Accessing contextual information about the user
The X1 Platform provides the following ways to securely retrieve information about a user, X1 Device, or account:
Custom URL Parameters
.info() X1 JavaScript API method
This document covers the use of Custom URL Parameters. The full X1 JavaScript API documentation can be found App Requirements.
Custom URL Parameters must be configured by Comcast. Reach out to your partner manager for more information.
Custom URL Parameters
This feature allows information to be passed to an X1 Application about the user or X1 Device as URL parameters.
Using custom URL params
URL parameters generally take the form of {CHARIOT:key}. Chariot is an X1 Platform component that runs in the Comcast cloud. When a X1 Application is launched by a user, an instance of Chariot is started with the appropriate launch parameters.
The template key can be included in a number of different Chariot X1 App launch parameters:
url
urlComponents.query.key
urlComponents.path
urlComponents.fragment
templateData
templateDataRequestHeaders
Available URL Parameters
X1 Environment Data
Description | Possible Keys | Examples |
|---|---|---|
General purpose information about the X1 Device or environment. | zipCode^ |
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^This is a restricted value. Restricted values are not availble to all apps. Please contact your partner manager for more information.
*deviceCapabilities - All possible values for this template are listed under deviceCapabilities() . Complex objects are referenced using dot notation, eg. {CHARIOT:deviceCapabilities.hdcp.supportedHDCPVersion}.
For all deviceCapabilities that are an array of values the template will be resolved as a comma separated values.
†deviceHash - A unique hash of the deviceId containing only the following characters: [a-z A-Z 0-9]
Parental Controls
Description | Possible Keys | Examples |
|---|---|---|
If these templates are used, Chariot will look up the parental control settings for the user and pass them to the X1 App. The |
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App Authentication Data
Description | Possible Keys | Examples |
|---|---|---|
If this template is used, Chariot will look up the a previously stored auth token in Comcast's secure authentication store (called Auth Wallet) for the user, parse the response data to get the selected attribute and return it. |
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Mapped Data
Chariot is capable of mapping any template value to another value. For instance, if an X1 App has specific model strings that it uses, the mapping between X1 Platform models and X1 App models can be stored in the Chariot system and then the mapped value can be looked up when the template is dereferenced.
This is accomplished by prefixing any template key with MAP_NAME/, where MAP_NAME is a key that references a map of X1 Platform values to X1 App values.
Example
An X1 App can ask to store this map in the Chariot system:
APP_MODELS
pace_xg1 = appmodel1
pace_xg1v3 = appmodel2
The app can then include the template {CHARIOT:APP_MODELS/deviceCapabilities.deviceMakeModel} in its URL.
The template the might resolve deviceCapabilities.deviceMakeMode as pace_xg1, then see that it needs to map to APP_MODELS. The value that is actually returned is appmodel1.
Chariot App Launch Parameters
Description | Possible Keys | Examples |
|---|---|---|
This is any value which is passed into Chariot as an X1 App launch config. | n/a |
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Arbitrary Data
Description | Possible Keys | Examples |
|---|---|---|
This is a generic parameter that Chariot knows nothing about but was passed in as a launch parameter. The launch parameter must be prefixed with param. whereas the template key is not.The main use for this is storing business logic of a URL in a central configuration, then having different launch points pass in the parameter. This can also be accomplished with | n/a |
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