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Developer's guide to installing the Pendo Xamarin Android SDK

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Important: This article includes code examples that do not include the api key and scheme IDs required to successfully install the SDK. A Pendo admin in your subscription can access these unique IDs in App Details under Subscription Settings or in Install Settings in App Details.

 

Pendo captures product usage data, user feedback, and lets you communicate in-app to onboard, educate, and guide users to value. Pendo tagging and guides are codeless, no engineering resources are required. However, we need engineers to install the SDK and initialize Pendo in your app. Information about Pendo and the general installation process is available in the Installation Planning article. With preparation, the technical installation of the Pendo SDK is straightforward.

The SDK is the only technical piece of the initial Pendo installation. Once the SDK is properly installed anyone can use Pendo. The SDK tracks a visitor’s activity in your app, loads guides, and captures session metadata. Additional development may be done later to optimize and expand the use of Pendo for mobile, like track events. The SDK in your mobile app also needs to be updated when we release new versions to use the latest Pendo features.

Pendo has integrations with other popular CRM, analytics, and collaboration tools. The scope of integrations ranges from native integrations with a codeless installation wizard to custom development and will not be covered in this article. Check our Integrations articles for help with our popular integrations or reach out to a Pendo representative for help with integrations in your subscription after completing the SDK install.

 

Install instructions 

  1. Select Settings > Subscription Settings > Add Another App and select the Xamarin Android app type.

    xamarin_android.png

  2. Note that in Pendo, two applications are created under the 'Subscription Settings' page (one for Android and one for iOS).

    xamarin_ios_android.png

  3. Hover over the Android app and select Continue to installation.

Pendo setup and initialization

The SDK initialization has two parts, importing the SDK and initializing the SDK when the visitor is identified. The Pendo SDK is imported during application onCreate. The initialization call can occur in any activity where you want to identify the current visitor and the start a session.

Pendo must be initialized to identify the user, begin data collection, and display guide content. The SDK can be initialized when the visitor is authenticated and metadata is known or with an anonymous visitor. Initialization can occur when the application starts, later when the visitor is identified, or any time you need to identify the current visitor and start a new session.

Identified visitors use a defined schema to create visitor and account objects with associated metadata in Pendo. Refer to the article on Visitor and Account Metadata for additional information on how this data is defined and used in Pendo. Passing null or "" as the visitorId will generate an anonymous visitor ID.

  • visitorId - String containing a unique User ID (e.g. "user-SFGH-56gh"), this ID should match the visitor ID for any other Pendo web or mobile apps
  • accountId - String containing unique Account ID, affiliation of the visitor to a specific company or group (e.g. Acme Inc), this ID should match the visitor ID for any other Pendo web or mobile apps
  • visitorData - Visitor metadata (e.g email, phone, country, etc.) 
  • accountData - Account metadata (e.g tier, level, ARR, etc)

 

Step 1: Install Pendo Xamarin Android SDK

The SDK package is installed using Visual Studio's Solution Explorer. Open your Android app in Solution Explorer and follow the instructions to install the SDK. Update the repositories and manifest file in your app. Verify that your app meets all version requirements. When this is complete, you need to setup and initialize Pendo to identify the user, collect data, and load guides.

  1. In Visual Studio Solution Explorer, right-click on your Android project target and select "Add" - > "Add NuGet Packages…".
  2. If you are using Xamarin Forms 5, search pendo-sdk-android-xamarin-forms.
  3. If your application is using AndroidX, and only Xamarin, search for pendo-sdk-androidx.
  4. For Android support and Xamarin, search pendo-sdk-android.
  5. Press Add Package.

Using Proguard/R8

If you’re using proguard-android-optimize.txt, add the following in the optimizations code line.

!code/allocation/variable

Your optimizations line should look like this.

-optimizations *other optimizations*,!code/allocation/variable

 

Step 2: Pendo SDK Integration

1. Open the Application Class that inherits from Android.App.Application.
Intialize Pendo in the application onCreate method with the following code:

using static Sdk.Pendo.IO.Pendo;
...
const string pendoAppKey = <YOUR_APP_KEY>
Setup(this, pendoAppKey, null, null);

2. Initialize Pendo in the Activity/Fragment where your visitor is being identified.

    var visitorId = "VISITOR-UNIQUE-ID";
    var accountId = "ACCOUNT-UNIQUE-ID";
/*
    Please note If you are using "pendo-sdk-androidx" plugin use this line:
*/
    var visitorData = new Dictionary<string, Java.Lang.Object>
/*
    Please note If you are using "pendo-sdk-android-xamarin-forms" plugin use this line:
*/

    var visitorData = new Dictionary<string, object>
    {
        { "age", 27 },
        { "country", "USA" }
    };
/*
     Please note If you are using "pendo-sdk-androidx" plugin use this line:
*/
    var accountData = new Dictionary<string, Java.Lang.Object> 

/*
    Please note If you are using "pendo-sdk-android-xamarin-forms" plugin use this line:
*/
    var accountData = new Dictionary<string, object>
    {
        { "Tier", 1 },
        { "Size", "Enterprise" }
    };

    StartSession(
        visitorId,
        accountId,
        visitorData,
        accountData
   );

 

**visitorId**: a user identifier (e.g. John Smith)  
**visitorData**: the user metadata (e.g. email, phone, country, etc.)  
**accountId**: an affiliation of the user to a specific company or group (e.g. Acme inc.)  
**accountData** : the account metadata (e.g. tier, level, ARR, etc.)  

This code will end the previous mobile session (if applicable), start a new mobile session and retrieve all guides based on the provided information.  
**Tip:** Passing `null` or `""` as the visitorId will generate an <a href="https://help.pendo.io/resources/support-library/analytics/anonymous-visitors.html" target="_blank">anonymous visitor id</a>.

 

Step 3: Mobile device connectivity for tagging and testing

To allow tagging your application with Pendo and testing guides:

1. Add the following activity to the application AndroidManifest.Xml in the tag:

<activity android:name="sdk.pendo.io.activities.PendoGateActivity" android:launchMode="singleInstance" android:exported="true">
 <intent-filter>
   <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"/>
   <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
   <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE"/>
   <data android:scheme= <YOUR_SCHEME>/>
 </intent-filter>
</activity>

 

Step 4: Verify your installation

1. Using Visual Studio, run the app and search in the device log for

Pendo SDK was successfully integrated and connected to the server.

2. Click to go through a verification process for the SDK integration.

3. Confirm that you can see your app under subscription settings as Integrated.

XamAndroidIntegrated.png

 

Additional Configuration

Pendo Android API Documentation contains additional technical information for configuring the Pendo SDK in your application.

 

Troubleshooting

Review the latest Pendo Mobile SDK release notes for any compatibility issues.

If you are encountering Dex problems, please refer to the follow articles.

https://developer.android.com/studio/build/multidex.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/android/deploy-test/release-prep/?tabs=macos#multi-dex

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