Flushing events in Android SDK

The Android SDK supports the flush() API. It retrieves all messages present in the database, divides them into individual batches based on the specified queue size, and flushes them to the RudderStack server/backend.

For example, if the flushQueueSize is 30 and there are 180 events in the database when the flush() API is called, the SDK will retrieve all those events and divide them into batches of 30 messages each, that is, into 6 batches.

If a batch fails for some reason, RudderStack drops the remaining batches to maintain the sequence of the messages. A batch is considered as failed if it isn’t sent to the RudderStack server after 3 retries.

In device mode, the flush() API also calls the destination SDK’s flush() API (if applicable).

Flush events periodically

RudderStack supports periodic flushing of events from the Android SDK to RudderStack, irrespective of whether your app is opened or not. This ensures that the events that are triggered just before closing the app are sent from the device - even if the app is not opened by the user for a long time.

To use this feature, follow these steps:

1. Open your app/build.gradle and add the WorkManager dependency under dependencies as shown below:

implementation 'androidx.work:work-runtime:2.7.1'

2. Use the withFlushPeriodically() function while passing the RudderConfig object to the getInstance() API, as shown below:

rudderClient =
    RudderClient.getInstance(
        this,
        WRITE_KEY,
        RudderConfig.Builder()
            .withDataPlaneUrl(DATA_PLANE_URL)
            // enabling periodical flush of events in the DB with a repeat interval of 15 minutes
            .withFlushPeriodically(15, TimeUnit.MINUTES)
            .build()
    )

withFlushPeriodically parameters

The withFlushPeriodically function takes two parameters:

• The first parameter is the number representing the time interval for the flushing to be repeated.
• The second parameter is the time unit of the repeat interval. It can be Minutes, Hours, or Days. The minimum value of the repeat interval is 15 minutes.

Initializing WorkManager on demand

By default, the WorkManager is initialized on the startup of the application. However, you can initialize it only on demand by following these steps:

1. Add a provider to the application tag of your application’s AndroidManifest.xml.

<provider
    android:name="androidx.startup.InitializationProvider"
    android:authorities="${applicationId}.androidx-startup"
    android:exported="false"
    tools:node="merge">
    <!-- If you are using androidx.startup to initialize other components -->
    <meta-data
        android:name="androidx.work.WorkManagerInitializer"
        android:value="androidx.startup"
        tools:node="remove" />
 </provider>

2. Implement Configuration.Provider and define the function getWorkManagerConfiguration() in your application class as shown below:

class MyApplication() : Application(), Configuration.Provider {
    override fun getWorkManagerConfiguration() =
        Configuration.Builder()
            .setMinimumLoggingLevel(android.util.Log.INFO)
            .build()
}

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