Overview

The BranchUniversalObject (BUO) and BranchEvent classes are fundamental to tracking and logging events with Branch. They are a standard way to send content and events to Branch, opening the door to deep linking, sharing content, content analytics, and content indexing.

A BranchUniversalObject instance represents a unique piece of content, such as an article, video, or item for sale. A BranchEvent instance corresponds to an in-app event that you want to log with Branch.

Together, these classes let you describe your content and events in a way that Branch can track.

Prerequisites

To start using the BranchUniversalObject and BranchEvent classes:

Create a Branch Dashboard.
Integrate the appropriate Branch SDK into your app (iOS | macOS | Android).

Branch Universal Object

Populate BUO properties like title and price with data about your content. You can also use the BUO contentMetadata field to include a sub-object that provides even more detail.

📘
Note
On iOS and macOS, content indexed using CSSearchableItem could be removed from Spotlight but cannot be removed if indexed using NSUserActivity.

BUO Properties

BUO Key	Description	Default Value	Link Property	OS
`canonicalIdentifier`	The unique identifier for content that helps Branch dedupe across many instances of the same thing. This field is required. Examples include a website with pathing or a database with identifiers for entities.	None	`$canonical_identifier`	iOS, macOS, Android
`canonicalUrl`	The canonical URL, used for SEO purposes. This should reflect the content’s web URL equivalent.	None	`$canonical_url`	iOS, macOS, Android
`title`	The name for the piece of content.	None	`$og_title`	iOS, macOS, Android
`contentDescription`	A description for the content.	None	`$og_description`	iOS, macOS, Android
`contentImageUrl`	The image URL for the content. Must be an absolute path.	None	`$og_image_url`	iOS, macOS, Android
`price`	The price of the item.	None	`$amount`	iOS, macOS, Android
`currency`	The currency representing the price (in ISO 4217 currency code).	`USD`	`$currency`	iOS, macOS, Android
`expirationDate`	Expiry date for the content and any associated link data. Represented as UTC epoch milli second. The maximum date this can be set is 31 days in the future.	None	iOS: `expiration` Android: `$exp_date`	iOS, macOS, Android
`contentIndexMode`	Can be set to either `ContentIndexModePublic` or `ContentIndexModePrivate`. `ContentIndexModePublic` indicates that you'd like this content to be discovered by other apps.	`ContentIndexModePublic`	`contentIndexMode`	iOS, macOS
`locallyIndex`	If set to `1`, Branch will index this content on Spotlight on the user's phone.	`0`	`$locally_indexable`	iOS, macOS
`publiclyIndex`	If set to `1`, Branch will index this content on Google, Branch, etc.	`0`	`$publicly_indexable`	iOS, macOS
`keywords`	Keywords that describe the object. Used for Spotlight search and web scraping.	None	`$keywords`	iOS, macOS
`contentMetadata`	A sub-object that further describes your content. See the "BUO Content Metadata Properties" table for more information.	None		iOS, macOS, Android

BUO Content Metadata Properties

The contentMetadata field of a BUO is a sub-object with a variety of properties you can populate to give Branch more details about the BUO.

BUO Content Metadata Key	Description
`contentMetadata.customMetadata`	A dictionary that contains any extra parameters you'd like to associate with the BUO. These are available to you after the user clicks the link and opens the app.
`contentMetadata.contentSchema`	Set this property to the `BranchContentSchema` enum value that best describes the content type. Valid values include `BranchContentSchemaCommerceProduct` and `BranchContentSchemaMediaImage`.
`contentMetadata.price`	The price of the item to be used in conjunction with other `contentMetadata` commerce fields.
iOS: `contentMetadata.currency` Android: `contentMetadata.currencyType`	The currency in ISO 4217 currency code. The default is USD.
`contentMetadata.quantity`	The number of items.
`contentMetadata.sku`	The vendor SKU.
`contentMetadata.productName`	The product name.
`contentMetadata.productBrand`	The product brand.
`contentMetadata.productCategory`	A `BNCProductCategory` value, such as `BNCProductCategoryAnimalSupplies` or `BNCProductCategoryFurniture`.
`contentMetadata.productVariant`	The product variant.
`contentMetadata.condition`	A `BranchCondition` value, such as `BranchConditionNew` or `BranchConditionRefurbished`.
`contentMetadata.rating` `contentMetadata.ratingAverage` `contentMetadata.ratingCount` `contentMetadata.ratingMax`	The rating for your content.
`contentMetadata.addressStreet` `contentMetadata.addressCity` `contentMetadata.addressRegion` `contentMetadata.addressCountry` `contentMetadata.addressPostalCode`	The address of your content.
`contentMetadata.latitude` `contentMetadata.longitude`	The latitude and longitude of your content.
`contentMetadata.imageCaptions`	Image captions for the content's images.

