Events not being tracked in new Google Analytics (analytics.js) setup - events

I have a website that I am using the new Universal Analytics (analytics.js) to track. Everything is setup and working (pageviews, referrals, etc.) using the following code snippet:
<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
ga('create', 'UA-39570713-1', 'site.com');
ga('send', 'pageview');
</script>
That is located before the </head> tag.
I am using JQuery to fire off an event. I tested the JQuery with an alert message and it is getting called, so that isn't the problem. Here is the snippet that fires when a button is clicked:
$('#submitButton').on('click', function() {
ga('send', 'event', 'button', 'click', 'contact form');
});
Nothing is appearing in the Events section of Analytics. I keep clicking the button, even from different computers just to make sure it isn't excluding my IP address. Because the Analytics doc that Google provides does not provide a whole lot of explanation I'm at a loss here.

If you are using Google Tag Manager and also want to trigger some events via code, ga('send'...) does not appear to be enough. You need to first fetch the appropriate analytics object:
if ("ga" in window) {
tracker = ga.getAll()[0];
if (tracker)
tracker.send("event", "Test", "Test GA");
}
Note that this assumes you're only using a single Google Analytics Tracking code on your site. If you happen to be using multiple, you may need to fetch the appropriate one by name or index.

New version of analytics has a new syntax. Replace the line below;
ga('send', 'event', 'button', 'click', 'contact form');
with this;
gtag('event', 'click', {'event_category' : 'button',
'event_label' : 'contact form'});
Reference;
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gtagjs/events

For testing purposes you could also use the hitCallback method:
ga('send', {
'hitType': 'event',
'eventCategory': 'button',
'eventAction': 'click',
'eventLabel': 'contact form',
'hitCallback' : function () {
alert("Event received");
}
});
Update: comma was missing.

For GA for this moment...
Sending a new page in SPA looks finally like this for me:
if (window.ga){
window.ga.getAll()[0].set('page', location);
window.ga.getAll()[0].send('pageview')
}
This shows exactly what wanted on GA reports like a new page is hit and the title and all are correct.

In my case the problem was uBlock Origin that was blocking the analytics script from loading.

I had the exact same problem. I had to create a new property and select "Universal Analytics" instead of "Classic Analytics" (it is labeled as "beta"). Now events are captured properly.

I had this same problem, and I think I've found the solution, but it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth about Universal Analytics.
What I had to do was explicitly use the synchronous analytics API. So instead of including the usual snippet in your <head> tag, use the following code:
<script src="//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js"></script>
<script>
tracker = ga.create('UA-XXXXXXX-1', 'example.com');
tracker.send('pageview');
</script>
Then you call the event tracking code like this:
tracker.send('event', 'Category', 'Action', 'Label');
This will ensure that the tracking beacon is sent to Google and acknowledged before the page the user navigated to starts loading.
This suggests that Universal Analytics requires some kind of additional acknowledgment beyond what the old ga.js analytics code required. So when you attach an event to a click that brings the user to another page, that acknowledgement can't be sent because the browser has left the page and dropped the current javascript execution stack.
Maybe this problem is specific to certain execution environments (I'm using Chrome 34 on OSX Mountain Lion), which might explain why more developers aren't noticing this problem.

today I needed to setup analythics for the first time and I found myself in the same trouble.
I found that the bast way to deal with the multiple trackers to avoid the getAll(), is this:
<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
ga('create', 'UA-xxxxxx-y', 'auto', 'tracker');
ga('tracker.send', 'pageview');
ga('tracker.send', 'event', 'test', 'click', 'automaticEvent')
Note that you have to pass a "name" to the create method, and then you send an event to that tracker with ga([trackerName].send, ...)
Reference: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/accessing-trackers

If anyone is trying to send an event to Google Analytics and wondering why the send function is doing nothing without any clear hint, I recommend using the debug version of their library. It will log some useful hints in the browser console.
Instead of getting the script from https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js, get it from https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics_debug.js. I found this out from their documentation.

I cannot see anything wrong with the code itself. Have you tried using the alternative event tracking?
ga('send', {
'hitType': 'event', // Required.
'eventCategory': 'button', // Required.
'eventAction': 'click', // Required.
'eventLabel': 'contact form'
});
I would also suggest testing the website with GA Debug Chrome addon, which allows you to see the tracking beacon was sent or not.
"Official" debugging documentation for Universal Analytics is still missing as of now, but hopefully it will be added soon as ga_debug.js provides lot of useful ways how to find out what's wrong with Analytics implementation...

I have the same problem, and it looks like events are tracked, but GA dashboard doesn't allow to browse them. This is the only way how I could interprete the "Visits with events: 1071" but "Total events: 0" that GA dashboard shows me.
UPD: With GA Chrome debug, have found a problem; 1st method is not working (sends the event without any data attached), but the 2nd one is OK.

You should also consider that it is likely that the page gets reloaded after the submit event was fired before the ga script was able to execute the 'send' method. To avoid this you could employ the 'hitCallback' mechanism, i.e. prevent the submit, call the ga send-method and submit the form data in the callback.

