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readme file for guides plugin
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‎plugins/guides/README.md‎

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# Guides plugin
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## Overall behaviour
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The guides plugin is a core plugin that provides interactive, in-app walkthroughs and articles for users to help them navigate and utilise features within the Countly application.
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Guides are enabled if **enableGuides** is set to true in the CMS OR in the API config file (this allows us to enable them for a specific server). If Guides are disabled or no data is available for a specific plugin, we display the tooltip instead of the Guides button.
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The Guides plugin data comes from the Countly CMS. When fetched, it is stored in **Countly DB** under the **cms_cache** collection and is refreshed periodically based on the **UPDATE_INTERVAL** variable set in the backend:
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If cms_cache is empty or the UPDATE_INTERVAL has passed, the data is fetched from the CMS. We can also force a refresh by calling the **clearCache** endpoint which clears the cms_cache collection.
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## File structure
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File structure follows usual Countly plugin structure
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```
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plugins/guides
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├── api
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├── frontend/public
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│ ├── javascripts
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│ │ ├── countly.models.js # Guides model code; transforms backend data
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│ │ └── countly.views.js # Views code: handles all views/components
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│ ├── localization # Contains localization files
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│ ├── stylesheets # Contains stylesheets
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│ └── templates
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│ ├── guides.html # Main guides page template, covering all plugins
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│ ├── dialog.html # Template for the dialog that displays guides for each plugin
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│ ├── search.html # Template for the search bar within the guides section
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│ ├── search-result-tab.html # Template for the tab that shows search results in guides
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│ ├── tab.html # Generic tab template for organising walkthroughs/articles by section
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│ ├── articles-component.html # Component template for a list of articles
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│ ├── article-component.html # Component template for an individual article
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│ ├── walkthroughs-component.html # Component template for a list of walkthroughs
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│ ├── walkthrough-component.html # Component template for an individual walkthrough
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│ ├── overview-component.html # Component template for the overview section of guides
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│ └── overview-tab.html # Template for the tab that displays an overview of guides
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│
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├── install.js
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├── build.js
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├── package.json
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├── tests.js
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└── README.md
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```
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Other relevant files:
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```
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frontend
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│ ├── express/public/javascripts/countly
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│ └── countly.cms.js # Frontend file where requests to the backend are made
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│
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api
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├── parts/mgmt
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│ └── cms.js # Backend file where requests to the CMS are made
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└── config.js # API config file where we can enable guides
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```
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## Data structure
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The guides data is stored in the **Countly CMS** with the following structure:
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```
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{
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"data": [
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{
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"id": 1,
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"attributes": {
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"sectionID": "/section",
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"sectionTitle": "Section",
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"createdAt": "date",
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"updatedAt": "date",
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"publishedAt": "date",
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"locale": "en",
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"walkthroughTitle": "Custom title for walkthroughs",
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"walkthroughDescription": "Custom description for walkthroughs",
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"articleTitle": "Custom title for articles",
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"articleDescription": "Custom description for articles",
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"articles": [
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{
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"id": 18,
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"title": "title",
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"url": "https://support.count.ly/path/to/article"
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}
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],
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"walkthroughs": [
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{
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"id": 17,
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"title": "title",
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"url": "https://demo.arcade.software/walkthrough"
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},
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{
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"id": 5,
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"title": "title",
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"url": "https://demo.arcade.software/walkthrough"
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}
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],
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"localizations": {
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"data":[]
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}
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}
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}
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....other sections
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],
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"meta": {
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"pagination": {
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"page": 1,
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"pageSize": 100,
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"pageCount": 1,
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"total": 1
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}
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}
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}
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```
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When fetched, the data is transformed and stored in the **Countly DB (cms_cache collection)**. The data for each section is stored in a separate document with the _id: "server-guides_{sectionID}"
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The document has the following structure:
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```
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{
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"_id": "server-guides_1",
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"lu": timestamp,
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"sectionID": "/section",
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"sectionTitle": "Section",
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"createdAt": "date",
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"publishedAt": "date",
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"updatedAt": "date",
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"locale": "en",
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"articleDescription": "Custom description for articles",
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"articleTitle": "Custom title for articles",
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"walkthroughDescription": null,
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"walkthroughTitle": null,
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"articles": [
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{
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"id": 18,
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"title": "title",
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"url": "https://support.count.ly/path/to/article"
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}
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],
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"walkthroughs": [
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{
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"id": 17,
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"title": "title",
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"url": "https://demo.arcade.software/walkthrough"
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},
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{
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"id": 5,
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"title": "title",
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"url": "https://demo.arcade.software/walkthrough"
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}
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],
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"localizations": {
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"data": []
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}
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}
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```
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In cms_cache, we also store the Guides configurations (such as whether the plugin is enabled, titles, descriptions etc) with the following structure:
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```
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{
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"_id": "server-guide-config_1",
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"enableGuides": true,
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"lu": timestamp,
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"createdAt": "date",
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"publishedAt": "date",
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"updatedAt": "date",
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"articleDescription": "Description",
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"articleTitle": "Title",
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"walkthroughDescription": "Description",
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"walkthroughTitle": "Title"
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}
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```
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Lastly, in cms_cache, we store metadata for guides and guides configurations with the following structure:
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The lu (last updated) field lets us know when it is time to refresh the data from the CMS
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```
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{
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"_id": "server-guides_meta",
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"lu": timestamp
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}
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```
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```
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{
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"_id": "server-guide-config_meta",
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"lu": timestamp
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}
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```

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