refer to our native Android and iOS documentation.

8.1. enable

The enable method is responsible for the activation of this feature.

Emarsys.geofence.enable();

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8.2. disable

The disable method is responsible for disabling this feature.

Emarsys.geofence.disable();

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8.3. isEnabled

The isEnabled method returns if the geofencing is currently enabled or not.

Future<bool> isGeofenceEnabled = Emarsys.geofence.isEnabled()

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8.4. geofenceEventStream

Unlike the native Emarsys SDK, you cannot register eventHandlers, but can react to an event by subscribing to event streams:

Emarsys.geofence.geofenceEventStream.listen((event) {
    print(event.name);
  });

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8.5. iosRequestAlwaysAuthorization

Only available on iOS

The requestAlwaysAuthorization method is responsible for asking the required permissions from the user. Calling this method is not necessary if your app already asked the user for the permissions.

Emarsys.geofence.iOSRequestAlwaysAuthorization();

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8.6. initialEnterTriggerEnabled

When initialEnterTriggerEnabled is true, the Emarsys SDK will trigger all the affected geofences with Enter type triggers at the moment when the geofence is enabled, if the device is already inside that geofence. By default, this value is set to false.

Emarsys.geofence.setInitialEnterTriggerEnabled(<enabled: Boolean>);

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8.7. registeredGeofences

You can access the registered geofences from the device using the registeredGeofences method.

Future<List<GeofenceModel>> registeredGeofences = Emarsys.geofence.registeredGeofences();

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9. Predict

The Flutter plug-in supports Predict functionalities, the following sections explain the mapping between the Predict commands and the interface.

For more information, see the Predict documentation.

9.1. Initialization

To use the Predict functionality, you have to set up your merchantId during the initialization of the SDK. In order to track Predict events, you can use the methods available on our Predict interface.

9.2. trackCart

When you want to track the cart items in the basket, you can call the trackCart method with a list of CartItems. CartItem is an interface that can be used in your application for your own CartItems and then simply use the same items with the SDK.

Dart

await Emarsys.predict.trackCart(cartItems);

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9.3. trackPurchase

To report a purchase event, call trackPurchase with the items purchased and with an orderId.

Dart

await Emarsys.predict.trackPurchase(orderId, items);

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9.4. trackItemView

If an item was viewed, use the trackItemView method with an itemId as a required parameter.

Dart

await Emarsys.predict.trackItemView(itemId);

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9.5. trackCategoryView

When the user navigates between the categories, call trackCategoryView in every navigation. Be aware to send categoryPath in the required format. See Predict documentation for more information .

Dart

await Emarsys.predict.trackCategoryView(categoryPath);

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9.6. trackSearchTerm

To report search terms entered by the contact, use trackSearchTerm method.

Dart

await Emarsys.predict.trackSearchTerm(searchTerm);

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9.7. trackTag

To track custom tags, use the trackTag method, where the eventName parameter is required, but the attributes is optional.

Dart

await Emarsys.predict.trackTag(eventName, attributes);

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9.8. recommendProducts

With the Emarsys SDK you can ask for product recommendations based on different recommendation logics.

recommendProducts will also track the value attached to the logic on the backend; therefore, no additional tracking is needed when using recommendations.

9.8.1. logic

This is a required parameter of the recommendProducts method.

The currently supported logics are:

SEARCH - based on searchTerm
CART - based on cartItems
RELATED - based on itemViewId
CATEGORY - based on categoryPath
ALSO_BOUGHT - based on itemViewId
POPULAR - based on categoryPath
PERSONAL - based on current browsing and activity
HOME - based on most recent browsing behaviour

For more information on the recommender logics, see Web Recommender logics.

You can pass the values to the chosen recommendation logic, but if you leave it empty, the SDK handles it and uses the last tracked values.

9.8.2. variants

Variants are used by the HOME and PERSONAL logic types. By adding a list of Strings used as suffixes to logic names, recommendations are grouped by the variants provided.

9.8.3. filters

This is an optional parameter of the recommendProducts method.

You can filter product recommendations with the SDK by building RecommendationFilters. There are two types of filters: Exclude or Include.

In each case there are four types of comparators you can use to compare your chosen field to expectation Value:

isValue - checking if the field is matching the value
inValues - any of the values has a match with the field
hasValue - One of the field values is equal to expectation value (applicable only to fields containing multiple values)
overlapsValues - One or more of the field values are found in expectation values (applicable only to fields containing multiple values)

For more information, see API documentation.

9.8.4. limit

This is an optional parameter of the recommendProducts method.

You can limit the number of recommended products received by defining a limit. This is an optional parameter with the default value 5.

9.8.5. availabilityZones

This is an optional parameter of the recommendProducts method.

You can personalize the recommendation further by setting the availabilityZones parameter of the recommendation, to only recommend the locally available products.

