Engage SDK Watch: Third-party technical integration instructions

Google is building an on-device surface that organizes users' apps by verticals and enables a new immersive experience for personalized app content consumption and discovery. This fullscreen experience provides developer partners with an opportunity to showcase their best rich content in a dedicated channel outside of their app.

This guide contains instructions for developer partners to integrate their video content, using the Engage SDK to populate both this new surface area and existing Google surfaces.

Integration detail

Terminology

This integration includes the following three cluster types: Recommendation, Continuation, and Featured.

  • Recommendation clusters show personalized suggestions for content to watch from an individual developer partner.

    Your recommendations take the following structure:

    • Recommendation Cluster: A UI view that contains a group of recommendations from the same developer partner.

      Figure 1. Entertainment Space UI showing a Recommendation Cluster from a single partner.
    • Entity: An object representing a single item in a cluster. An entity can be a movie, a TV show, a TV series, live video, and more. See the Provide entity data section for a list of supported entity types.

      Figure 2. Entertainment Space UI showing a single Entity within a single partner's Recommendation Cluster.
  • The Continuation cluster shows unfinished videos and relevant newly released episodes from multiple developer partners in one UI grouping. Each developer partner will be allowed to broadcast a maximum of 10 entities in the Continuation cluster. Research has shown that personalized recommendations along with personalized Continuation content creates the best user engagement.

    Figure 3. Entertainment Space UI showing a Continuation cluster with unfinished recommendations from multiple partners (only one recommendation is currently visible).
  • The Featured cluster showcases a selection of entities from multiple developer partners in one UI grouping. There will be a single Featured cluster, which is surfaced near the top of the UI with a priority placement above all Recommendation clusters. Each developer partner will be allowed to broadcast up to 10 entities in the Featured cluster.

    Figure 4. Entertainment Space UI showing a Featured cluster with recommendations from multiple partners (only one recommendation is currently visible).

Pre-work

Minimum API level: 19

Add the com.google.android.engage:engage-core library to your app:

dependencies {
    // Make sure you also include that repository in your project's build.gradle file.
    implementation 'com.google.android.engage:engage-core:1.5.2'
}

For more information, see Package visibility in Android 11.

Summary

The design is based on an implementation of a bound service.

The data a client can publish is subject to the following limits for different cluster types:

Cluster type Cluster limits Maximum entity limits in a cluster
Recommendation Cluster(s) At most 5 At most 50
Continuation Cluster At most 1 At most 10
Featured Cluster At most 1 At most 10

Step 0: Migration from existing Media Home SDK integration

Map data models from existing integration

If you are migrating from an existing Media Home integration, the following table outlines how to map data models in existing SDKs to the new Engage SDK:

MediaHomeVideoContract integration equivalent Engage SDK integration equivalent
com.google.android.mediahome.video.PreviewChannel com.google.android.engage.common.datamodel.RecommendationCluster
com.google.android.mediahome.video.PreviewChannel.Builder com.google.android.engage.common.datamodel.RecommendationCluster.Builder
com.google.android.mediahome.video.PreviewChannelHelper com.google.android.engage.video.service.AppEngageVideoClient
com.google.android.mediahome.video.PreviewProgram Divided into separate classes: EventVideo, LiveStreamingVideo, Movie, TvEpisode, TvSeason, TvShow, VideoClipEntity
com.google.android.mediahome.video.PreviewProgram.Builder Divided into builders in separate classes: EventVideo, LiveStreamingVideo, Movie, TvEpisode, TvSeason, TvShow, VideoClipEntity
com.google.android.mediahome.video.VideoContract No longer needed.
com.google.android.mediahome.video.WatchNextProgram Divided into attributes in separate classes: EventVideoEntity, LiveStreamingVideoEntity, MovieEntity, TvEpisodeEntity, TvSeasonEntity, TvShowEntity, VideoClipEntity
com.google.android.mediahome.video.WatchNextProgram.Builder Divided into attributes in separate classes: EventVideoEntity, LiveStreamingVideoEntity, MovieEntity, TvEpisodeEntity, TvSeasonEntity, TvShowEntity, VideoClipEntity

Publishing clusters in Media Home SDK vs Engage SDK

With Media Home SDK, clusters and entities were published through separate APIs:

