Updating User Profiles

Updating the User Profile reflects the most recent information about a user. User Profile data enables you to:

• Populate any Iterable channel (Email, Inapp, Push, SMS, etc..) with personalized information later with Handlebars
• Flag users for A/B testing, cohorting and Segmentation
• Start a user journey

A user profile value can be a value like first name, or a dynamic value that changes, such as the date of last login or the number of times the user purchases a food.

# Table of contents

# How to make the updateUser call

Iterable can handle multi-level deep nested objects. You will want to add that object to the dataField arguement in the IterableAPI.updateUser() user call.

Swift

// The IterableAPI.updateUser() can be added any method within your code.  myFunc() is just an example
myFunc(){

    // Example data fields
    let dataField : [String: Any] = [
        "Address":[
            "Street1": "123 Main St",
            "Street2": "Apt 1",
            "City": "Iter-a-ville",
            "State": "Ca",
            "Zip": "90210"
        ]
    ]

    // Most important code
    IterableAPI.updateUser(dataField, mergeNestedObjects: false, onSuccess: myUserUpdateSuccessHandler, onFailure: myUserUpdateFailureHandler)
    
}

func myUserUpdateSuccessHandler(data:[AnyHashable:Any]?) -> () {
    // success
    print("sent to Iterable success")
}

func myUserUpdateFailureHandler(reason:String?, data:Data?) -> () {
    // failure
    print("sent to Iterable failure")
}

Java

JSONObject address = new JSONObject();
JSONObject datafields = new JSONObject();

try {
    address.put("Street1", "123 Main St");
    address.put("Street2", "Apt 1");
    address.put("City", "Iter-a-ville");
    address.put("State", "CA");
    address.put("Zip", "90210");

    datafields.put("dataFields", address);
} catch (JSONException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}
IterableApi.getInstance().updateUser(datafields);

Now you will be able to personalize the user's City (or any user profile) later with Handlebars in any of your channels by writing this code within the Iterable platform:

{{Address.City}}

# When to make the updateUser call

Typically you want to make the updateUser() call when:

• Your user has changed or added their personal information
• Completed a key step in your onboarding, sales or retargeting process. For example, you may want to add "completedOnboarding":true or "testGroup":"A" to the user profile for later segmentation, splitting the users down different journeys or analyzing later for test comparisons.

# Tracking anonymous users

Iterable can track anonymous users by utilizing the userId. This will automatically create a placeholder email. You can use a variety of client side libraries to generate a unique ID on demand and pass it to the Iterable userId parameter.

# Taking a user from anonymous to known

Iterable can handle anonymous to known users. The function below will update the current user email and userId. You will likely want to call the code below when your user logs in or identifies themselve via a signup.

Swift

// The IterableAPI.updateUser() can be added any method within your code.  yourUserIsNowKnownFunction() is just an example
let email = "the_new_email_of_the_user@email.com"

//Call 
yourUserIsNowKnownFunction() {
    IterableAPI.updateEmail(email, onSuccess: myUserUpdateSuccessHandler, onFailure: myUserUpdateFailureHandler)
}

func myUserUpdateSuccessHandler(data:[AnyHashable:Any]?) -> () {
    // success
    print("sent to Iterable success")
}

func myUserUpdateFailureHandler(reason:String?, data:Data?) -> () {
    // failure         
    print("sent to Iterable failure")
    IterableAPI.email = email

    //This assumes your saving your user profile fields in the datafield object locally 
    IterableAPI.updateUser(dataField, mergeNestedObjects: false)

}

Java

final String email = "the_new_email_of_the_user@email.com";
IterableApi.getInstance().updateEmail(email, new IterableHelper.SuccessHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onSuccess(JSONObject data) {
        System.out.println("sent to Iterable success");

    }
}, new IterableHelper.FailureHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onFailure(String reason, JSONObject data) {
        System.out.println("sent to Iterable failure");
        IterableApi.getInstance().setEmail(email);
        //This assumes your saving your user profile fields in the datafield object locally
        IterableApi.getInstance().updateUser(datafields);
    }
});

There is a chance the updateEmail() call will fail. The most likely reason is that the user already exists so we should now update the user call directly in the onFailure handler.