For more information, see Using availability zones.

9.8.6. usage

The SDK is going to retrieve recommended products as a result of the recommendProducts method.

Dart

var products = await Emarsys.predict.recommendProducts(
        logic: recommendationLogic,
        filters: [recommendationFilter],
        limit: 5,
        availabilityZone: "HU");

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9.9. trackRecommendationClick

The Emarsys SDK does not track recommendationClicks automatically, so you have to call manually trackRecommendationClick when an interaction happens with any of the recommended products.

Emarsys.predict.trackRecommendationClick(Product clickedProduct);

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10. Config

Config can be used to access information about the values set in the Emarsys SDK.

10.1. changeApplicationCode

The Plugin provides a way, to change the applicationCode set in the setup. For this, use the changeApplicationCode method defined in the Emarsys.config

Emarsys.config.changeApplicationCode(<newAppCode : String>);

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Please note that in case of any errors occuring during the change process, the involved feature will be turned OFF.

When changeApplicationCode has been called, the SDK will log out the user and a setContact (contactFieldId, contactFieldValue) must be called again with the correct contactFieldValue and contactFieldId.

For use cases of applicationCode change, see the native SDK wiki pages.

10.2. applicationCode

This line provides what is the actual applicationCode set in the SDK.

Emarsys.config.applicationCode();

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10.3. changeMerchantId

The Plugin provides a way, to change the merchantId set in the setup. For this, use the changeMerchantId method defined in the Emarsys.config

Emarsys.config.changeMerchantId(<newMerchantId : String>)

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10.4. merchantId

Provides what is the actual merchantId set in the SDK.

Emarsys.config.merchantId();

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10.5. contactFieldId

This line provides what is the actual contactFieldId set in the SDK.

Emarsys.config.contactFieldId();

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10.6. hardwareId

This line provides what is the actual hardwareId set in the SDK.

Emarsys.config.hardwareId();

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10.7. languageCode

This line provides what is the actual languageCode set in the SDK.

Emarsys.config.languageCode();

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10.8. notificationSettings

This line provides what is the actual notificationSettings set in the SDK.

This method will return with a NotificationSettings object, which contains the current notification settings, based on which platform your application runs at the moment.

Emarsys.config.notificationSettings();

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10.9. sdkVersion

This is not the Flutter plug-in version.

This line provides what is the actual native sdkVersion set in the SDK.

Emarsys.config.sdkVersion();

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10.10. flutterPluginVersion

This is not the native Emarsys SDK version.

This line provides what is the actual flutterPluginVersion.

Emarsys.config.flutterPluginVersion();

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11. Data flows in the plug-in

Using this Flutter plug-in means that the automated tracking of the respective Android and iOS Emarsys SDK features will also be active. Details of this are documented for Android and iOS. In addition, when the Emarsys.setup method is called, the Flutter plug-in will submit an Emarsys custom event reporting that the setup was called from Flutter.

Need assistance with your Emarsys product? We'll get you the help you need!

Mobile Engage

What is the Emarsys SDK?

The Flutter plug-in for SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement

Requirements

Flutter Plug-in installation

1. Install the Emarsys SDK

2. Setup the Emarsys SDK

Android

Firebase

Huawei

iOS

Flutter

3. Contact management

3.1. setContact

3.2. clearContact

4. Push

4.1. pushSendingEnabled

4.2. pushEventStream

4.3. silentPushEventStream

4.4. setPushToken

5. In-app

5.1. Overlay In-App

5.1.1. pause

5.1.2. resume

5.1.3. isPaused

5.1.4. inAppEventStream

5.2. Inline In-App

6. Inbox

6.1. fetchMessages

6.2. addTag

6.3. removeTag

7. Tracking custom events

7.1. trackCustomEvent

8. Geofence

Currently supported triggers

8.1. enable

8.2. disable

8.3. isEnabled

8.4. geofenceEventStream

8.5. iosRequestAlwaysAuthorization

8.6. initialEnterTriggerEnabled

8.7. registeredGeofences

9. Predict

9.1. Initialization

9.2. trackCart

9.3. trackPurchase

9.4. trackItemView

9.5. trackCategoryView

9.6. trackSearchTerm

9.7. trackTag

9.8. recommendProducts

9.8.1. logic

9.8.2. variants

9.8.3. filters

9.8.4. limit

9.8.5. availabilityZones

9.8.6. usage

9.9. trackRecommendationClick

10. Config

10.1. changeApplicationCode

10.2. applicationCode

10.3. changeMerchantId

10.4. merchantId

10.5. contactFieldId

10.6. hardwareId

10.7. languageCode

10.8. notificationSettings

10.9. sdkVersion

10.10. flutterPluginVersion

11. Data flows in the plug-in

Need assistance with your Emarsys product?
We'll get you the help you need!