peicheng/gclid-timestamp-decoder

decoding timestamps of Google gclids via Protocol Buffers

gclid timestamp decoder

decoding timestamp from Google gclid using Protocol Buffers.

overview

message formats are defined in .proto files. each field in the message has a unique numbered tag (immutable once message type is in use).

running the compiler on a .proto generates code in our chosen language (e.g. Python). with regards to Python:

a module is generated with a static descriptor of each message type, which is then used with a metaclass to create the necessary Python data accesss class at runtime.

compiling the .proto using an example file we already pre-defined:

protoc -I=$REPO_DIR --python_out=$DST_DIR $REPO_DIR/example.proto

this generates example_pb2.py in the specified destination.

additional presteps for base64 decode

removing trailing bytes doesn't work, we will end up getting

google.protobuf.message.DecodeError: Truncated message.

instead, we resort to padding with = so we get the gclid to a multiple of 4 before decoding.

install

pip install gclid-timestamp-decoder

usage

from gclid_timestamp_decoder.decode import get_timestamp_from_gclid
get_timestamp_from_gclid("some gclid id")

references

• Protocol Buffers

• Protocol Buffers Language Guide

• Protocol Buffer Basics: Python

• How to decode the gclid parameter in Google Adwords

author

Contact kenny@northpole.sg