universal-ga

A Universal Google Analytics module for node and the browser. You can either include this referenced via a script tag globally, or use a bundling process such as webpack or browserify. Once universal-ga has been initialized, you can any of the tracking methods to send your analytics data to Google.

Currently supported features:

• Plugins
• Pageviews
• Screenviews
• Events
• User timings
• Exceptions
• Custom Dimensions/Metrics
• Ecommerce Tracking

Install

$ npm install --save universal-ga

Getting Started

To initialize universal-ga, you will need to first pass in your analytics tracking id.

browserify/webpack

var analytics = require('universal-ga');
...
analytics.initialize('UA-XXXXX-YYY');

Global script (browser)

<script src="analytics.js"></script>
...
<script>analytics.initialize('UA-XXXXX-YYY');</script> 

Initialization is dependant upon window being available at the time you call it, so be sure you call this once you can attach to window and before you call any of the other tracking methods.

Documentation

analytics.initialize( trackingID, options )

Name	Description
trackingID	string Your analytics tracking id, i.e. UA-XXXXX-YY.
options.debug	bool (optional) If set to true, will use analytics_debug.js for some additional console logging.

Before anything else will work, you must first initialize analytics by passing an initial tracking id.

Example

analytics.initialize('UA-12345-12');

Additional options can also be sent to analytics.create by including them as additional properties on the options object.

Example

analytics.initialize('UA-12345-12', { storage: 'none' });

analytics.create( trackingID, options )

Name	Description
trackingID	string Another analytics tracking id, i.e. UA-XXXXX-YY.
options	object or string (optional) additional options to pass to the tracker.

Allows you to create multiple tracking ids. If you just need to add an additional tracking id, options can just be the name of your additional tracker. This can be used in combination with the .name() method.

Example

analytics.initialize('UA-12345-1');
analytics.create('UA-12345-2', 'anotherTracker');
...
analytics.pageview('/home');
analytics.name('anotherTracker').pageview('/home');

However, if you need to combine additional options with a name, you will need to name your tracker as part of the options object.

Example

analytics.initialize('UA-12345-1');
analytics.create('UA-12345-2', {
  name: 'anotherTracker',
  clientId: generateUUID()
});

This will namespace any additional values, allowing you to specify which values to send to which tracker. The above example would send the following data to analytics:

['send', 'pageview', '/home'],
['anotherTracker.send', 'pageview', 'home']

analytics.name( name )

Name	Description
name	string Send next value for the namespaced tracking id.

Namespaces the next set of values sent to analytics.

Example

analytics
  .name('anotherTracker')
  .pageView('/home')
  .timing('load', 'page', 123);

The above would send the following data to analytics:

['anotherTracker.send', 'pageview', '/home'],
['anotherTracker.send', 'timing', 'load', 'page', 123]

analytics.set( key, value )

Name	Description
key	string Key to send to analytics.
value	string Value for the key.

Set key/value pairs for analytics.

Example

analytics.set('page', '/about');

analytics.plugin( name , options )

Name	Description
name	string Plugin to require.
options	object (optional) Additional options.

Allows you to add plugins to analytics. Additional options for plugins can be seen in the plugins documentation.

Example

analytics.plugin('foo');

analytics.pageview( pagename , options )

Name	Description
pagename	string Pagename to send to analytics.
options	object (optional) Additional options.

Allows you to send a pageview to analytics. Additional options for the pageview can be seen in the pages documentation.

Example

analytics.pageview('/about');

analytics.screenview( screenname, options )

Name	Description
screenname	string Screenname to send to analytics.
options	object (optional) Additional options.

Send a screenview to analytics. Additional options for the screenview can be seen in the app screens documentation.

Example

analytics.screenview('/about');

analytics.event( category, action, options )

Name	Description
category	string Event category.
action	string Event action.
options	object (optional) Additional options.

Send event data and event metrics to analytics. Additional options for events can be seen in the event tracking documentation.