BUO Best Practices

When working with BUO instances, Branch recommends certain practices and discourages others.

Do:

Set the canonicalIdentifier to a unique, deduped value across instances of the app.
Ensure that the title, contentDescription, and imageUrl properly represent the object.
Initialize the BUO and call the logEvent() method with the View Item event on page load.
Call the showShareSheet() and createShortLink() methods later in the lifecycle, when the user takes an action that needs a link.
Call additional events (Purchase, Share, etc.) when the corresponding user action is taken.
On iOS, set the contentIndexMode to ContentIndexModePublic or ContentIndexModePrivate. If set to ContentIndexModePublic, then content is indexed using NSUserActivity, otherwise content is indexed using CSSearchableIndex on Spotlight.

Do Not:

Set the same title, contentDescription, and imageUrl across all objects.
Wait until the user goes to share before initializing the object and register views.
Wait until you need a link before initializing the object.
Create many objects at once and register views in a for loop.

iOS and macOS Examples

let buo: BranchUniversalObject = BranchUniversalObject(canonicalIdentifier: "item/12345")
buo.title = "My Content Title"
buo.contentDescription = "My Content Description"
buo.imageUrl = "https://example.com/mycontent-12345.png"
buo.contentMetadata.contentSchema = .product;
buo.contentMetadata.customMetadata["property1"] = "blue"
buo.contentMetadata.customMetadata["property2"] = "red"

BranchUniversalObject *buo = [[BranchUniversalObject alloc] initWithCanonicalIdentifier:@"item/12345"];
buo.title = @"My Content Title";
buo.contentDescription = @"My Content Description";
buo.imageUrl = @"https://example.com/mycontent-12345.png";
buo.contentMetadata.contentSchema = BranchContentSchemaCommerceProduct;
buo.contentMetadata.customMetadata[@"property1"] = @"blue";
buo.contentMetadata.customMetadata[@"property2"] = @"red";

Android Examples

val buo = BranchUniversalObject()
  .setCanonicalIdentifier("content/12345")
  .setTitle("My Content Title")
  .setContentDescription("My Content Description")
  .setContentImageUrl("https://lorempixel.com/400/400")
  .setContentMetadata(ContentMetadata().addCustomMetadata("key1", "value1"))

BranchUniversalObject buo = new BranchUniversalObject()
  .setCanonicalIdentifier("content/12345")
  .setTitle("My Content Title")
  .setContentDescription("My Content Description")
  .setContentImageUrl("https://lorempixel.com/400/400")
  .setContentMetadata(new ContentMetadata().addCustomMetadata("key1", "value1"));

Branch Event

Use the BranchEvent class to track special user actions or application specific events. For example, you can track when a user adds an item to a shopping cart or searches for a keyword.

You can use a BUO instance to populate the contentItems field of the BranchEvent class. This is how you associate BUO data with a specific event.

iOS and macOS Examples

IMPORTANT: This method should only be invoked after initSession. If it is invoked before, then Branch will silently initialize the SDK before the callback has been set, in order to carry out this method's required task. As a result, you may experience issues where the initSession callback does not fire.

