Event specifications

As mentioned in earlier tutorials, events are identified by the tealium_event attribute. The value of this attribute represents the name of the event and its associated specification. The specification also indicates which event attributes are required in the event.

How it works

Event specifications define and standardize the events you want to collect in your implementation.

Here’s how it works:

• Event name and attributes
  An event specification has a name and a list of required/optional attributes. The name is the value set in the tealium_event attribute. For example, an event that tracks when a user performs a search would be represented by tealium_event="search" and would have required attributes search_term and search_results containing the searched term and the number of results returned respectively.
• Data sources
  After you add specifications, they can be associated to data sources. Specs are platform neutral, so a standard event such as search should be implemented the same in each platform. However, not all specifications apply to every type of data source. On the Data Sources screen, you associate specifications to the data sources that implement them.
• Get code and installation guide
  When specifications are associated to a data source, the installation guide automatically includes code samples for each one.
• Data validation
  The Live Events screen now reflects the quality of your data based on whether events include all required attributes with the correct data types and configured data value rules. Optional attributes that fail a type check or a data value rule appear as Invalid events.

Example event specification

{
    "tealium_event"   : "search",
    "search_keyword"  : "STRING",  // the searched term
    "search_results"  : NUMBER,    // number of results
    "product_on_page" : ["STRING"] // array of product strings
}

The next tutorial explains how to add an event specification.