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TinyInsights

TinyInsights is a library for tracking and a website for showing insights for your .NET MAUI app. Data will be saved in Application Insights. The website will help you to show the data in a more mobile app-friendly user interface.

You can try out the website here, https://mauiinsights.z6.web.core.windows.net/. No data is saved in the application. This web assembly page can be used until March 2026, when access with API-key will stop working. After that you have to set up a application in Entra. For about how to setup the website for your application, read this, How to set up and configure the web site.

Add TinyInsights to your app

Install the latest version of the package TinyInsights.Maui.AppInsights to your app project.

dotnet add package TinyInsights.Maui.AppInsights

Installation

In MauiProgram.cs, you should call UseTinyInsights like below.

var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();
builder
  .UseMauiApp<App>()
  .ConfigureFonts(fonts =>
    {
      fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Regular.ttf", "OpenSansRegular");
      fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Semibold.ttf", "OpenSansSemibold");
     })
  .UseTinyInsights("{YOUR_CONNECTION_STRING}")

If you want, you can configure what type of events you want to track.

builder.UseMauiInsights("{YOUR_CONNECTION_STRING}",
        (provider) =>
        {
            provider.IsTrackDependencyEnabled = true;
            provider.IsTrackEventsEnabled = true;
            provider.IsTrackErrorsEnabled = true;
            provider.IsTrackPageViewsEnabled = true;
            provider.IsTrackCrashesEnabled = true;           
        });

Track events

Crashes will be tracked automatically if it is enabled, other events you need to track manually.

To get access to the insights provider that you should use to track events, you should inject the IInsights interface.

private readonly IInsights insights;

public MainViewModel(IInsights insights)
{
  this.insights = insights;
}

Track sessions

When the app starts, a new session will be created. To create a new session, you should call the method below in the OnResume method in the App.xaml.cs file. This will create a new session every time the user is returning to the app.

protected override void OnResume()
{
    base.OnResume();

    var insights = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IInsights>();
    insights.CreateNewSession();
}

Track page views

await insights.TrackPageViewAsync("MainView");

Track custom events

await insights.TrackEventAsync("AddButtonTapped");

Track exceptions

catch (Exception ex)
{
    await insights.TrackErrorAsync(ex);
}

Track additional data

For all the track methods, you can pass additional data by passing a Dictionary.

var data = new Dictionary<string, string>()
          {           
              {"key", "value"},
              {"key2", "value2"}
          };

await insights.TrackPageViewAsync("MainView", data);

Track dependencies

To automatically track HTTP calls you can use the InsightsMessageHandler together with the HttpClient.

private readonly InsightsMessageHandler insightsMessageHandler;
private readonly HttpClient client;

public MainViewModel(InsightsMessageHandler insightsMessageHandler)
{
  this.insightsMessageHandler = insightsMessageHandler;
  client = new HttpClient(insightsMessageHandler);
}

You can also create a DependencyTracker and use it to track dependencies.

using var dependency = insights.CreateDependencyTracker("BLOB",blobContainer.Uri.Host, url);
await blob.DownloadToAsync(stream);

or if you don't want to wait for the scope of the using.

var dependency = insights.CreateDependencyTracker("BLOB",blobContainer.Uri.Host, url);
await blob.DownloadToAsync(stream);
dependency.Dispose();

UserId

By default a random UserId is generated for each user. If you want to set a specific UserId you can do it like below.

ìnsights.OverrideAnonymousUserId("MyOwnUserId");

To generate a new random UserId you can call the method below.

ìnsights.GenerateNewAnonymousUserId();

Set and update global properties

It is possible to set/update global properties with the UpsertGlobalProperties method.

insights.UpsertGlobalProperty("language", "sv-SE");

For predefined properties on the Client object, like RoleName you can use, Cloud.RoleName as key.

insights.UpsertGlobalProperty("Cloud.RoleName", "MyRoleName");

Right now Cloud.RoleName, Cloud.RoleInstance, Device.Id, Device.Type, Device.Model and Device.OperatingSystem are supported to change that way.

Use with ILogger

If you want, you can also use TinyInsights with the ILogger interface.

In MauiProgram.cs, you should call UseTinyInsights like below.

var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();
builder
  .UseMauiApp<App>()
  .ConfigureFonts(fonts =>
    {
      fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Regular.ttf", "OpenSansRegular");
      fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Semibold.ttf", "OpenSansSemibold");
     })
  .UseTinyInsightsAsILogger("{YOUR_CONNECTION_STRING}")

If you want, you can configure what type of events you want to track.

builder.UseTinyInsightsAsILogger("{YOUR_CONNECTION_STRING}",
        (provider) =>
        {
            provider.IsTrackDependencyEnabled = true;
            provider.IsTrackEventsEnabled = true;
            provider.IsTrackErrorsEnabled = true;
            provider.IsTrackPageViewsEnabled = true;
            provider.IsTrackCrashesEnabled = true;
            provider.IsAutoTrackPageViewsEnabled = true;           
        });

Use ILogger

To use ILogger, just inject the interface in the class you want to use it in.

private readonly ILogger logger;

public class MainViewModel(ILogger logger)
{
    this.logger = logger;
}

Track page views

By default, page views are automatically tracked. But you can turn that off, and do it manually if you prefer.

logger.LogTrace("MainView");

Track event

logger.LogInformation("EventButton");

Track error

 logger.LogError(ex, ex.Message);

Track debug info

LogDebug will only work with the debugger attached because it is using Debug.WriteLine.

logger.LogDebug("Debug message");