Television application page tracking using declarative page tracking

A method for tracking pages accessed by an app executed to display multiple pages on a display, the method comprising:

• an analytics server receiving a message from a television (TV) app, the TV app configured to display individual pages using declarative code specifying appearances of the pages, the TV app configured to respond to events using page-generic imperative code of the TV app, wherein the individual pages include a first page and a second page with the first page being different from the second page and the second page includes a tracking tag, the message is sent responsive to receiving an input event on the first page and, responsive to the input event, rendering the second page on the display using declarative code of the second page, identifying and rendering the tracking tag in the declarative code of the second page being rendered by the TV app, wherein:
• the declarative code is television markup language (TVML) and the tracking tag is a declarative tracking tag in the TVML of the second page,
• the tracking tag identifies multiple attributes with each attribute having a key and a value,
• the attributes specify analytics information to be tracked and information on how to track the analytics information and the key of at least one of the attributes is state,
• the TV app registers the tracking tag with a custom interface factory, wherein the interface factory is used to register elements that extend capabilities of the language of the declarative code and the TV app registers interface code for the tracking tag with the custom interface factory, the interface code specifying a response of the TV app to the tracking tag when found in declarative code of the individual pages of the TV app by sending messages to the analytics server, and
• the page-generic imperative code of the TV app identifying a parameter of the tracking tag that identifies page-specific information about the second page including a particular state of the second page, wherein the particular state of the second page is a page view state, a product view state, or a homepage state;
• and
• the analytics server tracking that a page access of the second page occurred based on receiving the message when the second page is rendered using the at least one of the attributes of the tracking tag and triggering a specific analytics tracking action based on the key and the value of the at least one attribute.

A system for tracking pages accessed by an app executed to display multiple pages on a display comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, wherein, when the instructions are executed by the processor, the processor preforms operations comprising:
• loading a television (TV) app configured to display individual pages using declarative code specifying appearances of the pages, the TV app configured to respond to events using page-generic imperative code of the TV app, the individual pages including a first page and a second page, the second page being different from the first page and the second page including a tracking tag;
• registering the tracking tag with a custom interface factory, wherein the custom interface factory is used to register elements that extend capabilities of the language of the declarative code;
• registering interface code for the tracking tag with the custom interface factory, the interface code specifying a response to the tracking tag when found in the declarative code of the individual pages, including the second page, by sending a message to an analytics system;
• rendering the first page of the TV app on the display using declarative code of the first page;
• receiving an input event on the first page and, responsive to the input event, rendering the second page on the display using declarative code of the second page;
• responsive to rendering the second page, identifying the tracking tag in the declarative code of the second page, wherein:
• the declarative code is television markup language (TVML) and the tracking tag is a declarative tracking tag in the TVML of the second page,
• the tracking tag identifies multiple attributes with each attribute having a key and a value,
• the attributes specify analytics information to be tracked and information on how to track the analytics information and the key of at least one of the attributes is state, and
• the page-generic imperative code of the TV app identifying a parameter of the tracking tag that identifies page-specific information about the second page including a particular state of the second page, wherein the particular state of the second page is a page view state, a product view state, or a homepage state;
• and
• based on identifying the tracking tag and rendering the second page, sending a message to the analytics system identifying a page access of the second page when the second page is rendered using the at least one of the attributes of the tracking tag and triggering a specific analytics tracking action based on the key and the value of the at least one attribute.