Question: source value is not set

[tobz-nz]

For server-side events the source does not seem to be set/reported in GA. Is there a way to fix this? Maybe I'm not passing some data through?

I'm not passing the referrer, maybe that's required? This is essentially my setup:

        ....

        $this->analytics
            ->setClientId($event->clientId) // from _ga/_gid cookie value
            ->setUserId('C.'.$event->order->customer->getKey()); // user ID

        // set the purchase event details
        $this->purchaseEvent
            ->setSessionId($event->sessionId) // _ga_{MEASUREMENT_ID} cookie value
            ->setEngagementTime(100)
            ->setPageLocation($event->url)
            ->setPageTitle($event->pageTitle)
            ->setCurrency('NZD')
            ->setTransactionId($event->order->id)
            ->setValue($event->order->total)
            ->setShipping($event->order->total_shipping)
            ->setTax($event->order->total_tax);

        // add items
        ...

[aawnu]

Hello @tobz-nz

I've not used GA for a while, but will happily help resolve this.

Would you mind, after making the event with populated items, use its toArray method and see if something changed comparing to the documentation here?: Set up Ecommerce

Edit: You can see the expected json better here: Make a purchase or issue a refund

Edit2: I can see they have added a non-required field customer_type to the event GA event: purchase which might be interesting to have added

[tobz-nz]

@aawnu I've been doing some research into this issue and it sounds like the client_id should be using the value from a PFID cookie and not the 2nd part of the _GA_{measurement_id} cookie as I'm currently using.

This involves some setup in GA for server-side stuff. I don't know how new this stuff is - I've never seen it before so... 🤷
Any idea?

I checked the data of the purchase event and it all looks good. It comes through to GA fine - just missing the source attribution. which would make sense if the use/clientid is "wrong"..

[aawnu]

@aawnu I've been doing some research into this issue and it sounds like the client_id should be using the value from a PFID cookie and not the 2nd part of the _GA_{measurement_id} cookie as I'm currently using.

This involves some setup in GA for server-side stuff. I don't know how new this stuff is - I've never seen it before so... 🤷 Any idea?

I checked the data of the purchase event and it all looks good. It comes through to GA fine - just missing the source attribution. which would make sense if the use/clientid is "wrong"..

Interesting, I tried googling obtaining the client id, and it would appear you can obtain it from the cookie set by google, if you want it attached in that sense: analyticsmania.com

Alternative, as I read it, can you also extract it from the gtag: gtagjd#get

• and of couse, just to double down, asked Grok for example

// Option A: Parse from cookie (future-proof, as Google may change cookie names)
function getClientIdFromCookie() {
  const name = '_ga';
  const cookies = document.cookie.split(';');
  for (let i = 0; i < cookies.length; i++) {
    let cookie = cookies[i].trim();
    if (cookie.startsWith(name + '=')) {
      const value = cookie.substring(name.length + 1);
      // Extract client_id: Split by '.' and take last two parts
      const parts = value.split('.');
      if (parts.length >= 4) {  // GA1.2 + two parts for client_id
        return parts.slice(-2).join('.');  // e.g., '1234567890.1234567890'
      }
    }
  }
  return null;
}

// Option B: Use gtag callback (guaranteed if gtag is loaded)
gtag('get', 'YOUR_MEASUREMENT_ID', 'client_id', (clientId) => {
  console.log('Client ID:', clientId);
  // Send to server, e.g., via fetch
  fetch('/your-server-endpoint', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ client_id: clientId, event_data: {...} })
  });
});

[tobz-nz]

Aha, I think I've found the issue - the format of the _GA_{measurement_id} cookie has changed and my method that was extracting the session_id is not getting the right value now.

https://www.trkkn.com/insights/ga4-cookie-format-has-changed-what-you-need-to-know-about-ga-measurement-id-and-session-id/

here's how I'm doing it now (using Laravel's string helpers). This supports both old and new formats.

// new format
$session = 'GS2.1.s1764888982$o50$g1$t1764890260$j59$l0$h681028196';
// old format
// $session = 'GS1.1.1689053763.1.1.1689054101.0.0.0';

str($session)
    ->before('$')
    ->explode('.')
    ->get(2);

// returns
// s1764888982 for new format
// 1689053763 for old format

I'll chuck this change up live and report back if it fixed the source issue.

[aawnu]

Ah, of course they would. If you find a viable solution, feel free to make a pull request and then we can have it pushed for anyone else having trouble 💃🏼

Edit: I imagine it could be a helper func maybe?

• https://github.com/aawnu/php-ga4/blob/master/src/Helper/ConvertHelper.php