// Create a Branch Event (this example uses the `purchase` event)
let event = BranchEvent.standardEvent(.purchase)

// Add a populated BranchUniversalObject to the event
event.contentItems     = [ buo ]

// Add additional event data
event.alias = "my custom alias"
event.transactionID = "12344555"
event.eventDescription = "event_description"
event.searchQuery = "item 123"
event.customData = [
    "Custom_Event_Property_Key1": "Custom_Event_Property_val1",
    "Custom_Event_Property_Key2": "Custom_Event_Property_val2"
]

// Log the event
event.logEvent()

// Create a Branch event (this example uses the `BranchStandardEventAddToCart` event)
BranchEvent *event     = [BranchEvent standardEvent:BranchStandardEventAddToCart];

// // Add a populated BranchUniversalObject to the event
event.contentItems     = (id) @[ buo ];

// Add additional event data
event.alias = @"my custom alias";
event.transactionID = @"12344555";
event.eventDescription = @"event_description";
event.searchQuery = @"item 123";
event.customData = (NSMutableDictionary*) @{
    @"Custom_Event_Property_Key1": @"Custom_Event_Property_val1",
    @"Custom_Event_Property_Key2": @"Custom_Event_Property_val2"
};

// Log the event
[event logEvent];

Android Examples

// Create a Branch Event (this example uses the `ADD_TO_CART` event)
BranchEvent(BRANCH_STANDARD_EVENT.ADD_TO_CART)
  .setCustomerEventAlias("my_custom_alias")
  .setDescription("Customer added item to cart")
  .setSearchQuery("Test Search query")
  .addCustomDataProperty("Custom_Event_Property_Key1", "Custom_Event_Property_val1")
  .addCustomDataProperty("Custom_Event_Property_Key2", "Custom_Event_Property_val2")
  .addContentItems(buo) // Add a populated BranchUniversalObject to the event
  .logEvent(applicationContext) // Log the event

// Create a Branch Event (this example uses the `ADD_TO_CART` event)
new BranchEvent(BRANCH_STANDARD_EVENT.ADD_TO_CART)
  .setCustomerEventAlias("my_custom_alias")
  .setDescription("Customer added item to cart")
  .setSearchQuery("Test Search query")
  .addCustomDataProperty("Custom_Event_Property_Key1", "Custom_Event_Property_val1")
  .addCustomDataProperty("Custom_Event_Property_Key2", "Custom_Event_Property_val2")
  .addContentItems(buo) // Add a populated BranchUniversalObject to the event
  .logEvent(context); // Log the event

More Examples

For more examples across our SDKs, visit our docs on tracking commerce, content, lifecycle, and custom events.

Deep Link Data Structure

An example of the data structure for a deep link in JSON:

{
  "randomized_bundle_token": "427469360685348303",
  "link": "https://example.app.link?%24randomized_bundle_token=427469360685348303",
  "session_id": "429691081177874743",
  "data": {
    "$canonical_identifier": "item/1503684554354.28",
    "$canonical_url": "https://example.com/home?utm_campaign=test&deeplink=value",
    "$desktop_url": "http://example.com/home",
    "$randomized_bundle_token": "427469360685348303",
    "$og_description": "My Content Description",
    "$og_image_url": "http://lorempixel.com/200/200/",
    "$og_title": "46D6D28E-0390-40E4-A856-BD74F34D24C8",
    "$publicly_indexable": true,
    "+click_timestamp": 1503684563,
    "+clicked_branch_link": true,
    "+is_first_session": false,
    "+match_guaranteed": true,
    "custom": "blue",
    "random": "FE848A5B-78F7-42EC-A253-9F795FE91692",
    "added": "1503684554354.33",
    "~campaign": "new launch",
    "~channel": "facebook",
    "~creation_source": 3,
    "~feature": "sharing",
    "~id": 429691043152332059,
    "~referring_link": "https://example.app.link/X7OsnWv9TF",
    "~stage": "new person",
    "~tags": [
      "one",
      "two"
    ]
  }
}

Create Branch Objects

Overview

Prerequisites

Branch Universal Object

📘
Note

BUO Properties

BUO Content Metadata Properties

BUO Best Practices

Do:

Do Not:

iOS and macOS Examples

Android Examples

Branch Event

iOS and macOS Examples

Android Examples

More Examples

Deep Link Data Structure

Overview

Prerequisites

Branch Universal Object

📘Note

BUO Properties

BUO Content Metadata Properties

BUO Best Practices

Do:

Do Not:

iOS and macOS Examples

Android Examples

Branch Event

iOS and macOS Examples

Android Examples

More Examples

Deep Link Data Structure

📘
Note