Previous/next value lookup

Use the previous value lookup block to retrieve the prior value of a time-ordered property, which can be an event stream or block, for an actor such as a user.

Configure the block with the following fields:

• Previous/next – Select previous or next to retrieve the value for the time-ordered property per actor.
• Time series – Choose a time-ordered block or an event stream property as an input.
• Filter – Apply a filter to narrow to a specific set of records before applying the previous/next selector. Use the following comparison operators (string comparisons are case-insensitive):
  • is – Checks if the left side equals the right side.
  • is not – Checks if the left side does not equal the right.
  • contains – Determines if the left side string contains the right side as a substring.
  • in – Verifies if the left side is present within the set of values on the right side.
  • <, >, >=, ... – Applies mathematical operators.
• Output-specific property – Choose the particular property from the preceding or subsequent matching record that should be produced as output.
• Only emit a value when there is a change – Select this option to produce a non-null value only if the preceding or subsequent value differs from the current value for the same property.
• For each – Traverse through the elements in the dataset using this field to choose attributes and make the process more specific.

Example

To retrieve the next value of the user ID property, 

1. Select next in the for field.
2. Select the Total Time Viewed(TTV) metric as the time-ordered block in the value in the time series field.
3. Select id as the output specific property.
4. Select the Users dataset in the for each field.
5. Click Run.

Output

The output of the previous/next value lookup block is the type of the previous value property.