Analytics-related REST APIs

The AnswerHub platform has several built-in analytics functions. This section will give you some essential information about using the REST API with AnswerHub analytics.

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Notes on analytics:

• Analytics services accept several request parameters you can used to tailor the type of the retrieved subset of the captured analytics data by the AnswerHub server.
• Some parameters are valid for all analytics services, while others are specific to each service.

Documentation Related to Analytics

• Find documentation related to analytics at the following links (and you can always find them through the search bar):
  Allowed HTTP Requests
  Data Models and Field Summary Tables
  Intro to Admin Panels and Features in the Admin Console
  Analytics Menu
  Measure Your Community's Success Through Analytics
  Best Practices for Permissions
  Pre-Launch Meeting
  Post-Launch Meeting
  Overview of the Community Lifecycle
  Q4 Community Lifecycle
  Default Plugins List
  Using AnswerHub As A Developer

Analytics Parameters

Common Parameters: Sampling Period and Rate

The parameters valid for all analytics methods include the time period for which you request analytics data, in addition to the sampling and aggregation rate. You can explicitly specify the time period with a start time and date, and an end time and date.

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NOTE:

If you do not explicitly specify the end time and date, the system uses the current time and date.

You can also specify the time period with a normative value, such as MONTH (This value would provide the requested data for the past month).

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NOTE:

When you specify the time period with a normative value, the end time is, by default, the current time and date. However, if you need to, you can also set this value.

The table below summarizes the request parameters common to all simple analytics requests:

Parameter	Values	Example	Description
period	Period	MONTH	The length of time to retrieve data from.
rate	Period	HOUR	The sampling and aggregation rate for the retrieved data (bin size).
toDate	Timestamp	3/1/10	The end date to retrieve data until (overrides period).
fromDate	Timestamp	1/1/10	The initial date to retrieve data from (overrides period).

We define the following values for the period parameter:

Values	Description
MONTH	The last month or a monthly sampling and aggregation rate.
WEEK	The last week or a weekly sampling and aggregation rate.
DAY	The most recent day or a daily sampling and aggregation rate.
HOUR	The most recent hour or an hourly sampling and aggregation rate.

Common Parameters: Type of Statistical Data

You can retrieve analytics information in two forms: as a time-series of the aggregate events (the activity time series) or as a relative frequency histogram.

The table below summarizes the request parameters used to control the type of statistical data to retrieve:

Parameter	Values
activity	Boolean
histogram	Boolean

Advanced Analytics Parameters

Advanced analytics parameters are essentially the same as those used for simple analytics. However, they further allow you to specify the subset of AnalyticsProvider for which you want data retrieved.

A key uniquely identifies each AnalyticsProvider. Use the keys parameter to specify, in a comma-separated list, the subset of AnalyticsProviders to consider. If you do not specify the keys parameter, the system retrieves information from all of the currently installed AnalyticsProviders.

Parameter	Values
keys	String[,String]

Analytics Data Models

ActionAnalytics Field Summary

Field Name	Type	Example(s)	Description
type	String	UserJoinsAction	The name for the type of the action performed.
verb	String	joined	The verb keyword of the action.
count	Integer (64 bits)	12345	The number of action events during the requested period.
since	Timestamp	1329146113000	The starting date of the requested information (for example: the date of the first sampled action event). The system supplies this date by the from request parameter or from the period parameter, if used.
activity	Timestamp	[40,90,120, ....]	The time-series for action events.
bin	Timestamp	60000 (1 min)	The bin size for histogram (in milliseconds).
histogram	Integer64	[134,573,....]	The histogram of action occurrences for the requested analytics.

AnalyticsData Field Summary

Field Name	Type	Example(s)	Description
key	String	adv-active-questions	The key or unique identifier for the AnalyticsProvider.
name	String	Active Questions	The human readable name of the AnalyticsProvider.
activity	Timestamp[]	[40,90,120, ....]	The time-series produced by the AnalyticsProvider (usually a series of actions of a specific type).

AdvancedAnalytics Field Summary

We define the following values for the rate parameter:

Values	Description
monthly	The last month or a monthly sampling and aggregation rate.
weekly	The last week or a weekly sampling and aggregation rate.
daily	The most recent day or a daily sampling and aggregation rate.
hourly	The most recent hour or an hourly sampling and aggregation rate.

Field Name	Type	Example(s)	Description
analytics	AnalyticsData[]	[{}, ..]	A list of AnalyticsData for each registered and requested AnalyticsProvider.