// 1. Fetch existing channels
List<PreviewChannel> channels = PreviewChannelHelper.getAllChannels();

// 2. If there are no channels, publish new channels
long channelId = PreviewChannelHelper.publishChannel(builder.build());

// 3. If there are existing channels, decide whether to update channel contents
PreviewChannelHelper.updatePreviewChannel(channelId, builder.build());

// 4. Delete all programs in the channel
PreviewChannelHelper.deleteAllPreviewProgramsByChannelId(channelId);

// 5. publish new programs in the channel
PreviewChannelHelper.publishPreviewProgram(builder.build());

With Engage SDK, cluster and entity publishing are combined into a single API call. All entities that belong to a cluster are published together with that cluster:

Kotlin

RecommendationCluster.Builder()
            .addEntity(MOVIE_ENTITY)
            .addEntity(MOVIE_ENTITY)
            .addEntity(MOVIE_ENTITY)
            .setTitle("Top Picks For You")
            .build()

Java

new RecommendationCluster.Builder()
                        .addEntity(MOVIE_ENTITY)
                        .addEntity(MOVIE_ENTITY)
                        .addEntity(MOVIE_ENTITY)
                        .setTitle("Top Picks For You")
                        .build();

Step 1: Provide entity data

The SDK has defined different entities to represent each item type. We support the following entities for the Watch category:

  1. MovieEntity
  2. TvShowEntity
  3. TvSeasonEntity
  4. TvEpisodeEntity
  5. LiveStreamingVideoEntity
  6. VideoClipEntity

The following chart outlines attributes and requirements for each type.

MovieEntity

Attribute Requirement Notes
Name Required
Poster images Required At least one image is required, and must be provided with an aspect ratio. (Landscape is preferred but passing both portrait and landscape images for different scenarios is recommended.)

See Image Specifications for guidance.

Playback uri Required

The deep link to the provider app to start playing the movie.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

Info page uri Optional

The deep link to the provider app to show details about the movie.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

Release date Required In epoch milliseconds.
Availability Required

AVAILABLE: The content is available to the user without any further action.

FREE_WITH_SUBSCRIPTION: The content is available after the user purchases a subscription.

PAID_CONTENT: The content requires user purchase or rental.

PURCHASED: The content has been purchased or rented by the user.

Offer price Optional Free text
Duration Required In milliseconds.
Genre Required Free text
Content ratings Required Free text, follow the industry standard. (Example)
Watch next type Conditionally required

Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and must be one of the following four types:

CONTINUE: The user has already watched more than 1 minute of this content.

NEW: The user has watched all available episodes from some episodic content, but a new episode has become available and there is exactly one unwatched episode. This works for TV shows, recorded soccer matches in a series, and so on.

NEXT: The user has watched one or more complete episodes from some episodic content, but there remains either more than one episode remaining or exactly one episode remaining where the last episode is not "NEW" and was released before the user started watching the episodic content.

WATCHLIST: The user has explicitly elected to add a movie, event, or series to a watchlist to manually curate what they want to watch next.

Last engagement time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster. In epoch milliseconds.
Last playback position time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and WatchNextType is CONTINUE. In epoch milliseconds.

TvShowEntity

Attribute Requirement Notes
Name Required
Poster images Required At least one image is required, and must be provided with an aspect ratio. (Landscape is preferred but passing both portrait and landscape images for different scenarios is recommended.)

See Image Specifications for guidance.

Info page uri Required

The deep link to the provider app to show the details of the TV show.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

Playback uri Optional

The deep link to the provider app to start playing the TV show.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

First episode air date Required In epoch milliseconds.
Latest episode air date Optional In epoch milliseconds.
Availability Required

AVAILABLE: The content is available to the user without any further action.

FREE_WITH_SUBSCRIPTION: The content is available after the user purchases a subscription.

PAID_CONTENT: The content requires user purchase or rental.

PURCHASED: The content has been purchased or rented by the user.

Offer price Optional Free text
Season count Required Positive integer
Genre Required Free text
Content ratings Required Free text, follow the industry standard. (Example)
Watch next type Conditionally required

Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and must be one of the following four types:

CONTINUE: The user has already watched more than 1 minute of this content.

NEW: The user has watched all available episodes from some episodic content, but a new episode has become available and there is exactly one unwatched episode. This works for TV shows, recorded soccer matches in a series, and so on.

