What are entities and how can I use them.

In Tracardi, entity is concept used for storing and managing data. Tracardi maintains a separate index, which can be considered as a store or table, specifically designed to hold information about entities. Each entity has a unique type and associated data.

The entity index in Tracardi allows you to store various types of data, depending on your requirements. For example, you can store information about email, products, or any other relevant data related to your business or application.

Tracardi provides plugins called "Save Entity" and "Load Entity" that enable you to interact with the entity index within your workflows. These plugins are available in the commercial version of Tracardi. With the "Save Entity" plugin, you can save or update data for a specific entity in the entity index. The "Load Entity" plugin allows you to retrieve the stored data of an entity from the index.

Each entity is related to profile.

It's worth mentioning that if you are using the open-source version of Tracardi and require similar functionality, you can utilize the "profile@aux" attribute to store data. While it may not provide the same dedicated entity index as in the commercial version, the "profile@aux" attribute serves as a convenient way to store additional information within a user's profile. You can leverage this attribute to store and retrieve data similar to how entities work in the commercial version.

Difference between Entities and Aux Property

Entities and aux properties in Tracardi have distinct characteristics in terms of their relationship and usage:

• Relationship: Entities in Tracardi can be associated with a one-to-many relationship. This means that a single profile can have multiple entities associated with it. For instance, you can have an entity called "Purchase" associated with a specific user profile, and that user profile can have multiple purchase entities linked to it. This allows for storing and managing collections of related data under a single profile.

On the other hand, the aux property in Tracardi has a one-to-one relationship. Each profile can have its own aux property, which serves as an additional attribute associated with that specific profile. The aux property allows you to store supplementary information related to the profile, but it is limited to a single set of data per profile.

• Usage: Entities are commonly used when dealing with data that has a common theme or relationship but varies in quantity. For example, entities can be utilized to store various actions, or interactions related to a customer, where each entity represents a specific instance of that action (e.g. Purchase, Sent email).

Conversely, aux properties are typically employed to store specific details or metadata about a profile that are unique to that individual. This can include preferences, additional user information, or any other supplementary data that is directly associated with the profile itself.

In summary, the key distinction between entities and aux properties lies in their relationship and usage. Entities can establish a one-to-many relationship between profiles and associated data, while aux properties maintain a one-to-one relationship, providing an additional attribute specific to each profile. Understanding this difference allows for better organization and management of data within Tracardi based on your specific needs.

Entities as an Extension of Events

It's important to note that the profile is also in a one-to-many relationship with events. This means that a single profile can have multiple events associated with it. Each event represents a specific action or occurrence related to the profile, such as a user interaction, a purchase, or any other significant event that you want to track.

Since events capture a wide range of activities, entities can be seen as an extension of events. Entities provide a way to store additional data that may not be directly tied to a specific event but is still relevant to the profile. In other words, entities offer a mechanism to store information that doesn't fit neatly into the event structure or you do not want to keep this information in the event itself.

For example, let's consider a scenario where you want to track purchases made by users. Each purchase can be represented as an event, and the associated data, such as the item purchased, the price, and the transaction details, can be stored within the event itself.

However, there might be additional information related to the purchase that doesn't fit well within the event structure. This could include details like: if the confirmation email was sent by the workflow, or additional notes specific to that purchase. Instead of trying to raise another event, you can utilize entities to store these supplementary details and retrieve them when needed.