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279 lines
11 KiB
ReStructuredText
279 lines
11 KiB
ReStructuredText
=============================================
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Directory Links Architecture and Data Formats
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=============================================
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Directory links are enhancements to the new tab experience that combine content
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Firefox already knows about from user browsing with external content. There are
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3 kinds of links:
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- directory links fill in additional tiles on the new tab page if there would
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have been empty tiles because the user has a clean profile or cleared history
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- suggested links are shown if certain triggering criteria matches the user's
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browsing behavior, i.e., if the user has a top site that matches one of
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several possible sites. E.g., only show a sports suggestion if the user has a
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sport site as a top site
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- enhanced links replace a matching user's visible history tile from the same
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site but only the visual aspects: title, image, and rollover image
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To power the above features, DirectoryLinksProvider module downloads, at most
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once per 24 hours, the directory source links as JSON with enough data for
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Firefox to determine what should be shown or not. This module also handles
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reporting back data about the tiles via asynchronous pings that don't return
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data from the server.
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For the directory source and ping endpoints, the default preference values point
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to Mozilla key-pinned servers with encryption. No cookies are set by the servers
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and Firefox enforces this by making anonymous requests.
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- default directory source endpoint:
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https://tiles.services.mozilla.com/v3/links/fetch/%LOCALE%/%CHANNEL%
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- default directory ping endpoint: https://tiles.services.mozilla.com/v3/links/
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Preferences
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===========
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There are two main preferences that control downloading links and reporting
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metrics.
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``browser.newtabpage.directory.source``
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---------------------------------------
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This endpoint tells Firefox where to download directory source file as a GET
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request. It should return JSON of the appropriate format containing the relevant
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links data. The value can be a data URI, e.g., an empty JSON object effectively
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turns off remote downloading: ``data:text/plain,{}``
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The preference value will have %LOCALE% and %CHANNEL% replaced by the
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appropriate values for the build of Firefox, e.g.,
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- directory source endpoint:
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https://tiles.services.mozilla.com/v3/links/fetch/en-US/release
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``browser.newtabpage.directory.ping``
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-------------------------------------
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This endpoint tells Firefox where to report Tiles metrics as a POST request. The
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data is sent as a JSON blob. Setting it to empty effectively turns off reporting
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of Tiles data.
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A path segment will be appended to the endpoint of "view" or "click" depending
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on the type of ping, e.g.,
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- ``view`` ping endpoint: https://tiles.services.mozilla.com/v3/links/view
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- ``click`` ping endpoint: https://tiles.services.mozilla.com/v3/links/click
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Data Flow
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=========
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When Firefox starts, it checks for a cached directory source file. If one
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exists, it checks for its timestamp to determine if a new file should be
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downloaded.
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If a directory source file needs to be downloaded, a GET request is made then
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cacheed and unpacked the JSON into the different types of links. Various checks
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filter out invalid links, e.g., those with http-hosted images or those that
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don't fit the allowed suggestions.
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When a new tab page is built, DirectoryLinksProvider module provides additional
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link data that is combined with history link data to determine which links can
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be displayed or not.
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When a new tab page is shown, a ``view`` ping is sent with relevant tiles data.
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Similarly, when the user clicks on various parts of tiles (to load the page,
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pin, block, etc.), a ``click`` ping is sent with similar data. Both of these can
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trigger downloading of fresh directory source links if 24 hours have elapsed
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since last download.
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Users can turn off the ping with in-new-tab-page controls.
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As the new tab page is rendered, any images for tiles are downloaded if not
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already cached. The default servers hosting the images are Mozilla CDN that
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don't use cookies: https://tiles.cdn.mozilla.net/ and Firefox enforces that the
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images come from mozilla.net or data URIs when using the default directory
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source.
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Source JSON Format
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==================
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Firefox expects links data in a JSON object with top level keys each providing
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an array of tile objects. The keys correspond to the different types of links:
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``directory``, ``suggested``, and ``enhanced``.
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Example
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-------
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Below is an example directory source file::
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{
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"directory": [
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{
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"bgColor": "",
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"directoryId": 498,
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"enhancedImageURI": "https://tiles.cdn.mozilla.net/images/d11ba0b3095bb19d8092cd29be9cbb9e197671ea.28088.png",
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"imageURI": "https://tiles.cdn.mozilla.net/images/1332a68badf11e3f7f69bf7364e79c0a7e2753bc.5316.png",
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"title": "Mozilla Community",
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"type": "affiliate",
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"url": "http://contribute.mozilla.org/"
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}
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],
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"enhanced": [
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{
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"bgColor": "",
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"directoryId": 776,
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"enhancedImageURI": "https://tiles.cdn.mozilla.net/images/44a14fc405cebc299ead86514dff0e3735c8cf65.10814.png",
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"imageURI": "https://tiles.cdn.mozilla.net/images/20e24aa2219ec7542cc8cf0fd79f0c81e16ebeac.11859.png",
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"title": "TurboTax",
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"type": "sponsored",
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"url": "https://turbotax.intuit.com/"
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}
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],
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"suggested": [
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{
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"adgroup_name": "open-source browser",
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"bgColor": "#cae1f4",
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"check_inadjacency": true,
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"directoryId": 702,
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"explanation": "Suggested for %1$S enthusiasts who visit sites like %2$S",
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"frecent_sites": [
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"addons.mozilla.org",
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"air.mozilla.org",
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"blog.mozilla.org",
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"bugzilla.mozilla.org",
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"developer.mozilla.org",
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"etherpad.mozilla.org",
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"hacks.mozilla.org",
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"hg.mozilla.org",
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"mozilla.org",
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"planet.mozilla.org",
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"quality.mozilla.org",
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"support.mozilla.org",
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"treeherder.mozilla.org",
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"wiki.mozilla.org"
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],
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"frequency_caps": {"daily": 3, "total": 10},
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"imageURI": "https://tiles.cdn.mozilla.net/images/9ee2b265678f2775de2e4bf680df600b502e6038.3875.png",
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"time_limits": {"start": "2014-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "end": "2014-02-01T00:00:00.000Z"},
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"title": "Thanks for testing!",
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"type": "affiliate",
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"url": "https://www.mozilla.com/firefox/tiles"
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}
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]
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}
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Link Object
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-----------
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Each link object has various values that Firefox uses to display a tile:
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- ``url`` - string url for the page to be loaded when the tile is clicked. Only
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https and http URLs are allowed.
