Seeking Guidance – Persistent Component-Level ID for Adobe Analytics in EDS/Universal Editor

Hi ​@pjinfo ,

Are you able to solve this? What's the business case for this requirement?

Hi ​@pjinfo 

The requirement is valid, but the identifier must be persisted with the component instance. Generating it in the block JavaScript during rendering will not provide a stable value across page refreshes.  One important distinction:

• The most likely correction is to replace the SharePointThe id in component-definition.json, such as hero or tabs, identifies the component type/definition. It is not a unique ID for each instance.
• The data-aue-* attributes, including data-aue-resource, are used by Universal Editor for authoring and persistence. They should not be treated as the Analytics identifier for a component instance. link with the canonical folder URL. Admin consent may be required for the application-permission setup, but admin consent by itself will not fix the issue unless the correct application is granted Sites.Selected and then assigned site-level write access.

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-manager-cloud-service/content/implementing/developing/universal-editor/component-definition

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-manager-cloud-service/content/implementing/developing/universal-editor/attributes-types

Recommended implementation

Add a persisted property to the component model, for example: analyticsComponentId

Then implement the following behavior in the persistence layer:

• When a component is created, generate a UUID if analyticsComponentId is empty.
• Persist that value with the component content.
• Preserve the value when the component is edited, reordered, or moved.
• Generate a new value when the component is duplicated, because duplication normally creates a new component instance.
• Do not reuse the value after the component is deleted.
• Run a one-time migration to populate the property for existing components that do not have an ID.

• Conceptually, the persistence logic should behave as follows:

  if operation == "add" and analyticsComponentId is empty:
      analyticsComponentId = generateUUID()
  
  persist component
  

  The ID should be generated at the backend/persistence boundary, not in the block rendering code.

• Universal Editor exposes the aue:content-add event when a new component has been successfully added. This event can be used for notification or client-side follow-up processing, but an event listener alone is not a reliable atomic persistence mechanism. The listener would still need to call a backend API that saves the value. https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-manager-cloud-service/content/implementing/developing/universal-editor/events-universal-editor

• For a robust implementation, use a custom Universal Editor persistence plugin or the relevant AEM persistence endpoint so that the ID is generated and saved as part of the component-creation flow. Universal Editor uses persistence services/plugins to write changes back to the underlying content system.

• After the persisted value is available to the delivery layer, render it as a separate Analytics attribute, for example:

• <div
    class="hero"
    data-component-type="hero"
    data-component-instance-id="8c3c1b4e-7b16-4b9e-a1a9-123456789abc">
  </div>
  

  The Analytics implementation can then send both values:

  componentType       = hero
  componentInstanceId = 8c3c1b4e-7b16-4b9e-a1a9-123456789abc
  

  The instance ID can be mapped to the appropriate Adobe Analytics eVar or Web SDK/XDM field, depending on the Analytics implementation.

• If the project is using the standard AEM persistence integration without any customization, there does not appear to be a configuration-only option that automatically creates and persists a custom per-instance Analytics ID. In that case, the solution would require a custom persistence/plugin implementation or a controlled migration process for existing content.

• A final consideration is whether the business really needs a lifetime identifier for each instance. For most reporting use cases, tracking the component type, page, location, and interaction is sufficient. A persistent instance ID is mainly useful when the business needs to follow the history or performance of one specific authored component instance across edits and moves.