Better Analytics 3.1.1

[Lone Wolf]

It should give you a link/info in the description of the setting.

I did that and created a project called Better analytics but I'm stuck what to do after that. I have a menu worth of options and what appears to be 6 choices...

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...it's all French to me.

 

[digitalpoint]

You shouldn't need to do anything beyond what the instructions say in the setting description. Is there a specific part you are getting stuck on exactly when going through those steps?

 

[Lone Wolf]

I sent you a PM, could you reply there?

 

[digitalpoint]

So I sat down and built this addon for WordPress. Which in itself is rather pointless to mention here, except I added a bunch of new features to the WordPress version in the process and am going to work on rebuilding the XenForo version to get those features. So now is the time to put in feature requests.

Some of the new stuff already planned to be ported back to XenForo version:

• Does not require your own API project (but you can still use your own if you wish)
• YouTube Video engagement (knowing what videos are played, played to the end, etc.)
• More client-side site issue tracking (images not loading, YouTube videos that the author removed, etc.)
• Click tracking for advertisements
• Realtime reporting in admin console
• More charts/reports in admin area
• etc...

I also unified the main PHP classes from this addon to work as a drop-in for both the WordPress and XenForo version without any edits (so updates to one version just means copying to the other version).

I'm going to do the same thing and unify the JavaScript across both versions as well.

You can see screenshots of the WordPress stuff here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-analytics/screenshots/

Again... now is the time to ask for new stuff if you can think of anything else.

 

[arn]

@digitalpoint I've installed this plugin but having trouble getting it to recognize all the settings.

I have gone in and turned the settings on in Google Analytics, but it doesn't seem to be recognized by the test tool. I've uploaded the relevant screenshots. Any help apprecaited.

thanks

 

[digitalpoint]

The only time I've seen something like that (and it's happened to me actually), is when I had set the options on the wrong Analytics property/view ("wrong" being one that is different than the one I selected within XenForo).

Specifically, I'd triple check that the settings are correct, but first check that the right Account (first column here: https://www.google.com/analytics/web/?#management/Settings/ ) is selected, then triple check that the right property within that account is selected. And then make sure the right view is selected.

Those 3 options it's not recognizing are the 3 that are set on a per view basis (the others are set on a per property basis)... so my first instinct would be the wrong profile/view might be selected). Although from your screenshots, the views are at least labeled the same. Is there any chance you might have two different "MacRumors (forums)" profiles/views?

 

[arn]

The only time I've seen something like that (and it's happened to me actually), is when I had set the options on the wrong Analytics property/view ("wrong" being one that is different than the one I selected within XenForo).

Specifically, I'd triple check that the settings are correct, but first check that the right Account (first column here: https://www.google.com/analytics/web/?#management/Settings/ ) is selected, then triple check that the right property within that account is selected. And then make sure the right view is selected.

Those 3 options it's not recognizing are the 3 that are set on a per view basis (the others are set on a per property basis)... so my first instinct would be the wrong profile/view might be selected). Although from your screenshots, the views are at least labeled the same. Is there any chance you might have two different "MacRumors (forums)" profiles/views?

Thanks for the reply. Yep - we do have some similarly named profiles... but I checked multiple times and to triple check, I renamed the profile and the two names line up.



And it's still not showing activated. So still at a bit of a loss. I've disconnected and reconnected. Regenerated the secret key as well.

arn

 

[digitalpoint]

I assume it's not a brand new analytics profile (there is a 15 minute internal cache when getting a list of profiles on the Analytics account), and even then... I assume it's more than 15 minutes old.

I'm a bit at a loss though (haven't run into what you are seeing before)... I did some digging in the source, and the eCommerce and Site Search options ultimately come from the system pulling all profiles available for the Analytics account, and then filtering those down to the one that matches the Google Analytics Web Property ID that you have set in your XenForo settings (at the top of the XenForo Statistics and Metrics settings).

I'd make sure it's correct (of course) compared to the analytics profile you have selected. And maybe go so far as to retype it... because any invisible characters (leading/trailing spaces for example) could make the system not recognize it as far as the setup test page goes.

 

[arn]

I assume it's not a brand new analytics profile (there is a 15 minute internal cache when getting a list of profiles on the Analytics account), and even then... I assume it's more than 15 minutes old.

I'm a bit at a loss though (haven't run into what you are seeing before)... I did some digging in the source, and the eCommerce and Site Search options ultimately come from the system pulling all profiles available for the Analytics account, and then filtering those down to the one that matches the Google Analytics Web Property ID that you have set in your XenForo settings (at the top of the XenForo Statistics and Metrics settings).

I'd make sure it's correct (of course) compared to the analytics profile you have selected. And maybe go so far as to retype it... because any invisible characters (leading/trailing spaces for example) could make the system not recognize it as far as the setup test page goes.