NEXT: The user has watched one or more complete episodes from some episodic content, but there remains either more than one episode remaining or exactly one episode remaining where the last episode is not "NEW" and was released before the user started watching the episodic content.

WATCHLIST: The user has explicitly elected to add a movie, event, or series to a watchlist to manually curate what they want to watch next.

Last engagement time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster. In epoch milliseconds.
Last playback position time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and WatchNextType is CONTINUE. In epoch milliseconds.

TvSeasonEntity

Attribute Requirement Notes
Name Required
Poster images Required At least one image is required, and must be provided with an aspect ratio. (Landscape is preferred but passing both portrait and landscape images for different scenarios is recommended.)

See Image Specifications for guidance.

Info page uri Required

The deep link to the provider app to show the details of the TV show season.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

Playback uri Optional

The deep link to the provider app to start playing the TV show season.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

Display Season number

Optional

Available in v1.3.1

String
First episode air date Required In epoch milliseconds.
Latest episode air date Optional In epoch milliseconds.
Availability Required

AVAILABLE: The content is available to the user without any further action.

FREE_WITH_SUBSCRIPTION: The content is available after the user purchases a subscription.

PAID_CONTENT: The content requires user purchase or rental.

PURCHASED: The content has been purchased or rented by the user.

Offer price Optional Free text
Episode count Required Positive integer
Genre Required Free text
Content ratings Required Free text, follow the industry standard. (Example)
Watch next type Conditionally required

Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and must be one of the following four types:

CONTINUE: The user has already watched more than 1 minute of this content.

NEW: The user has watched all available episodes from some episodic content, but a new episode has become available and there is exactly one unwatched episode. This works for TV shows, recorded soccer matches in a series, and so on.

NEXT: The user has watched one or more complete episodes from some episodic content, but there remains either more than one episode remaining or exactly one episode remaining where the last episode is not "NEW" and was released before the user started watching the episodic content.

WATCHLIST: The user has explicitly elected to add a movie, event, or series to a watchlist to manually curate what they want to watch next.

Last engagement time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster. In epoch milliseconds.
Last playback position time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and WatchNextType is CONTINUE. In epoch milliseconds.

TvEpisodeEntity

Attribute Requirement Notes
Name Required
Poster images Required At least one image is required, and must be provided with an aspect ratio. (Landscape is preferred but passing both portrait and landscape images for different scenarios is recommended.)

See Image Specifications for guidance.

Playback uri Required

The deep link to the provider app to start playing the episode.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

Info page uri Optional

The deep link to the provider app to show details about the TV show episode.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

Display Episode number

Optional

Available in v1.3.1

String
Air date Required In epoch milliseconds.
Availability Required

AVAILABLE: The content is available to the user without any further action.

FREE_WITH_SUBSCRIPTION: The content is available after the user purchases a subscription.

PAID_CONTENT: The content requires user purchase or rental.

PURCHASED: The content has been purchased or rented by the user.

Offer price Optional Free text
Duration Required Must be a positive value in milliseconds.
Genre Required Free text
Content ratings Required Free text, follow the industry standard. (Example)
Watch next type Conditionally required

Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and must be one of the following four types:

CONTINUE: The user has already watched more than 1 minute of this content.

NEW: The user has watched all available episodes from some episodic content, but a new episode has become available and there is exactly one unwatched episode. This works for TV shows, recorded soccer matches in a series, and so on.

NEXT: The user has watched one or more complete episodes from some episodic content, but there remains either more than one episode remaining or exactly one episode remaining where the last episode is not "NEW" and was released before the user started watching the episodic content.

WATCHLIST: The user has explicitly elected to add a movie, event, or series to a watchlist to manually curate what they want to watch next.

Last engagement time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster. In epoch milliseconds.
Last playback position time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and WatchNextType is CONTINUE. In epoch milliseconds.

LiveStreamingVideoEntity

Attribute Requirement Notes
Name Required
Poster images Required At least one image is required, and must be provided with an aspect ratio. (Landscape is preferred but passing both portrait and landscape images for different scenarios is recommended.)

See Image Specifications for guidance.

