Visitor data in the form of name/value pairs can be added to the visitor profile through a variety of methods:
•Querystring parameters: if a visitor navigates to a web page tagged by RPI Realtime using a URL to which querystring parameters have been appended, the parameters’ name/value pairs will be added to the realtime cache.
For example, navigating to ‘http://mylandingpage.com?CustomerKey=12345’ will result in the addition of value ‘12345’ for attribute ‘CustomerKey’ to the visitor profile.
•Web form submission: on submission of an RPI web form, the data entered by a visitor within the form will be added to his or her visitor profile if the RPI Realtime web.config setting CacheWebFormData is set to True.
•A call to the RPI Realtime API:
o api/Cache/Visit
o api/Decisions/[endpoints]
•The Realtime JavaScript web client provides methods for pushing data in the visitor profiles. In addition, the web client allows for the configuration of “Realtime Lenses” which are mechanisms for capturing and storing Realtime parameters based on the various sources from a web page. Full details on Realtime lenses can be found in the web client documentation in Deployment Files in the following directory: DeploymentFiles\InteractionRealtimeAPI\RPIFormValidation\shared\js\rpiwebclient\documentation\index.html. The following is a summary of the available Realtime lenses:
o Storage Lens: allows the use of web site cookies and local storage values to be collected and stored as parameters in the Realtime profile
o JavaScript Lens: allows the use of site JavaScript variables or objects values to be collected and stored as parameters in the Realtime profile
o Search Lens: allows URL query string parameters to be collected and stored as parameters in the Realtime profile. This extends the capture of Querystring parameters described in the first bullet point by providing the ability to rename the parameters as desired.
o Path Lens: allows parts of a web page URL path to be collected and stored as parameters in the Realtime profile
o Form Lens: allows form field values to be collected and stored as parameters in the Realtime profile. Extends the form submission functionality described above by providing the ability to be more selective about which fields are stored as well as providing the ability to rename the parameters as desired
o DOM Lens: allows elements of the DOM to be collected and stored as parameters in the Realtime profile
Data from the data warehouse can also be added to the visitor profile through the following mechanisms:
•Data can be retrieved from the data warehouse and stored in the visitor profile at a visitor’s identifying him- or herself to RPI, through the use of a cached attribute list. A cached attribute list is a list of RPI attributes, managed within a dedicated configuration interface in RPI. Identification of a visitor can occur:
o At submission of a web form, when the web form is associated with a cached attribute list.
o On receipt of a name/value pair (e.g. through a querystring parameter) when the name maps to an entry within the RPI Realtime ParameterToDataMappings web.config setting (see Appendix A for details of RPI Realtime web.config settings).
o Via a call to the RPI Realtime API:
§ api/Cache/CachedAttributes
•Cached attribute lists can also be used to store ‘virtual lookup tables’ in the realtime cache. Calls to the data warehouse to retrieve visitor data can be avoided through the usage of this mechanism.
•Visitor profile data can be populated in advance of site visits through the execution of a realtime cache offer. This offer type is executed in the Interaction Designer workflow, within which an audience is used to define the list of potential site visitors for whom profile data is to be loaded. A realtime cache offer is subsequently executed against the audience. Data, the structure of which is defined by the realtime cache offer, is retrieved from the data warehouse and stored in visitors’ profiles in the realtime cache. This data is then available when making decisions about content to be rendered to site visitors.
•Visitor profile data can also be populated in batches via the RPI Realtime API:
o api/Cache/Visitors/CachedAttributes