PHP
Detailed technical documentation on using RudderStack’s PHP SDK to send your server-side events to various destinations.
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Detailed technical documentation on using RudderStack’s PHP SDK to send your server-side events to various destinations.
Last updated
Was this helpful?
RudderStack’s PHP SDK allows you to track your event data from your PHP applications and send it to your specified destinations via RudderStack.
Check out the GitHub codebase to get a more hands-on understanding of the SDK.
To set up the RudderStack PHP SDK, the following prerequisites must be met:
You will need to set up a RudderStack account.
Once signed up, set up a PHP source in the dashboard. For more information, follow this guide. You should then see a Write Key for this source, as shown below:
You will also need a data plane URL. Follow this section for more information on the data plane URL and where to get it.
Install the RudderStack PHP SDK using the composer. You can also do so by running the following command:
Then, use the composer to install the PHP SDK by running the following command:
To initialize the RudderStack client, run the following code snippet:
RudderStack accepts the DATA_PLANE_URL
with or without the protocol. If the protocol is missing, RudderStack automatically prepends it to the URL based on whether the ssl
option is set to true
or false
.
RudderStack accepts the following data plane URL formats:
SSL
Data Plane URL
true
https://example.dataplane.com
true
example.dataplane.com
false
http://example.dataplane.com
false
example.dataplane.com
While initializing the RudderStack client, the ssl
field is optional if you are using the HTTPS protocol. If included, its value must be set to true
.
In case of the HTTP protocol, ssl
is a required field and must always be set to false
.
Once the RudderStack client is initialized, you can use it to send relevant customer events.
RudderStack does not store the user state in any of the server-side SDKs. Unlike the client-side SDKs that deal with only a single user at a given time, the server-side SDKs deal with multiple users at the same time. Therefore, for any of the calls supported by the PHP SDK, you need to specify either userId
or anonymousId
every time.
A sample track
call is shown in the following code snippet:
The identify
call lets you identify a visiting user and capture any related information such as their name, email address, etc.
A sample identify
call is as shown:
The identify
method parameters are as described below:
Field
Type
Presence
Description
anonymousId
String
Optional
Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId
or anonymousId
is required.
userId
String
Optional, if anonymousId
is already set
Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context
Object
Optional
Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations
Object
Optional
A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
timestamp
Date
Optional
The timestamp of the message's arrival.
traits
Object
Optional
Dictionary of the traits associated with the user, such as name
or email
The track
call lets you record the user actions along with their associated properties. Each user action is called an event.
A sample track
call is shown below:
The track
method parameters are as described below:
user_id
String
Required
The developer identification for your user
event
String
Required
Name of the event being performed by the user
properties
Object
Optional
Dictionary of the properties associated with a particular event.
context
Object
Optional
Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
timestamp
Date
Optional
The timestamp of the message's arrival.
anonymous_id
String
Optional
Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId
or anonymousId
is required.
integrations
Object
Optional
A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
The page
call allows you to record the page views on your website along with the other relevant information about the viewed page.
A sample page
call is as shown:
The page
method parameters are as described below:
Field
Type
Presence
Description
anonymousId
String
Optional
Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId
or anonymousId
is required.
userId
String
Optional, if anonymousId
is already set
Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context
Object
Optional
Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations
Object
Optional
A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
name
String
Required
Name of the page being viewed.
properties
Object
Optional
Dictionary of the properties associated with the page being viewed, such as url
and referrer
timestamp
Date
Optional
The timestamp of the message's arrival.
The screen
call is the mobile equivalent of the page
call. It allows you to record the screen views on your mobile app along with the other relevant information about the app screen.
A sample screen
call is as shown:
The screen
method parameters are as described below:
Field
Type
Presence
Description
anonymousId
String
Optional
Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId
or anonymousId
is required.
userId
String
Optional, if anonymousId
is already set
Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context
Object
Optional
Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations
Object
Optional
A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
name
String
Required
Name of the screen being viewed.
properties
Object
Optional
Dictionary of the properties associated with the page being viewed, such as url
and referrer
timestamp
Date
Optional
The timestamp of the message's arrival.
The group
call lets you associate an identified user to a group - either a company, project or a team and record any custom traits or properties associated with that group.
A sample group
call is as shown:
The group
method parameters are as follows:
Field
Type
Presence
Description
anonymousId
String
Optional
Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId
or anonymousId
is required.
userId
String
Optional, if anonymousId
is already set
Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context
Object
Optional
Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations
Object
Optional
A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
groupId
String
Required
Unique identifier of the group, as present in your database.
traits
Object
Optional
Dictionary of the properties or traits associated with the group, such as email
or name
.
timestamp
Date
Optional
The timestamp of the message's arrival.
The alias
call allows you to associate one identity with another.
alias
is an advanced method that lets you change the tracked user's ID explicitly. This method is useful when managing user identities for some of the downstream destinations.
A sample alias
call is as shown:
The alias
method parameters are as mentioned below:
Field
Type
Presence
Description
userId
String
Optional, if anonymousId
is already set
Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context
Object
Optional
Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations
Object
Optional
A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
previousId
String
Required
The previous unique identifier of the user.
traits
Object
Optional
Dictionary of the properties or traits associated with the group, such as email
or name
.
timestamp
Date
Optional
The timestamp of the message's arrival.
For a detailed explanation of the alias
call, refer to our RudderStack API Specification guide.
For any queries on any of the sections covered in this guide, you can contact us, or start a conversation on our Slack channel.
If you come across any issues while using the PHP SDK, you can open a new issue on our GitHub Issues page.