I got it working - my example is using the new Universal Analytics.
<script type="text/javascript">
function sliderOnChange() {
var period = window.convertDays(($("#PeriodSlider").slider("value")));
var amount_of_credit = $("#AmountOfCreditSlider").slider("value");
var gaEventInput = "£" + amount_of_credit + " for " + period;
ga('send', 'event', 'slider', 'sliding', gaEventInput);
}
</script>
Make sure Google Analytics / Google Tag Manager filters are not excluding any traffic from different domain. (Maybe you are testing it to get this working using different domain)
Recheck your GA id and domain in ga('create', 'UA-39570713-1', 'site.com');
Create a new profile in Google Analytics (GA) for testing purposes and debug your html in the same domain you define in GA.
Change the date to be today in GA - you might also need to wait some time before it appears in GA

I recommend sending GTM event via window.dataLayer.push({ event: 'EVENT_NAME', ...data }) and in GTM creating a trigger to fire a tag which sends event to Google Analytics. You'll have the best debugging experience with GTM preview and you'll be sure that events will be sent from GTM to GA, because GTM takes care of that.

onclick ga() function not working for me, I have also added the 'analytics.js' in <head> section -
<a mat-list-item routerLink='/dashboard' onclick="ga('send', 'event', 'Dashboard', 'Click', 'demoClick, 30);">
<mat-icon color="accent">home</mat-icon>
<span class="side-item">Dashboard</span>
</a>
gtag() function working fine for me, only the 'gtag.js' added in <head> section, 'analytics.js' not required or can be removed -
<a mat-list-item routerLink='/dashboard' id="sideNavDashboard" onclick="gtag('event', 'Click', {'event_category':'Dashboard', 'event_label':'demoClick', 'value':'30'});">
<mat-icon color="accent">home</mat-icon>
<span class="side-item">Dashboard</span>
</a>
Result (Google Analytics output) -

I was seeing everything except Events (both real-time and report). My steps included:
Calling Google and they found out that my GTM tag for Google Optimize was stopping all events to be sent to Analytics.
Removed the Optimize tag from Google tag manager and events started popping up in Analytics.
Try pausing some tag if you have this issue. Also connect the event tag to some goal.

I am using Vue.js and it seems I have to create ga each time, even though it was already created on the window:
ga('create', yourGtagId, 'auto');
ga('send', {});

In my case it didn't work because I loaded the HTML file directly from the file system.
Loading the page via a web server did the trick.
For local development a tool like https://github.com/tj/serve does a great job.

The only way I solved the problem was rolling back to the previous version of Analytics (non-beta):
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-39570713-2']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'optimino.com']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>

You can also use a jquery plugin I wrote for the new Universal Analytics:
https://github.com/pascalvgemert/jquery-analytics-event-tracking

Related

Universal Google Analytics Event Tracking Not Working

I have read all topics on the subject, and my code is still not tracking any events in the G Analytics. Please Help! Here goes the code:
The Analytics code:
<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
ga('create', 'UA-XXXXXXX-1’, 'auto');
ga('require', 'displayfeatures');
ga('send', 'pageview');
</script>
The code in the button that opens a link in a new window:
Buy Tickets
If you copy and pasted the event tracking code directly from your site, then it may need some adjustment with the quotes. You should use the "straight" quotes (and I KNOW there's a name for them.... anyone?). The code should look like this with the fixed single and double quotes:
Buy Tickets
The same thing for the ga('create'..) line. Generally make all quotes straight.

Is there a way to setup Clicktale tag in Google Tag Manager?

Since GTM doesn't support document.write() method the standard clicktale code doesn't work. Is there a workaround for this?
ClickTale employee has sent me these instructions:
Replace the document.write JS line above with the following:
document.body.appendChild(externalScript);
Example:
<!-- ClickTale Bottom part -->
<script type='text/javascript'>
var externalScript = document.createElement('script');
var scrSrc = document.location.protocol=='https:'?
'https://clicktalecdn.sslcs.cdngc.net/':
'http://cdn.clicktale.net/';
scrSrc += 'www11/ptc/xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.js';
externalScript.src = scrSrc;
externalScript.type = 'text/javascript';
document.body.appendChild(externalScript);
</script>
<!-- ClickTale end of Bottom part -->
I am not sure what to do with this. Has someone tried something like this?
The correct way to do it is explained in http://wiki.clicktale.com/Article/Google_Tag_Manager_Integration
The procdeure is:
Create a new container (or add the below to an existing container).
Create a new Custom HTML tag in your GTM container.
Copy and paste your project’s bottom code (from the ClickTale account) into the new
tag.
Check the “Support document.write” checkbox.
I tried it and it worked. Anyway I had to wait 24h (probably it's the time that Google needs for publishing the tag).
The above answer will work, but Google Tag Manager does have a template for ClickTale now, I always try to refrain from using the Custom HTML tag because this can absolutely break your site if done incorrectly
To set up ClickTale within GTM
New - Tag
Certified Analytics
ClickTale Standard Tracking.