Playback uri Required

The deep link to the provider app to start playing the video.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

Broadcaster Required Free text
Start time Optional In epoch milliseconds.
End time Optional In epoch milliseconds.
View count Optional Free text, must be localized.
Watch next type Conditionally required

Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and must be one of the following four types:

CONTINUE: The user has already watched more than 1 minute of this content.

NEW: The user has watched all available episodes from some episodic content, but a new episode has become available and there is exactly one unwatched episode. This works for TV shows, recorded soccer matches in a series, and so on.

NEXT: The user has watched one or more complete episodes from some episodic content, but there remains either more than one episode remaining or exactly one episode remaining where the last episode is not "NEW" and was released before the user started watching the episodic content.

WATCHLIST: The user has explicitly elected to add a movie, event, or series to a watchlist to manually curate what they want to watch next.

Last engagement time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster. In epoch milliseconds.
Last playback position time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and WatchNextType is CONTINUE. In epoch milliseconds.

VideoClipEntity

The VideoClipEntity object represents a video entity coming from social media, such as TikTok or YouTube.

Attribute Requirement Notes
Name Required
Poster images Required At least one image is required, and must be provided with an aspect ratio. (Landscape is preferred but passing both portrait and landscape images for different scenarios is recommended.)

See Image Specifications for guidance.

Playback uri Required

The deep link to the provider app to start playing the video.

Note: You can use deep links for attribution. Refer to this FAQ

Created time Required In epoch milliseconds.
Duration Required Must be a positive value in milliseconds.
Creator Required Free text
Creator image Optional Image of the Creator avatar
View count Optional Free text, must be localized.
Watch next type Conditionally required

Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and must be one of the following four types:

CONTINUE: The user has already watched more than 1 minute of this content.

NEW: The user has watched all available episodes from some episodic content, but a new episode has become available and there is exactly one unwatched episode. This works for TV shows, recorded soccer matches in a series, and so on.

NEXT: The user has watched one or more complete episodes from some episodic content, but there remains either more than one episode remaining or exactly one episode remaining where the last episode is not "NEW" and was released before the user started watching the episodic content.

WATCHLIST: The user has explicitly elected to add a movie, event, or series to a watchlist to manually curate what they want to watch next.

Last engagement time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster. In epoch milliseconds.
Last playback position time Conditionally required Must be provided when the item is in the Continuation cluster and WatchNextType is CONTINUE. In epoch milliseconds.

Image specifications

The following section lists the required specifications for image assets:

File formats

PNG, JPG, static GIF, WebP

Maximum file size

5120 KB

Additional recommendations

  • Image safe area: Put your important content in the center 80% of the image.

Example

Kotlin

var movie = MovieEntity.Builder()
    .setName("Avengers")
    .addPosterImage(Image.Builder()
                          .setImageUri(Uri.parse("http://www.x.com/image.png"))
                          .setImageHeightInPixel(960)
                          .setImageWidthInPixel(408)
                          .build())
    .setPlayBackUri(Uri.parse("http://tv.com/playback/1"))
    .setReleaseDateEpochMillis(1633032895L)
    .setAvailability(ContentAvailability.AVAILABILITY_AVAILABLE)
    .setDurationMillis(12345678L)
    .addGenre("action")
    .addContentRating("R")
    .setWatchNextType(WatchNextType.TYPE_NEW)
    .setLastEngagementTimeMillis(1664568895L)
    .build()

Java

MovieEntity movie = new MovieEntity.Builder()
                  .setName("Avengers")
                  .addPosterImage(
                      new Image.Builder()
                          .setImageUri(Uri.parse("http://www.x.com/image.png"))
                          .setImageHeightInPixel(960)
                          .setImageWidthInPixel(408)
                          .build())
                  .setPlayBackUri(Uri.parse("http://tv.com/playback/1"))
                  .setReleaseDateEpochMillis(1633032895L)
                  .setAvailability(ContentAvailability.AVAILABILITY_AVAILABLE)
                  .setDurationMillis(12345678L)
                  .addGenre("action")
                  .addContentRating("R")
                  .setWatchNextType(WatchNextType.TYPE_NEW)
                  .setLastEngagementTimeMillis(1664568895L)
                  .build();

Step 2: Provide Cluster data

It's recommended to have the content publish job executed in the background (for example, using WorkManager) and scheduled on a regular basis or on an event basis (for example, every time the user opens the app or when the user just added something to their cart).

