Event dictionary guide

note
The event dictionary is a work in progress, and this process is subject to change.

This guide describes the event dictionary and how it’s implemented.

Event definition and validation

This process is meant to document all Snowplow events and ensure consistency. Event definitions must comply with the JSON Schema.

All event definitions are stored in the following directories:

Each event is defined in a separate YAML file consisting of the following fields:

Field Required Additional information
description yes A description of the event.
category yes The event category (see Event schema).
action yes The event action (see Event schema).
label_description no A description of the event label (see Event schema).
property_description no A description of the event property (see Event schema).
value_description no A description of the event value (see Event schema).
extra_properties no The type and description of each extra property sent with the event.
identifiers no A list of identifiers sent with the event. Can be set to one or more of project, user, or namespace.
iglu_schema_url no The URL to the custom schema sent with the event, for example, iglu:com.gitlab/gitlab_experiment/jsonschema/1-0-0.
product_section yes The section.
product_stage no The stage for the event.
product_group yes The group that owns the event.
product_category no The product category for the event.
milestone no The milestone when the event is introduced.
introduced_by_url no The URL to the merge request that introduced the event.
distributions yes The distributions where the tracked feature is available. Can be set to one or more of ce or ee.
tiers yes The tiers where the tracked feature is available. Can be set to one or more of free, premium, or ultimate.

Example event definition

The linked uuid YAML file includes an example event definition. 

description: Issue promoted to epic
category: epics
action: promote
property_description: The string "issue_id"
value_description: ID of the issue
extra_properties:
  weight:
    type: integer
    description: Weight of the issue
identifiers:
- project
- user
- namespace
product_section: dev
product_stage: plan
product_group: group::product planning
product_category: epics
milestone: "11.10"
introduced_by_url: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/10537
distributions:
- ee
tiers:
- premium
- ultimate

Create a new event definition

Use the dedicated event definition generator to create new event definitions.

The category and action of each event are included in the filename to enforce uniqueness.

The generator takes three options:

  • --ee: Indicates if the event is for EE.
  • --category=CATEGORY: Indicates the category of the event.
  • --action=ACTION: Indicates the action of the event.
  • --force: Overwrites the existing event definition, if one already exists. 
bundle exec rails generate gitlab:snowplow_event_definition --category Groups::EmailCampaignsController --action click
create  create  config/events/groups__email_campaigns_controller_click.yml