Drag-and-drop Javascript won't work within ajax request on mobile devices

I'm trying to make a feature where users type into a text box which produces suggestions as you type (like Google Instant), then those suggestions can be dragged into boxes on the page. It all worked fine until I discovered touch screen mobile devices don't work with HTML 5 drop and drag. I'm trying to get it work with jquery instead but it's not going smoothly.
The code below displays a draggable image and it works with touch screens and mice.
<script type='text/javascript' src='js/head.min.js'></script>
<link rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' href='css/style.css' />
<script>
head.js('https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.0/jquery.min.js','js/ui.js','js/touch.js', function (){
$('#touchme1').draggable({revert:true});
$('#drop').droppable({
drop: function( event, ui ) {
$(ui.draggable).remove();
$(this).css({'border':'#777 dashed 3px','background':'#eee'});
},
over: function(event, ui) {
$(this).css({'border':'#a33 dashed 3px','background':'#faa'});
},
out: function (event, ui){
$(this).css({'border':'#777 dashed 3px','background':'#eee'});
}
});
});
</script>
<img src='itemimages/75.jpg' id='touchme1' class='touchBox'>
The problem is that when the same code is used within the php file which is called to display search results, the drag and drop doesn't work on mobile devices (but it does on desktops).
I have a feeling you may need to attach an event handler to the #touch1 element. The code you posted only looks for #touch1 elements that already exist in the DOM, but as your element is loaded though AJAX, it will not be in the DOM when the page first loads.
You can use .on() to attach an event handler to the object.
$(document).on('mouseover', '#touchme1', function(){
$(this).draggable({revert:true});
});
In the above example I am using the mouseover event. However you will need to choose an event hander that will work for you with both touch devices and with a mouse.
Example jsbin: http://jsbin.com/agisom/2/edit

Pass an url to an AJAX page

I have a page with a lot of buttons on it. I need to get data from database when I click on each of them . I need to implement some jQuery styling for which I need to use AJAX to do it. How do I pass the url of the button to the "ajax.php" page(where my processing is done and where I can use my GET method to retrieve data from the database).
A few points of clarification:
First, jQuery can be used for communication via AJAX, and also for "styling" (that is, controlling layout elements and interacting with CSS. However, styling and AJAX do no intersect. AJAX is used to allow a page to communicate with a server. Styling controls how the page looks and acts.
Second, buttons do not have URLs. You can give them IDs, classes, or names, but not URLs. As noted in the comments, you can wrap your button in an anchor tag (<a>) to easily assign an action to it.
If you are already comfortable with building HTML forms and passing data to server-side scripts for processing, I suggest that you check the jQuery website for helpful documentation and tutorials.
If you are unfamiliar with HTML forms, there are a great many tutorials available via your favorite search engine.
If you are unfamiliar with server-side scripting, PHP is a language that is easy to pick up and learn quickly.
Well as your buttons are actually links you can do something like following
HTML:
<a class="btn" href="myurl.php?id=2"></a>
Jquery:
$('.btn').click(function(event){
event.preventDefault();
$.ajax({
url: $(this).attr('href'),
type: 'GET',
success: function(data){
alert('server respond with' + data)
}
});
})
<a class="button" href="page.html">do some ajax</a>
<script>
$('.button').click(function() {
var btn_url = $(this).attr('href');
$.get('ajax.php', {url: btn_url}, function(data){
alert('done');
});
return false;
});
</script>
Since you talk about "buttons" and "urls" I think you mean <a>-tags styled as buttons, because <button> does not have something like a href-attribute. <a>-elements should not be abused as buttons - that's what <button> is for, actually. You can apply some information to the id or class-attribute though, e.g.
<button class="button" id="page">do some ajax</button>
Then you could gather the 'url' with
var btn_url = $(this).attr('id')+'.html';
So have a look at jQuery.get (or jQuery.post, if you like) and try to use XHTML in the way it was meant to ;)

Prototype framework / call from button

I thought this was pretty straight forward but I don't get the same results as the tutorials I read. I have a button on an html page that calls a function in script tags. I also have a reference to the prototype.js file which I haven't even begun to implement yet. If I leave that reference in the page, my function call does not work from the button's onclick event. Below is what is called from the button onclick event.
callIt = function(){
alert('It worked!');
}
</script>
A couple of things: first, make sure your HTML is valid. Run it through the validator at http://validator.wc.org.
Next, once you're sure that your page is valid, add the prototype.js library as the first script reference on the page:
<script type="text/javascript" src="prototype.js"></script>
Notice that I didn't close it like this <script ... /> Script blocks need to have an explicit closing tag (at least in XHTML 1.0 Transitional)
Now, to answer your question, I'm really not sure what you're asking, but if you wanted to attach the callIt method to the onclick handler of your button using Prototype, then do this:
Event.observe(window, 'load', function() {
Event.observe('button_id', 'click', callIt);
});
Put this in script tags in the element of the page, below the prototype script reference. This will execute when the DOM is loaded & the button exists on the page.
Hope this helps.
That worked. I'm just puzzled why none of the examples I have been working from have done this.
Thanks!

Resources