I do wonder if the api or the plugin is parsing things wrong. Are things consolidated under domain names? Because these lists don't match. I have multiple profiles for "www.macrumors.com" but the plugin only lists one "www.macrumors.com". Beyond that, there are definitely ones that are missing.

-13 is the one I'm trying to use. And the names appear in the plugin. But there are other profiles for www.macrumors.com that don't appear in the plugin -- and I wonder if it's mixing them up somehow.

 

[digitalpoint]

Hmmm... it should show each unique view for each profile in the Google Analytics Profile dropdown in XF (coming from API call).

For example, I have two different views for the digitalpoint.com property, which shows as expected:



If you aren't getting all your views in that dropdown for some reason, I could look into it, but I'd need a var dump from your end to go poking on the data a bit to see what's going on exactly. If you want to do that, if you open up the DigitalPointBetterAnalytics/ControllerAdmin/Analytics.php file and add this:

var_export($checks);
exit;

after this line:

$checks['hasCurl'] = function_exists('curl_multi_init');

So it looks like so:

$checks['hasCurl'] = function_exists('curl_multi_init');
var_export($checks);
exit;

That will barf out a giant array of what it's getting back from the API call that gets the profiles. If you want me to check it out for you, do that and shoot me the results in private message/conversation and I'll take a look for you.

 

[Rob]

... I find the many occasions where add-on authors support their paid mods so very refreshing - it sure makes up for some who abandon them soon after a beta or rather influx of cash. Keep up the great work Shawn.

 

[digitalpoint]

-13 is the one I'm trying to use. And the names appear in the plugin. But there are other profiles for www.macrumors.com that don't appear in the plugin -- and I wonder if it's mixing them up somehow.

Figured out what is going on... it has to do with it pulling the first matching profile by the web property ID, but in your case you have multiple profiles with the same web property ID.

Either way, it's purely cosmetic on the test page... and it's been fixed for the next version.

 

[Rob]

Figured out what is going on... it has to do with it pulling the first matching profile by the web property ID, but in your case you have multiple profiles with the same web property ID.

Either way, it's purely cosmetic on the test page... and it's been fixed for the next version.

Does it affect the wordpress plugin also?

 

[digitalpoint]

Does it affect the wordpress plugin also?

It does actually... but I've already fixed that in the WordPress version as well, so it will be part of the next version there too.

== Changelog ==
= 1.0.6 =
* Bug: Fixed cosmetic issue on "Test Setup" page when you have linked a Google Analytics with multiple profiles that all share the same web property ID

Either way, it's purely cosmetic on both platforms and doesn't affect reports or data collection or anything else. Basically just incorrectly showing the red X instead of the green check.

 

[Live Free]

I'm having trouble utilizing the custom dimensions for User/Forum. I know this has been addressed but I'm still struggling to properly set this up.

In Analytics, under Audience > Custom > Custom Variables I see no data for either of the two custom variables. Custom variables are set up in both the admincp and custom definitions in Analytics. I am able to use User/Forum as custom variables as secondary dimensions in reporting, just not under Custom Variables.

Testing Analytics in Xenforo shows green for all (except premium version).

While I've enabled User-Id, it seems to be disabled with my default view. If I create a new view will this associate user-id with users and will it fix my above issue? With a new view can you import old data or is it only from it's creation point onward?

 

[arn]

I'm having trouble utilizing the custom dimensions for User/Forum. I know this has been addressed but I'm still struggling to properly set this up.

In Analytics, under Audience > Custom > Custom Variables I see no data for either of the two custom variables. Custom variables are set up in both the admincp and custom definitions in Analytics. I am able to use User/Forum as custom variables as secondary dimensions in reporting, just not under Custom Variables.

Testing Analytics in Xenforo shows green for all (except premium version).

While I've enabled User-Id, it seems to be disabled with my default view. If I create a new view will this associate user-id with users and will it fix my above issue? With a new view can you import old data or is it only from it's creation point onward?

I'm also a little unclear on these issues as well... so any assistance on that would be great. I'm waiting for more data to populate to see what's what with the collected data.

 

[Live Free]

I'm also a little unclear on these issues as well... so any assistance on that would be great. I'm waiting for more data to populate to see what's what with the collected data.

Let me know if you make any progress. I think we're missing a step somewhere along the way.

In my case I have at least 7 days worth of data so I don't think I should be having a tracking issue. I may be recalling incorrectly but I thought Forum/Users were displayed as Primary Dimension under Custom Variables within 24 hours of installation but have since disappeared.

Where I can view User-ID it's a number and not a username. Where I can view Forum/Node dimension data I can't break it down beyond surface level (number of session per node-id).

The only changes I've made are that I've set up event tracking for registrations and I'm currently doing an Experiment for design variations.

P.S. Is it possible to associate User/Username data with specific Forums? i.e., Users posts/threads/session on a per-node/category basis? How might one approach doing this?

