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We need to add some enhanced ecommerce tags to standard Google Analytics tracking on few pages. We think the best way to do it would be to use Joomla Custom fields so we created a custom field for testing:

The custom field is:

ID: '1' Name: 'ec-js'

Automatic display - off

type: text filter: no

Show on: both

value (in one article; for testing): 'ga('require', 'ec');'

The template is Yootheme Infinite (Warp 6 based). We put the custom code in 'template.php', not in article override because we need it on every page including /search etc. So far we have tried:

<?php
JLoader::register('FieldsHelper', JPATH_ADMINISTRATOR . '/components/com_fields/helpers/fields.php');
$jcFields = FieldsHelper::getFields('com_content.article', $item, true);
$itemCustomFields = array();
foreach($jcFields as $field) {
    $itemCustomFields[$field->name] = $field;
}?>

and then in body:

<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-xxxx', 'auto');
            ga('require','displayfeatures');
            <?php echo $article->itemCustomFields['ec-js']->value; ?>
            ga('send', 'pageview');
            </script>

The main GA code is displayed on all pages.

The problem is that the contents of the custom field are not displayed on the test page containing the value - the override is clearly not working.

Help with this would be appreciated.

UPDATE - 13/04/2018

I have made some good progress...

I override article default.php with the following PHP:

$CCFields = array();
   foreach($this->item->jcfields as $field) {
      $CCFields[$field->name] = $field->value;
  } 

$GLOBALS['CCFields'] = $CCFields;

then add to template.php:

 <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-xxxx', 'auto');
            ga('require','displayfeatures');
            <?php echo $GLOBALS['CCFields']['ec-js'] ?>
            ga('send', 'pageview');
      </script>

The result is GA JS with enhanced ecommerce tags nicely injected when needed - only with caching disabled.

If I enable Joomla cache (conservative) the 'ec-js' field is not longer injected meaning the values of $GLOBALS['CCFields'] are not cached and are only available on 1st page load. Any successive page load e.g. 2nd or 3rd results in nothing injected as content of the array is not cached.

How do I make contents of $GLOBALS['CCFields'] cached?

Thanks.

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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You cannot control the cache of a file that is loaded from another server.

If you want cache analytics.js from https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js, you need to load it from the server where your site is hosted - not from Google. If you do, remember to make a CRON JOB on the host to update the file continuously - eg. Twice a day

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Could you use a body tag as the way to call the ga tag? As with caching on it - Joomla notices the body tag change.

This template uses this:

$params = $app->getParams();
$pageclass = $params->get('pageclass_sfx');

<body class="<?php echo $active->alias . ' ' . $pageclass; ?>">

Then simply call the active->alias in your js.

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Maybe instead of creating a new set of Globals (typically a Bad Idea) you drop the values directly into javascript:

JFactory::getDocument()->addScriptDeclaration('
    var GAFields = window.GAFields || {};
    GAFields = ' . json_encode($itemCustomFields) . ';
');

And then reference GAFields[name] in the javascript.

Doing this in default.php I'm not sure will get you past the caching. The bright side is if you have worked out how to get access to the fields from the template, it should work there. Not being familiar with that particular template file, I have no idea where in the process this template.php you mentioned fits; that's custom to your templater.

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