Telemetry collected by Microsoft MakeCode
Client side telemetry is collected for Microsoft MakeCode websites.
Microsoft MakeCode uses the Application Insights Javascript SDK to collect the telemetry information.
Cookies
There are three types of cookies stored by Microsoft MakeCode website.
- Language selection cookie (PXT_LANG). This is used to persist the language selection by user across sessions (Examples: English, French or German).
- Application Insight cookie (ai_user & ai_session) for user behavior tracking. This is used to correlate the data across sessions. No PII information is collected.
- Identity cookie (x-mkcd-auth-token) if you log into our website where it is supported.
Application Insights SDK Telemetry
Here’s the lifetime of the data tracked by Application Insights:
| Name | Purpose | Domain | R/W | Expiration | Retires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ai_session |
Session tracking | Hosting website | R/W | 30 minutes | End of session |
ai_user |
User tracking | Hosting website | R/W | 365 days | Never |
Telemetry Details
The following sections contain the information that the Application Insights SDK attempts to collect about the environment and the user.
Device telemetry
This is always set to “Browser” for the web
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
device.type |
“browser” |
device.id |
“Browser” |
User telemetry
Data about the current user. Users are identified by a cookie. This cookie is a randomnly generated hash by the application insights. A single user will get a new hash\cookie, every time the browser cache is cleared or a different browser is used on the same machine. A single person can look like more than one user in the telemetry, if they use different machines or browsers, or delete cookies.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
user.id |
Unique, cookie-based user id, automatically assigned. |
User Session telemetry
A session represents a series of user actions. A session starts with a user action. Sessions expire when one of these conditions occurs:
- 30 minutes of inactivity.
- A session maximum duration of 24 hours, regardless of any measured activity.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
session.id |
Automatically assigned id |
session.isFirst |
Boolean. True if this is the first session for this user. |
Operation telemetry
Represents the user request. The operation id is used to correlate related events in a diagnostic search.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
id |
Unique id |
name |
String |
Note: Refer to the Application Insights SDK API Reference documentation for further details.
Microsoft MakeCode custom telemetry
Microsoft MakeCode website’s also sends custom telemetry using AppInsights trackEvent. Each custom telemetry event has the following additional information:
| CustomDimensions | Description |
|---|---|
version |
Version of the software |
target |
Identifies the target. For example: microbit or adafruit CPX |
stage |
beta, release or alpha |
WindowsApp |
Event originates from Windows App for Microsoft MakeCode |
electron |
Event originates from electron app |
These are the custom telemetry events fired by MakeCode editors:
| Events | Description |
|---|---|
| Block | blocks used, search, collapse, expand, delete, format, screenshot,help, switchjavascript, showjavascript, category, block type |
| Editor tools | Rename, download, save, undo, zoomIn, zoomOut, startStopSimulator, restart, trace, toggleCollapse |
| Menu | Javascript tab, Blocks tab, open, add package, reset, report abuse, gettingstarted, about, high contrast etc |
| Typescript | keep text, discard text, toolbox click, item click, item drag |
| Projects | new porject, rename, import, import url, tutorials |
| Simulator | Start, stop, restart, fullscreen, screen, mute, make, screenshot |
| Hex files | import success\failure, |
| Share | publish, facebook, twitter |
| Compile | Noemit, floating point information |
| locale | change of language |
| Packages | github search, bundled, |
| Docs | doc usage |
In addition to the events, exceptions in the editor are sent by AppInsights trackException.