 

[digitalpoint]

I'm having trouble utilizing the custom dimensions for User/Forum. I know this has been addressed but I'm still struggling to properly set this up.

In Analytics, under Audience > Custom > Custom Variables I see no data for either of the two custom variables. Custom variables are set up in both the admincp and custom definitions in Analytics. I am able to use User/Forum as custom variables as secondary dimensions in reporting, just not under Custom Variables.

Testing Analytics in Xenforo shows green for all (except premium version).

While I've enabled User-Id, it seems to be disabled with my default view. If I create a new view will this associate user-id with users and will it fix my above issue? With a new view can you import old data or is it only from it's creation point onward?

User/Forum data isn't stored in custom variables... Custom Variables basically are just legacy/leftover stuff from Google Analytics (pre-Universal Analytics).

Universal Analytics usage guidelines - Analytics Help

Custom dimensions are the new custom variables.
Custom dimensions give you a flexible way to bring additional data into Google Analytics, so you can learn more about how users interact with your content. Custom dimensions should be used in Universal Analytics where custom variables are used in the Classic Analytics ga.js JavaScript library.

Long story short is the Better Analytics addon does nothing with custom variables... it uses custom dimensions. Which allows you to more or less pull up any report and then break it down by the dimension you want to see.

Let me know if you make any progress. I think we're missing a step somewhere along the way.

In my case I have at least 7 days worth of data so I don't think I should be having a tracking issue. I may be recalling incorrectly but I thought Forum/Users were displayed as Primary Dimension under Custom Variables within 24 hours of installation but have since disappeared.

Where I can view User-ID it's a number and not a username. Where I can view Forum/Node dimension data I can't break it down beyond surface level (number of session per node-id).

The only changes I've made are that I've set up event tracking for registrations and I'm currently doing an Experiment for design variations.

P.S. Is it possible to associate User/Username data with specific Forums? i.e., Users posts/threads/session on a per-node/category basis? How might one approach doing this?

You can't see usernames, as Google Analytics doesn't allow storing personally identifiable information (which username would count as). It stores User ID, which you can cross reference back to the user on your end (which is allowed), but not directly within Google Analytics.

 

[Live Free]

User/Forum data isn't stored in custom variables... Custom Variables basically are just legacy/leftover stuff from Google Analytics (pre-Universal Analytics).

Long story short is the Better Analytics addon does nothing with custom variables... it uses custom dimensions. Which allows you to more or less pull up any report and then break it down by the dimension you want to see.

Ah, okay. I think a screenshot/post earlier in the thread threw me off. So I shouldn't be seeing data under custom variables and can cross reference custom dimensions with reports. Do I need to create a custom report or custom view?

I went ahead and purchased the premium version to save some time and cut out part of the learning curve. I do have a few questions related to the add-on/tracking and a few unrelated analytics questions (if you don’t mind.)

• Before upgrading to the premium version, I set up event tracking for User Registrations. Now I’ve enabled it in the XF ACP. Do I need to disable that event tracking in Analytics - will it be counted twice?

• Do I need to make additional changes/set-ups in Analytics for the new event tracking that come with the premium version?

• If I'm conducting an email newsletter campaign, Better Analytics already tracks email sending/opening with events and shows email as a source, correct? But I should still use UTM for each link and to identify the campaign, correct? Anything else standard in tracking a newsletter campaign analytics?

• How do you conduct split tests/experiments with Analytics and Xenforo? Since Xenforo forces users to confirm style changes it seems I can only split test variations to guests. Are you running server-side experiments?

You can't see usernames, as Google Analytics doesn't allow storing personally identifiable information (which username would count as). It stores User ID, which you can cross reference back to the user on your end (which is allowed), but not directly within Google Analytics.

Okay, I thought so.

I ask because what I'd like to do is add additional information to the per-user Analytics tab. Specifically I'd like Analytics to track/compile information such as a users 1) total time on site on a per forum basis, 2) total posts on a per forum basis (perhaps broken down by a percentage or chart), 3) warnings/infractions on a per forum basis

The purpose of this would be to give valuable information to forum moderators, allowing them to look at an individual members overall participation/activities, enabling moderators to make judgement calls with bans/infractions/warnings based on whether their questionable behavior is offset by their added value. (ex: does a user contribute to specialty forums/write articles or only post in the General Chat forum?)

Is this possible with Google Analytics without storing personally identifiable information? I don't see how it would be yet still allow useful information. I'm sure a system like this would be possible to create - would the data processing/conversion have to take place within Xenforo/ custom server-side software, rather than being displayed in or pulled from Analytics? Unless I'm mistaken, Better Analytics should allow you to see a Users Pageviews/Posts on a Per Node breakdown over time associated with a User-ID, but not a specific user.... how can I capture and integrate this information on a Users Profile (or admincp backend) without breaking Googles terms? Thoughts?

 

[Rob]

All very interesting questions, plus feature suggestions LF