@gitlab/application-sdk-browser

GitLab Application SDK - Browser

This SDK is for usage of GitLab Application Services with vanilla Javascript in Browser.

How to use the Browser-SDK

Using the NPM package

Add the NPM package to your package JSON using your preferred package manager:

yarn add @gitlab/application-sdk-browser

OR

npm i @gitlab/application-sdk-browser

Then for browser usage you can import the client SDK:

import { glClientSDK } from '@gitlab/application-sdk-browser';

this.glClient = glClientSDK({ appId, host });

Using the script directly

Add the script to the page and assign the client SDK to window:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@gitlab/application-sdk-browser/dist/gl-sdk.min.js"></script>
<script>
  window.glClient = window.glSDK.glClientSDK({
    appId: 'YOUR_APP_ID',
    host: 'YOUR_HOST',
  });
</script>

Note: You can use specific version with like this,

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@gitlab/application-sdk-browser@0.2.5/dist/gl-sdk.min.js"></script>

Browser-SDK initialization options

Apart from appId and host, the options below allow you to configure the Browser SDK.

interface GitLabClientSDKOptions {
  appId: string;
  host: string;
  hasCookieConsent?: boolean;
  respectGlobalPrivacyControl?: boolean;
  trackerId?: string;
  pagePingTracking?:
    | boolean
    | {
        minimumVisitLength?: number;
        heartbeatDelay?: number;
      };
  plugins?: AllowedPlugins;
}

Option	Description
appId	This is the ID given by the GitLab Project Analytics setup guide. This is used to make sure your data is sent to your analytics instance.
host	This is the GitLab Project Analytics instance that is given by the setup guide.
hasCookieConsent	To use cookies to identify unique users and record their full IP address. This is set to false by default. When false, users will be considered anonymous users. No cookies or other storage mechanisms will be used to identify users.
respectGlobalPrivacyControl	To respect the user's GPC configuration to permit or refuse tracking. This is set to true by default. When false, events will be emitted regardless of user configuration.
trackerId	The tracker id - also known as tracker namespace. The trackerId is used to differentiate between multiple trackers running on the same page or application, as each tracker instance can be configured differently to capture different sets of data. This identifier helps ensure that the data sent to the collector is correctly associated with the correct tracker configuration. Default trackerId value is set as gitlab.
pagePingTracking	Page ping is a feature that allows you to track user engagement on your website or application by sending periodic events while a user is actively browsing a page. Page pings provide valuable insight into how users interact with your content, such as how long they spend on a page, which sections they are viewing, and if they are scrolling or not. pagePingTracking can be boolean or an object. If true it enables page ping with default options. if false, it will not enable page ping tracking. it can also be an object containing two options : minimumVisitLength - The minimum time that must have elapsed before first heartbeat. heartbeatDelay - The interval at which the callback is fired.
plugins	Specify which plugins to enable or disable. By default all plugins are enabled.

Plugins

• Client Hints: It is an alternative the tracking the User Agent, which is particularly useful in those browsers which are freezing the User Agent string. Enabling this plugin will automatically capture the following context:

Context	Example
iglu:org.ietf/http_client_hints/jsonschema/1-0-0	{"isMobile" : false, "brands" : [{"brand" : "Google Chrome", version : "89"}, {"brand" : "Chromium", version : "89"}]}

• Link Click Tracking: With this plugin, the tracker will add click event listeners to all link elements. Link clicks are tracked as self-describing events. Each link-click event captures the link’s href attribute. The event also has fields for the link’s id, classes, and target (where the linked document is opened, such as a new tab or new window).

• Performance Timing: It collects performance-related data from a user's browser using the Navigation Timing API. This API provides detailed information about the various stages of loading a web page, such as domain lookup, connection time, content download, and rendering times. This plugin helps to gather insights into how well website performs for users, identify potential performance bottlenecks, and improve the overall user experience.

• Error Tracking: It helps to capture and track errors that occur on website or application. By monitoring these errors, one can gain insights into potential issues with code or third-party libraries, which can help to improve the overall user experience and maintain the quality of website or application.

By default all the plugins are enabled. These plugins can be enabled or disabled through the plugins object:

const tracker = glClientSDK({
  ...options,
  plugins: {
    clientHints: true,
    linkTracking: true,
    performanceTiming: true,
    errorTracking: true,
  },
});

Methods

identify

Used to associate a user and their attributes with the session and tracking events.

glClient.identify(userId, userAttributes);

Property	Type	Description
userId	String	The user identifier your application users to identify individual users.
userAttributes	Object/Null/undefined	The user attributes that need to be added to the session and tracking events.

page

Used to trigger a pageview event.

glClient.page(eventAttributes);

Property	Type	Description
eventAttributes	Object/Null/undefined	The event attributes that need to be added to the pageview event.

track

Used to trigger a custom event.

glClient.track(eventName, eventAttributes);

Property	Type	Description
eventName	String	The name of the custom event.
eventAttributes	Object/Null/undefined	The event attributes that need to be added to the tracked event.

refreshLinkClickTracking

enableLinkClickTracking only tracks clicks on links which exist when the page has loaded. If new links can be added to the page after then which you wish to track, just use refreshLinkClickTracking.

glClient.refreshLinkClickTracking();

trackError

Used to capture errors. This works only when the errorTracking plugin is enabled. As mentioned in Plugins section, By default it is enabled.

glClient.trackError(eventAttributes);

For example, trackError can be used in try...catch like below:

try {
  // Call the function that throws an error
  throwError();
} catch (error) {
  glClient.trackError({
    message: error.message, // "This is a custom error"
    filename: error.fileName || 'unknown', // The file in which the error occurred (e.g., "index.html")
    lineno: error.lineNumber || 0, // The line number where the error occurred (e.g., 2)
    colno: error.columnNumber || 0, // The column number where the error occurred (e.g., 6)
    error: error, // The Error object itself
  });
}

Property	Type	Description
eventAttributes	Object	The event attributes that need to be added to the tracked event. messeage is a mandatory key in eventAttributes.

addCookieConsent

addCookieConsent is used to allow tracking of user identifiers via cookies. By default hasCookieConsent is false and no user identifiers are passed. To enable tracking of user identifiers call the addCookieConsent method. This is not needed if you intialised the Browser SDK with hasCookieConsent set to true.

glClient.addCookieConsent();

Devkit

If you want to use the Browser SDK with devkit, follow devkit-developement guide.

Contribute

Want to contribute to Browser-SDK? follow contributing guide.

Run VanilaJS Example

To run vanila js example run below commands.

yarn examples:install
yarn examples:serve

Troubleshooting

If the Browser SDK is not sending events or is behaving in an unexpected way, take the following actions:

• Verify that the appId and host values in the options object are correct.
• Check if any browser privacy settings, extensions, or ad blockers are interfering with the Browser SDK.

For more information and assistance, consult the Snowplow documentation or contact the Analytics Instrumentation team.

Changelog

v0.2.6

0.2.6 (2023-06-14)

Bug Fixes

• Add refreshLinkClickTracking from link tracking plugin (26f553d)