AppEngagePublishClient is responsible for publishing clusters. Following APIs are available in the client:

  • isServiceAvailable
  • publishRecommendationClusters
  • publishFeaturedCluster
  • publishContinuationCluster
  • publishUserAccountManagementRequest
  • updatePublishStatus
  • deleteRecommendationsClusters
  • deleteFeaturedCluster
  • deleteContinuationCluster
  • deleteUserManagementCluster
  • deleteClusters

isServiceAvailable

This API is used to check if the service is available for integration and whether the content can be presented on the device.

Kotlin

client.isServiceAvailable.addOnCompleteListener { task ->
    if (task.isSuccessful) {
        // Handle IPC call success
        if(task.result) {
          // Service is available on the device, proceed with content publish
          // calls.
        } else {
          // Service is not available, no further action is needed.
        }
    } else {
      // The IPC call itself fails, proceed with error handling logic here,
      // such as retry.
    }
}

Java

client.isServiceAvailable().addOnCompleteListener(task - > {
    if (task.isSuccessful()) {
        // Handle success
        if(task.getResult()) {
          // Service is available on the device, proceed with content publish
          // calls.
        } else {
          // Service is not available, no further action is needed.
        }
    } else {
      // The IPC call itself fails, proceed with error handling logic here,
      // such as retry.
    }
});

publishRecommendationClusters

This API is used to publish a list of RecommendationCluster objects.

Kotlin

client.publishRecommendationClusters(
      PublishRecommendationClustersRequest.Builder()
        .addRecommendationCluster(
          RecommendationCluster.Builder()
            .addEntity(entity1)
            .addEntity(entity2)
            .setTitle("Top Picks For You")
            .build()
        )
        .build()
    )

Java

client.publishRecommendationClusters(
            new PublishRecommendationClustersRequest.Builder()
                .addRecommendationCluster(
                    new RecommendationCluster.Builder()
                        .addEntity(entity1)
                        .addEntity(entity2)
                        .setTitle("Top Picks For You")
                        .build())
                .build());

When the service receives the request, the following actions take place within one transaction:

  • Existing RecommendationCluster data from the developer partner is removed.
  • Data from the request is parsed and stored in the updated Recommendation Cluster.

In case of an error, the entire request is rejected and the existing state is maintained.

publishFeaturedCluster

This API is used to publish a list of FeaturedCluster objects.

Kotlin

client.publishFeaturedCluster(
    PublishFeaturedClusterRequest.Builder()
      .setFeaturedCluster(
        FeaturedCluster.Builder()
          .addEntity(entity1)
          .addEntity(entity2)
          .build())
      .build())

Java

client.publishFeaturedCluster(
            new PublishFeaturedClustersRequest.Builder()
                .addFeaturedCluster(
                    new FeaturedCluster.Builder()
                        .addEntity(entity1)
                        .addEntity(entity2)
                        .build())
                .build());

When the service receives the request, the following actions take place within one transaction:

  • Existing FeaturedCluster data from the developer partner is removed.
  • Data from the request is parsed and stored in the updated Featured Cluster.

In case of an error, the entire request is rejected and the existing state is maintained.

publishContinuationCluster

This API is used to publish a ContinuationCluster object.

Kotlin

client.publishContinuationCluster(
    PublishContinuationClusterRequest.Builder()
      .setContinuationCluster(
        ContinuationCluster.Builder()
          .addEntity(entity1)
          .addEntity(entity2)
          .build())
      .build())

Java

client.publishContinuationCluster(
            new PublishContinuationClusterRequest.Builder()
                .setContinuationCluster(
                    new ContinuationCluster.Builder()
                        .addEntity(entity1)
                        .addEntity(entity2)
                        .build())
                .build());

When the service receives the request, the following actions take place within one transaction:

  • Existing ContinuationCluster data from the developer partner is removed.
  • Data from the request is parsed and stored in the updated Continuation Cluster.

