Shopify Query Language

The query language of the Analytics API is called ShopifyQL. A valid ShopifyQL query consists of parts similar to a valid SQL request. Let’s look at an example:

SHOW sum(pageview_count) FROM visits SINCE -7d UNTIL -1d

This query will fetch the total pageviews for the last 7 days. The result would look something like:

Tip

ShopifyQL requests must be made using the Embedded App SDK.

Fetching data (SHOW)

There are a number of ways to select, filter and aggregate data using ShopifyQL.

Columns

Each schema is comprised of many columns.

SHOW utm_campaign_name, utm_campaign_term, utm_campaign_source

Aggregation Functions

A number of functions exist to aid with gathering or aggregating data.

Aliases

Commonly used aggregation expressions are provided as named aliases.

SHOW total_pageviews vs SHOW sum(pageview_count)

Named aliases on the visits schema:

Result columns can be explicitly labeled with expression AS label, otherwise a label derived from the expression will be assigned which can often be a bit unwieldy.

SHOW sum(pageview_count) AS pageviews

Aggregate Conditions

ShopifyQL provides support for conditions within the SHOW statement. These can be used to filter rows from inclusion into aggregation functions. Aggregate conditions make it possible to get results back in a single query that would usually require two or more.

Copy

sum(IF page_path == '' THEN pageview_count) AS home_pageviews, sum(IF page_path != '' THEN pageview_count) AS other_pageviews

Selecting schemas (FROM)

Schemas are selected by the key word FROM. This works in a similar fashion to SQL. The following query is using the visits schema:

SHOW sum(pageview_count) FROM visits

Shopify provides several schemas that you can fetch data from:

• Sales schema
• Payments schema
• Taxes schema
• Visits schema
• Customers schema

Filtering (WHERE)

The WHERE clause indicates the condition or conditions that rows must satisfy to be selected.

Unlike aggregate conditions, which only filter for one column of the result. WHERE conditions filter for all columns that will be returned. WHERE clauses can simplify queries, such as below:

Using aggregate conditions

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SHOW sum(IF ((cancelled_at == NULL) AND ((deleted_at == NULL) AND (financial_status != ""))) THEN discounted) AS total_discounted,
sum(IF ((cancelled_at == NULL) AND ((deleted_at == NULL) AND (financial_status != ""))) THEN gift_card) AS total_gift_card,
sum(IF ((cancelled_at == NULL) AND ((deleted_at == NULL) AND (financial_status != ""))) THEN (shipping + (subtotal_price + tax_added))) AS total_sales
FROM orders

Using WHERE clauses:

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SHOW sum(discounted) AS total_discounted, sum(gift_card) AS total_gift_card, sum(shipping + subtotal_price + tax_added) AS total_sales
FROM orders
WHERE cancelled_at == NULL AND deleted_at == NULL AND financial_status != ""

Valid operators are:

• !=
• ==
• IN

Grouping data

Grouping by results (BY)

The BY statement can be used to group the result-set by one or more columns. In the following example, we use the BY clause to group data based on day. Note that there is no row for 2016-02-01. This is because there is no data for that day. This behaviour differs from that of the OVER clause explained below.

Total pageviews by day (last 7 days)

SHOW sum(pageview_count) BY day(timestamp) FROM visits SINCE -7d UNTIL -1d

Grouping with backfill (OVER)

Similarly to BY the OVER clause can also be used to group result sets. The difference is that missing rows will be backfilled. In the following example, we use the OVER clause to group data based on day. Note that there is a backfilled row for 2016-02-01.

Total pageviews per day (last 7 days)

SHOW sum(pageview_count) OVER day(timestamp) FROM visits SINCE -7d UNTIL -1d

It is also possible to combine BY and OVER queries.

Total pageviews by browser per day (last 7 days)

SHOW sum(pageview_count) OVER day(timestamp) BY ua_browser FROM visits SINCE -7d UNTIL -1d

Time Functions

A number of time functions exist: day, month, week and year. These can be used in conjuction with BY or OVER to bucket data into a specific period.

SHOW sum(pageview_count) OVER month(timestamp) AS month

This will bucket pageview counts per month. Note that only some types of properties (generally only time related ones) can be backfilled.

Time Range (SINCE/UNTIL)

When writing ShopifyQL queries, the use of time/date constraints is strongly recommended. Not including the SINCE and UNTIL clauses will result in a query that scans a shops entire dataset, which can include years of data and take quite a long time.

Explicit dates are supported, such as 2016-01-28. There is also support for relative dates.

Note that SINCE will be taken from the beginning of the day, while UNTIL will be to the end of the day.

For example. Assume today is 2016-02-04

SINCE -7d UNTIL -1d would be equivalent to SINCE 2016-01-28 UNTIL 2016-02-03