Example

analytics.event('category', 'action', { eventLabel: 'label' });

analytics.timing( category, var, value, options )

Name	Description
category	string Timing category.
var	string Timing variable.
value	int Timing value (in milliseconds).
options	object (optional) Additional options.

Send timing data to analytics. Additional options for timing can be seen in the user timing documentation.

Example

analytics.timing('load', 'DOMContentLoaded', 123);

analytics.exception( message, isFatal )

Name	Description
message	string Exception message.
isFatal	bool (optional) Is fatal event.

Send exception data to analytics. You can specify whether or not the event was fatal with the optional boolean flag.

analytics.custom( key, value )

Name	Description
key	string Custom dimension/metric key.
value	string Custom dimension/metric value.

Send custom dimension/metrics to analytics. You need to first configure caustom dimensions/metrics through the analytics management interface. This allows you to specify a metric/dimension index to track custom values. See custom dimensions/metrics documentation for more details.

Dimensions and metrics keys will be a key of dimension[0-9] or metric[0-9].

Example

analytics
  .custom('dimension01', 1234)
  .custom('metric04', 'my custom dimension');

You can additional combine custom metrics/dimensions with other analytics properties (such as events or pageviews) as additional data.

analytics
  .event('category', 'action', { metric05: 'custom metric data' })
  .pageview('/index', { dimension02: 'custom dimension data' });

analytics.ecAddTransaction( transaction )

Name	Description
transaction	object a transaction.

An ecommerce transaction represents the entire transaction that occurs on your site. Seeecommerce documentation for more details. A transaction object can consist of the following objects:

Name	Type	Description
id	text	The transaction ID. (e.g. 1234).
affiliation	text	(optional) The store or affiliation from which this transaction occurred (e.g. Acme Clothing).
revenue	currency	(optional) No Specifies the total revenue or grand total associated with the transaction (e.g. 11.99). This value may include shipping, tax costs, or other adjustments to total revenue that you want to include as part of your revenue calculations.
shipping	currency	(optional) No Specifies the total shipping cost of the transaction. (e.g. 5).
tax	currency	(optional) No Specifies the total tax of the transaction. (e.g. 1.29).

Example

let transaction = {
    'id': '1234',                     // Transaction ID. Required.
    'affiliation': 'Acme Clothing',   // Affiliation or store name.
    'revenue': '11.99',               // Grand Total.
    'shipping': '5',                  // Shipping.
    'tax': '1.29'                     // Tax.
};
 
analytics.ecAddTransaction(transaction);

analytics.ecAddItem( productItem )

Name	Description
productItem	object individual product.

An item represents the individual products that were in the shopping cart, and contains the following values::

Name	Type	Description
id	text	The transaction ID. This ID is what links items to the transactions to which they belong. (e.g. 1234).
name	text	The item name. (e.g. Fluffy Pink Bunnies).
sku	text	(optional) Specifies the SKU or item code. (e.g. SKU47).
category	text	(optional) The category to which the item belongs (e.g. Party Toys).
price	text	(optional) The individual, unit, price for each item. (e.g. 11.99).
quantity	integer	(optional) The number of units purchased in the transaction. If a non-integer value is passed into this field (e.g. 1.5), it will be rounded to the closest integer value.

Example

let productItem = {
    'id': '1234',                     // Transaction ID. Required.
    'name': 'Fluffy Pink Bunnies',    // Product name. Required.
    'sku': 'DD23444',                 // SKU/code.
    'category': 'Party Toys',         // Category or variation.
    'price': '11.99',                 // Unit price.
    'quantity': '1'                   // Quantity.
};
 
analytics.ecAddItem(productItem);

analytics.ecSend()

Finally, once you have configured all your ecommerce data in the shopping cart, you send the data to Google Analytics using the ecSend command.

analytics.ecClear()

If you need to manually clear the shopping cart of all transactions and items, you use this command.