In case of an error, the entire request is rejected and the existing state is maintained.

publishUserAccountManagementRequest

This API is used to publish a Sign In card . The signin action directs users to the app's sign in page so that the app can publish content (or provide more personalized content)

The following metadata is part of the Sign In Card -

Attribute Requirement Description
Action Uri Required Deeplink to Action (i.e. navigates to app sign in page)
Image Optional - If not provided, Title must be provided

Image Shown on the Card

16x9 aspect ratio images with a resolution of 1264x712

Title Optional - If not provided, Image must be provided Title on the Card
Action Text Optional Text Shown on the CTA (i.e. Sign in)
Subtitle Optional Optional Subtitle on the Card

Kotlin

var SIGN_IN_CARD_ENTITY =
      SignInCardEntity.Builder()
          .addPosterImage(
              Image.Builder()
                  .setImageUri(Uri.parse("http://www.x.com/image.png"))
                  .setImageHeightInPixel(500)
                  .setImageWidthInPixel(500)
                  .build())
          .setActionText("Sign In")
          .setActionUri(Uri.parse("http://xx.com/signin"))
          .build()

client.publishUserAccountManagementRequest(
            PublishUserAccountManagementRequest.Builder()
                .setSignInCardEntity(SIGN_IN_CARD_ENTITY)
                .build());

Java

SignInCardEntity SIGN_IN_CARD_ENTITY =
      new SignInCardEntity.Builder()
          .addPosterImage(
              new Image.Builder()
                  .setImageUri(Uri.parse("http://www.x.com/image.png"))
                  .setImageHeightInPixel(500)
                  .setImageWidthInPixel(500)
                  .build())
          .setActionText("Sign In")
          .setActionUri(Uri.parse("http://xx.com/signin"))
          .build();

client.publishUserAccountManagementRequest(
            new PublishUserAccountManagementRequest.Builder()
                .setSignInCardEntity(SIGN_IN_CARD_ENTITY)
                .build());

When the service receives the request, the following actions take place within one transaction:

  • Existing UserAccountManagementCluster data from the developer partner is removed.
  • Data from the request is parsed and stored in the updated UserAccountManagementCluster Cluster.

In case of an error, the entire request is rejected and the existing state is maintained.

updatePublishStatus

If for any internal business reason, none of the clusters is published, we strongly recommend updating the publish status using the updatePublishStatus API. This is important because :

  • Providing the status in all scenarios, even when the content is published (STATUS == PUBLISHED), is critical to populate dashboards that use this explicit status to convey the health and other metrics of your integration.
  • If no content is published but the integration status isn't broken (STATUS == NOT_PUBLISHED), Google can avoid triggering alerts in the app health dashboards. It confirms that content is not published due to an expected situation from the provider's standpoint.
  • It helps developers provide insights into when the data is published versus not.
  • Google may use the status codes to nudge the user to do certain actions in the app so they can see the app content or overcome it.

The list of eligible publish status codes are :

// Content is published
AppEngagePublishStatusCode.PUBLISHED,

// Content is not published as user is not signed in
AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_REQUIRES_SIGN_IN,

// Content is not published as user is not subscribed
AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_REQUIRES_SUBSCRIPTION,

// Content is not published as user location is ineligible
AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_INELIGIBLE_LOCATION,

// Content is not published as there is no eligible content
AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_NO_ELIGIBLE_CONTENT,

// Content is not published as the feature is disabled by the client
// Available in v1.3.1
AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_FEATURE_DISABLED_BY_CLIENT,

// Content is not published as the feature due to a client error
// Available in v1.3.1
AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_CLIENT_ERROR,

// Content is not published as the feature due to a service error
// Available in v1.3.1
AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_SERVICE_ERROR,

// Content is not published due to some other reason
// Reach out to engage-developers@ before using this enum.
AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_OTHER

If the content is not published due to a user not logged in, Google would recommend publishing the Sign In Card. If for any reason providers are not able to publish the Sign In Card then we recommend calling the updatePublishStatus API with the status code NOT_PUBLISHED_REQUIRES_SIGN_IN

Kotlin

client.updatePublishStatus(
   PublishStatusRequest.Builder()
     .setStatusCode(AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_REQUIRES_SIGN_IN)
     .build())

Java

client.updatePublishStatus(
    new PublishStatusRequest.Builder()
        .setStatusCode(AppEngagePublishStatusCode.NOT_PUBLISHED_REQUIRES_SIGN_IN)
        .build());

deleteRecommendationClusters

This API is used to delete the content of Recommendation Clusters.

