Confused About Data Element Actions XDM Object and Variable?

[MichaelJo13]

Hi,

I'm confused, in Adobe AEP data collection, what's the difference between the data element type of XDM Object and Variable? As far as I can tell, when you use XDM Object in a data element, the selected fields will automatically be updated when a send event happens? If I create a data element with the "variable" data element type, that means that I have to have a rule before the send event where I am selecting the event and properties to update? Is this correct? So, from what I'm understanding, XDM Object will update the XDM object every time, regardless of the event and the update variable is used to update the XDM object only on specific events? 

Thanks!

[Parvesh_Parmar]

Hello @MichaelJo13 , 

As I understand, if you create a data element either via XDM Object or Variable, you must configure a rule, event and action to transfer this data to AEP. It will not ingest automatically.

Variable Data Element Purpose: Used to create payload objects that can be sent to various Adobe solutions like Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target.

XDM Object Data Element Purpose: Specifically designed to format data according to the Experience Data Model (XDM) schema.

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-platform/web-sdk/commands/sendevent/xdm

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-platform/tags/extensions/client/web-sdk/data-e...

Hope it will help you!

Kind regards,

Parvesh