Force a variation in Optimizely X

[#1]

With the client-side tool we would force ourselves into a variation using the test id and variation in the url params. Is there a way to do that with the new full-stack X tool? Ideally, it would be using a url param. I did see that there is a way to whitelist by user id, but that is not ideal when sending out the QA link to a list-serve. 

[#2]

You can try using Override Mode as documented in this article here: https://help.optimizely.com/QA_Campaigns_and_Experiments/QA%3A_Preview_tool_in_Optimizely_X_Web

[#3]

This is also a concern at my company

[#4]

I like to use URL option regularly, such as
http://www.mydomain.com?optimizely_x55555=1

More options:
https://developers.optimizely.com/x/solutions/javascript/topics/query-parameters/index.html

[#5 · Accepted solution]

Hi ts,

Currently, Optimizely X Full Stack only allows for whitelisting of individual user IDs. However, if you wanted to allow users to QA your experiment using a query parameter in the URL— this should be possible. The actual code would differ based on what SDK you're using, but conceptually you would just need to activate your experiment based on the value of a query parameter. You could whitelist two user IDs, say "variation_a" and "variation_b", then activate your experiments for either of these user IDs based on the value of your query parameter.

You can read more about whitelisting in our developer docs: https://developers.optimizely.com/x/solutions/sdks/reference/?language=python#whitelisting

Best,
Rocky

[#6]

Thanks Rocky, we'll work on modifying out whitelist to accept url params. This would be a very helpful feature to use in the future.