Kotlin

client.deleteRecommendationClusters()

Java

client.deleteRecommendationClusters();

When the service receives the request, it removes the existing data from the Recommendation Clusters. In case of an error, the entire request is rejected and the existing state is maintained.

deleteFeaturedCluster

This API is used to delete the content of Featured Cluster.

Kotlin

client.deleteFeaturedCluster()

Java

client.deleteFeaturedCluster();

When the service receives the request, it removes the existing data from the Featured Cluster. In case of an error, the entire request is rejected and the existing state is maintained.

deleteContinuationCluster

This API is used to delete the content of Continuation Cluster.

Kotlin

client.deleteContinuationCluster()

Java

client.deleteContinuationCluster();

When the service receives the request, it removes the existing data from the Continuation Cluster. In case of an error, the entire request is rejected and the existing state is maintained.

deleteUserManagementCluster

This API is used to delete the content of UserAccountManagement Cluster.

Kotlin

client.deleteUserManagementCluster()

Java

client.deleteUserManagementCluster();

When the service receives the request, it removes the existing data from the UserAccountManagement Cluster. In case of an error, the entire request is rejected and the existing state is maintained.

deleteClusters

This API is used to delete the content of a given cluster type.

Kotlin

client.deleteClusters(
    DeleteClustersRequest.Builder()
      .addClusterType(ClusterType.TYPE_CONTINUATION)
      .addClusterType(ClusterType.TYPE_FEATURED)
      .addClusterType(ClusterType.TYPE_RECOMMENDATION)
      .build())

Java

client.deleteClusters(
            new DeleteClustersRequest.Builder()
                .addClusterType(ClusterType.TYPE_CONTINUATION)
                .addClusterType(ClusterType.TYPE_FEATURED)
                .addClusterType(ClusterType.TYPE_RECOMMENDATION)
                .build());

When the service receives the request, it removes the existing data from all clusters matching the specified cluster types. Clients can choose to pass one or many cluster types. In case of an error, the entire request is rejected and the existing state is maintained.

Error handling

It is highly recommended to listen to the task result from the publish APIs such that a follow-up action can be taken to recover and resubmit an successful task.

Kotlin

client.publishRecommendationClusters(
        PublishRecommendationClustersRequest.Builder()
          .addRecommendationCluster(..)
          .build())
      .addOnCompleteListener { task ->
        if (task.isSuccessful) {
          // do something
        } else {
          val exception = task.exception
          if (exception is AppEngageException) {
            @AppEngageErrorCode val errorCode = exception.errorCode
            if (errorCode == AppEngageErrorCode.SERVICE_NOT_FOUND) {
              // do something
            }
          }
        }
      }

Java

client.publishRecommendationClusters(
              new PublishRecommendationClustersRequest.Builder()
                  .addRecommendationCluster(...)
                  .build())
          .addOnCompleteListener(
              task -> {
                if (task.isSuccessful()) {
                  // do something
                } else {
                  Exception exception = task.getException();
                  if (exception instanceof AppEngageException) {
                    @AppEngageErrorCode
                    int errorCode = ((AppEngageException) exception).getErrorCode();
                    if (errorCode == AppEngageErrorCode.SERVICE_NOT_FOUND) {
                      // do something
                    }
                  }
                }
              });

The error is returned as an AppEngageException with the cause included as an error code.

Error code Note
SERVICE_NOT_FOUND The service is not available on the given device.
SERVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE The service is available on the given device, but it is not available at the time of the call (for example, it is explicitly disabled).
SERVICE_CALL_EXECUTION_FAILURE The task execution failed due to threading issues. In this case, it can be retried.
SERVICE_CALL_PERMISSION_DENIED The caller is not allowed to make the service call.
SERVICE_CALL_INVALID_ARGUMENT The request contains invalid data (for example, more than the allowed number of clusters).
SERVICE_CALL_INTERNAL There is an error on the service side.
SERVICE_CALL_RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED The service call is made too frequently.

Step 3: Handle broadcast intents

In addition to making publish content API calls through a job, it is also required to set up a BroadcastReceiver to receive the request for a content publish.

The goal of broadcast intents is mainly for app reactivation and forcing data sync. Broadcast intents are not designed to be sent very frequently. It is only triggered when the Engage Service determines the content might be stale (for example, a week old). That way, there is more confidence that the user can have a fresh content experience, even if the application has not been executed for a long period of time.

