Getting Logged In User - Javascript for Piwik

[rod]

I have recently deployed a Piwik installation for my Nodebb forum site. I wish to analyze my traffic by the logged in Nodebb users. According to the Piwik documentation I need to pass the userid information in my tracking javascript code like this:

_paq.push(['setUserId', 'USER_ID_HERE']);

I have been searching around and found that I may have to use the app.user object from NodeBB. But how? Would someone help me construct the javascript code to put the NodeBB user (or userid) into a variable that I could then use in the _paq.push... that I listed above?

Edit: Let me add that I am passing the Piwik javascript tracker code via the "Custom HTML & CSS > Custom Header" area. The generic Piwik Javascrip does work I just wish to add the additional component of the user if one is logged in.

Thank you.

[bitspook]

+5 wish i could upvote this more than i can. piwik is the best in-house analytics.

[baris]

Since the custom js comes after we parse user object you can just use it in your code.

Try

_paq.push(['setUserId', app.user.uid);

[rod]

@baris Thank you for the advice. I gave your suggestion a try and it does not seem to work. The app.user.uid is not being converted into the actual userid. When I look at the page source, after visiting the page, I see this:

(...)
<script type="text/javascript">
  var _paq = _paq || [];
  _paq.push(['setUserId', app.user.uid]);
  _paq.push(['trackPageView']);
  _paq.push(['enableLinkTracking']);
  (function() {
(...)

As you can see app.user.uid was not replaced with my actual user id. Do you have another possible suggestion?

Thank you.

[baris]

It shouldn't be converted into anything, it is a javascript variable that holds the value of the currently logged in user.

You can see its value by logging it to the browser console. For example

(...)
<script type="text/javascript">
  var _paq = _paq || [];
  console.log('user id is ' + app.user.uid);
  _paq.push(['setUserId', app.user.uid]);
  _paq.push(['trackPageView']);
  _paq.push(['enableLinkTracking']);
  (function() {
(...)

[rod]

@baris Got it! Thank you. So much to learn about javascript. Now I am off to figure out why I am not seeing the user id being reported in Piwik. As an aside I had tried the suggestion you made a few days ago but without seeing a noticeable change in the Piwik reporting and not seeing the user id in the html page source I thought I had setup the line incorrectly.

[rod]

Strange, strange, strange. When I look at the browser console log I do see the "user id is 1' entry. (Yes, my user id on my forum is #1 -- my account was first.) But yet Piwik still does not see the number 1. If I put app.user.uid in single quotes then Piwik sees myself as user "app.user.uid". So, some thing is happening in the _paq.push(['setUserId', app.user.uid]); line such that even though the console is showing user 1 it is still not being parsed by Piwik.

Sooo frustrating.

[julian]

Have you tried sending in parseInt(app.user.uid, 10) instead?

[rod]

@julian The dense must be strong with me. I can't make this work. It seems that the app.user.uid object isn't being converted to the number when it is sent off in the _paq.push(...) command.

[rod]

FIXED!

This is what works:

_paq.push(['setUserId', ''+app.user.uid+'']);

Two single quotes and the plus symbol!

Geez, it feels like I just gave birth!

Now to learn how to do an if then statement in javascript. I want to only include that line if the user is logged in, ie., the app.user.uid value is not zero.

[baris]

Actually app.user.uid is already a number so try converting it to a string. _paq.push(['setUserId', app.user.uid.toString()]);

[rod]

@baris Excellent! That works also. I will leave it as you suggested.

[julian]

@rod

if (app.user && app.user.uid > 0) {
  _paq.push(['setUserId', app.user.uid.toString()]);
}

[rod]

@julian Thank you. Your suggestion is more elegant than mine was. I hadn't even thought of also checking for "app.user" and was only looking for a non zero to app.user.uid.

[julian]

@rod It's nothing special, it's just a habit that I have trained myself into.

The reason I check for the existence of app.user is because you cannot reference an object property (that is, the uid property of the user object in app) if the object itself does not exist. You'll get a javascript error (ReferenceError: user is not defined).

If there's even a chance the parent object is not defined, I make a check for it first (though app is always defined in NodeBB, so I skip that).

The proper way to write it would be: if (app.hasOwnProperty('user')), but even sometimes that can be tripped up if app.user is a property, but undefined