Enable analytics in chrome extension when internet is not available at start of extension

Question

I use analytics in my chrome extension like this

background.js

// Standard Google Universal Analytics code
(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-XXXXX-YY', 'auto');
ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', function(){}); // Removes failing protocol 
ga('require', 'displayfeatures');

with all the necessary permissions in manifest.json

Everything works as expected , except the cases where there is not internet at the start of the extension. In cases like these,the events are not sent to server as analytics.js is not loaded. This leads to loss of events until the next chrome restart with successful internet connection.

Is there a workaround to this.

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 19 '15 at 17:53

2

Use XMLHttpRequest to test whether https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js is reachable. In case it's not, create a timer using chrome.alarms API (preferably) or setInterval which would repeat this test. Once the site is reachable, initialize GA.

answered Oct 19 '15 at 17:53

wOxxOm

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Thanks for the answer.Also found an alternate to check whether analytics.js is loaded https://www.domsammut.com/code/workaround-for-when-the-hitcallback-function-does-not-receive-a-response-analytics-js – mallik1055 Oct 19 '15 at 18:44
@mallik1055, that other method is worth being present here as answer with a link to the source article. Would you care to add it and maybe even select as the solution? – wOxxOm Oct 19 '15 at 18:50

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 24 '15 at 20:14

Found an elegant way of doing this

function loadAnalyticsScript() {
  // The standard Google Universal Analytics code
  (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'); // Note: https protocol here
}

var analyticsLoaded = false;  // initialise

loadAnalyticsScript();


/************Detect if analytics script has loaded **********/

// Method 1 src:https://davidsimpson.me/2014/05/27/add-googles-universal-analytics-tracking-chrome-extension/#comment-190946

ga(function(){
  // This function will be triggered when GA is successfully loaded for the first time.
  console.log(' +++ Google Analytics has loaded');
  analyticsLoaded = true;
});

// Alternative Method 2 src:https://www.domsammut.com/code/workaround-for-when-the-hitcallback-function-does-not-receive-a-response-analytics-js
if (ga.hasOwnProperty('loaded') && ga.loaded === true) {

    console.log(' +++ Google Analytics has loaded');
    analyticsLoaded = true;

}

/*************************************************/

// All the events tracking goes here
ga('create', 'UA-XXXXX-YY', 'auto');
ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', function(){}); // Removes failing protocol check. @see: http://stackoverflow.com/a/22152353/1958200
ga('require', 'displayfeatures');
ga('send', 'pageview', '/options.html');

// Test to see if it's loaded yet.
var gaLoadTimer = setInterval(function(){

    if (analyticsLoaded === false) {
        console.log("Retrying for GA script");
        loadAnalyticsScript(); //try again
    }
    else{
        clearInterval(gaLoadTimer);
    }
}, 20000); // every 20s

Beware of using a 20s `setInterval`, it will fail if you use an Event page (`"persistent": false`) — Xan, Oct 24 '15 at 20:18

Enable analytics in chrome extension when internet is not available at start of extension

2 Answers2