The BroadcastReceiver must be set up in the following two ways:

  • Dynamically register an instance of the BroadcastReceiver class using Context.registerReceiver(). This enables communication from applications that are still live in memory.

Kotlin

class AppEngageBroadcastReceiver : BroadcastReceiver(){
  // Trigger recommendation cluster publish when PUBLISH_RECOMMENDATION broadcast
  // is received
  // Trigger featured cluster publish when PUBLISH_FEATURED broadcast is received
  // Trigger continuation cluster publish when PUBLISH_CONTINUATION broadcast is
  // received
}

fun registerBroadcastReceivers(context: Context){
  var  context = context
  context = context.applicationContext

// Register Recommendation Cluster Publish Intent
  context.registerReceiver(AppEngageBroadcastReceiver(),
                           IntentFilter(Intents.ACTION_PUBLISH_RECOMMENDATION))

// Register Featured Cluster Publish Intent
  context.registerReceiver(AppEngageBroadcastReceiver(),
                           IntentFilter(Intents.ACTION_PUBLISH_FEATURED))

// Register Continuation Cluster Publish Intent
  context.registerReceiver(AppEngageBroadcastReceiver(),
                           IntentFilter(Intents.ACTION_PUBLISH_CONTINUATION))
}

Java

class AppEngageBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
// Trigger recommendation cluster publish when PUBLISH_RECOMMENDATION broadcast
// is received

// Trigger featured cluster publish when PUBLISH_FEATURED broadcast is received

// Trigger continuation cluster publish when PUBLISH_CONTINUATION broadcast is
// received
}

public static void registerBroadcastReceivers(Context context) {

context = context.getApplicationContext();

// Register Recommendation Cluster Publish Intent
context.registerReceiver(new AppEngageBroadcastReceiver(),
new IntentFilter(com.google.android.engage.service.Intents.ACTION_PUBLISH_RECOMMENDATION));

// Register Featured Cluster Publish Intent
context.registerReceiver(new AppEngageBroadcastReceiver(),
new IntentFilter(com.google.android.engage.service.Intents.ACTION_PUBLISH_FEATURED));

// Register Continuation Cluster Publish Intent
context.registerReceiver(new AppEngageBroadcastReceiver(),
new IntentFilter(com.google.android.engage.service.Intents.ACTION_PUBLISH_CONTINUATION));

}
  • Statically declare an implementation with the <receiver> tag in your AndroidManifest.xml file. This allows the application to receive broadcast intents when it is not running, and also allows the application to publish the content.
<application>
   <receiver
      android:name=".AppEngageBroadcastReceiver"
      android:exported="true"
      android:enabled="true">
      <intent-filter>
         <action android:name="com.google.android.engage.action.PUBLISH_RECOMMENDATION" />
      </intent-filter>
      <intent-filter>
         <action android:name="com.google.android.engage.action.PUBLISH_FEATURED" />
      </intent-filter>
      <intent-filter>
         <action android:name="com.google.android.engage.action.PUBLISH_CONTINUATION" />
      </intent-filter>
   </receiver>
</application>

The following intents is sent by the service:

  • com.google.android.engage.action.PUBLISH_RECOMMENDATION It is recommended to start a publishRecommendationClusters call when receiving this intent.
  • com.google.android.engage.action.PUBLISH_FEATURED It is recommended to start a publishFeaturedCluster call when receiving this intent.
  • com.google.android.engage.action.PUBLISH_CONTINUATION It is recommended to start a publishContinuationCluster call when receiving this intent.

Integration workflow

For a step-by-step guide on verifying your integration after it is complete, see Engage developer integration workflow.

FAQs

See Engage SDK Frequently Asked Questions for FAQs.

Contact

Contact engage-developers@google.com if there are any questions during the integration process.

Next steps

After completing this integration, your next steps are as follows:

  • Send an email to engage-developers@google.com and attach your integrated APK that is ready for testing by Google.
  • Google performs a verification and reviews internally to make sure the integration works as expected. If changes are needed, Google contacts you with any necessary details.
  • When testing is complete and no changes are needed, Google contacts you to notify you that you can start publishing the updated and integrated APK to the Play Store.
  • After Google has confirmed that your updated APK has been published to the Play Store, your Recommendation, Featured, and Continuation clusters may be published and visible to users.