How to test android referral tracking?

I'm implementing some code to do my own referral tracking on downloads from the Android market.

See Android referral tracking does not work for an idea of what my app is doing.

How can I test if this code is working before deploying to the public?

Solution 1:

The easiest way is using adb. You don't have to write any code.

Just run in a terminal:

adb shell 
am broadcast -a com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER -n <your.package>/.<path.up.until.your.BroadcastReceiver> --es "referrer" "utm_source=test_source\&utm_medium=test_medium\&utm_term=test_term\&utm_content=test_content\&utm_campaign=test_name"

Here's my exact line:

am broadcast -a com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER -n net.lp.collectionista/.util.broadcast_receivers.FacadeBroadcastReceiver --es "referrer" "utm_source=test_source\&utm_medium=test_medium\&utm_term=test_term\&utm_content=test_content\&utm_campaign=test_name"

But your BroadcastReceiver may need to be the AnalyticsReceiver, i.e.

For Google Analytics v2:

com.your.package/com.google.analytics.tracking.android.CampaignTrackingReceiver

For Google Analytics v3:

com.your.package/com.google.android.apps.analytics.AnalyticsReceiver

For Google Analytics v4:

com.your.package/com.google.android.gms.analytics.CampaignTrackingReceiver

As Luigi said, you can also leave out the "-n" componentname part, but then every app on your device will receive the referral. This can be a good extra test to see if your BroadcastReceiver can be found properly.

The output I see (especially the last line is important):

05-13 17:28:08.335: D/Collectionista FacadeBroadcastReceiver(8525): Receiver called
05-13 17:28:08.335: V/Collectionista FacadeBroadcastReceiver(8525): Receiver called with action: com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER
05-13 17:28:08.365: D/GoogleAnalyticsTracker(8525): Stored referrer:utmcsr=test_source|utmccn=test_name|utmcmd=test_medium|utmctr=test_term|utmcct=test_content

Solution 2:

No! you have a few way to test it Send a broadcast manually with an intent of this form

    Intent i = new Intent("com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER");
    //Set Package name
    i.setPackage("com.package.yourapp");
    //referrer is a composition of the parameter of the campaing
    i.putExtra("referrer", referrer);
    sendBroadcast(i);

Solution 3:

None of the above commands works for me. After trying a lot of commands combinations here is the one that works for me:

./adb shell am broadcast -a com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER -n <your package>/<your package>.<your BroadcastReceiver> --es "referrer" "utm_medium%3Dpartner%26utm_campaign%3Dpartner_name"

Note: the referrer should be url encoded.

Solution 4:

pjv's answer works in the case where the package name in AndroidManifest.xml matches the applicationId in build.gradle. If they don't match, do the following:
Given:
applicationId is com.my.app.debug
package is com.package.app
receiver is path.to.MyReceiver
then broadcast to com.my.app.debug/com.package.app.path.to.MyReceiver
Details here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/adt-dev/PjTHX79Iomw

Solution 5:

Found a nice open-source tool that lets you scan the referral qrcode that you generate here, and it sends a broadcast intent with all the correct information.

https://github.com/giago/referraltester