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- ``title`` - string that appears below the tile.
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- ``type`` - string relationship of the link to Mozilla. Expected values:
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affiliate, organic, sponsored.
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- ``imageURI`` - string url for the tile image to show. Only https and data URIs
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are allowed.
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- ``enhancedImageURI`` - string url for the image to be shown before the user
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hovers. Only https and data URIs are allowed.
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- ``bgColor`` - string css color for additional fill background color.
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- ``directoryId`` - id of the tile to be used during ping reporting
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Suggested Link Object Extras
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----------------------------
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A suggested link has additional values:
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- ``adgroup_name`` - string to override the hardcoded display name of the
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triggering set of sites in Firefox.
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- ``check_inadjacency`` - boolean if true prevents the suggested link from being
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shown if the new tab page is showing a site from an inadjacency list.
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- ``explanation`` - string to override the default explanation that appears
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below a Suggested Tile. %1$S is replaced by the triggering adgroup name and
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%2$S is replaced by the triggering site.
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- ``frecent_sites`` - array of strings of the sites that can trigger showing a
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Suggested Tile if the user has the site in one of the top 100 most-frecent
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pages.
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- ``frequency_caps`` - an object consisting of daily and total frequency caps
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that limit the number of times a Suggested Tile can be shown in the new tab
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per day and overall.
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- ``time_limits`` - an object consisting of start and end timestamps specifying
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when a Suggested Tile may start and has to stop showing in the newtab.
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The timestamp is expected in ISO_8601 format: '2014-01-10T20:00:00.000Z'
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The inadjacency list is packaged with Firefox as base64-encoded 1-way-hashed
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sites that tend to have adult, gambling, alcohol, drug, and similar content.
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Its location: chrome://browser/content/newtab/newTab.inadjacent.json
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The preapproved arrays follow a policy for determining what topic grouping is
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allowed as well as the composition of a grouping. The topics are broad
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uncontroversial categories, e.g., Mobile Phone, News, Technology, Video Game,
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Web Development. There are at least 5 sites within a grouping, and as many
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popular sites relevant to the topic are included to avoid having one site be
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clearly dominant. These requirements provide some deniability of which site
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actually triggered a suggestion during ping reporting, so it's more difficult to
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determine if a user has gone to a specific site.
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Ping JSON Format
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================
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Firefox reports back an action and the state of tiles on the new tab page based
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on the user opening a new tab or clicking a tile. The top level keys of the
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ping:
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- ``locale`` - string locale of the Firefox build
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- ``tiles`` - array of tiles ping objects
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An additional key at the top level indicates which action triggered the ping.
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The value associated to the action key is the 0-based index into the tiles array
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of which tile triggered the action. Valid actions: block, click, pin, sponsored,
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sponsored_link, unpin, view. E.g., if the second tile is being clicked, the ping
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will have ``"click": 1``
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Example
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-------
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Below is an example ``click`` ping with 3 tiles: a pinned suggested tile
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followed by a history tile and a directory tile. The first tile is being
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blocked::
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{
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"locale": "en-US",
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"tiles": [
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{
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"id": 702,
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"pin": 1,
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"past_impressions": {"total": 5, "daily": 1},
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},
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{},
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{
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"id": 498,
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}
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],
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"block": 0
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}
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Tiles Ping Object
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-----------------
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Each tile of the new tab page is reported back as part of the ping with some or
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none of the following optional values:
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- ``id`` - id that was provided as part of the downloaded link object (for all
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types of links: directory, suggested, enhanced); not present if the tile was
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created from user behavior, e.g., visiting pages
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- ``past_impressions`` - number of impressions (new tab "views") a suggested
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tile was shown before it was clicked, pinned or blocked. Where the "total"
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counter is the overall number of impressions accumulated prior to a click action,
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and "daily" counter is the number impressions occurred on same calendar day of
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a click. This infomration is submitted once per a suggested tile upon click,
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pin or block
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- ``pinned`` - 1 if the tile is pinned; not present otherwise
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- ``pos`` - integer position if the tile is not in the natural order, e.g., a
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pinned tile after an empty slot; not present otherwise
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- ``score`` - integer truncated score based on the tile's frecency; not present
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if 0
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- ``url`` - empty string if it's an enhanced tile; not present otherwise
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