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.
SDK setup requirements
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, see Adding a source. 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.
Installing the PHP SDK
Install the RudderStack PHP SDK using the composer. You can also do so by running the following command:
git clone https://github.com/rudderlabs/rudder-php-sdk /my/app/folders/
Then, use the composer to install the PHP SDK by running the following command:
composer require rudderstack/rudder-php-sdk
Initializing the RudderStack client
To initialize the RudderStack client, run the following code snippet:
require_once("/path/to/lib/Rudder.php");
Rudder::init(WRITE_KEY, array( "data_plane_url" => DATA_PLANE_URL, "consumer" => "lib_curl", // fork_curl "debug" => true, "max_queue_size" => 10000, "batch_size" => 100, "ssl" => true // defaults to true));
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
.
Sending events from the RudderStack client
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:
Rudder::track(array( "userId" => "f4ca124298", "event" => "Signed Up", "properties" => array( "plan" => "Enterprise" )));
Identify
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:
Rudder::identify(array( "userId" => "2sfjej334", "traits" => array( "email" => "test@test.com", "name" => "test name", "friends" => 25 )));
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 |
Track
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:
Rudder::track(array( "userId" => "f4ca124298", "event" => "Article Bookmarked", "properties" => array( "title" => "Snow Fall", "subtitle" => "The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek", "author" => "John Branch" )));
The track
method parameters are as described below:
Name | Type | Presence | Description |
---|---|---|---|
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. |
Page
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:
Rudder::page(array( "userId" => "f4ca124298", "category" => "Docs", "name" => "PHP library", "properties" => array( "url" => "https://segment.com/libraries/php/" )));
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. |
Screen
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:
Rudder::screen(array( "userId" => "f4ca124298", "category" => "Docs", "name" => "PHP library", "properties" => array( "name" => "HomeScreen" )));
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. |
Group
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:
Rudder::group(array( "userId" => "2sfjej334", "groupId" => "2sfjej334erresd", "traits" => array( "email" => "test@test.com", "name" => "test name", "friends" => 25 )));
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. |
Alias
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:
Rudder::alias(array( "previousId" => "previousId", "userId" => "2sfjej334",));
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.
Contact us
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.