sitereactor

I thought it was about time to blog about the latest version of my Google Analytics package for Umbraco, here, a couple of weeks after it has been released on our.umbraco.org.

It seems I haven't blogged since august 2009, so excuse me if I'm a bit rusty.

Let me take a stroll down memory lane to CodeGarde'09 when the package was first showcased and actually won the prize for best package, which I'm clearly very proud off. I have been getting very good feedback ever since, and this has really motivated me to make the package even greater. First release included some basic reports that you would also find in Google Analytics when logging in and clicking the main sections (Dashboard, Visitors, Traffic Sources, Content and Goals), and the charts was made using the Google Chart API - so Google all the way :-) It covered a basic need to view basic statistics within Umbraco, but wasn't really all that flexible.

After CodeGarden'09 I started the initial work to rewrite the package to make it more flexible and enable the ability to create custom reports, which had been a goal of mine since day one or two. Okay, maybe not from the first couple of days, as my first goal was to create a simple statistics section in Umbraco while learning how to create a custom section, which I had never done before. Version 1 of the package was very much a learning process for me. So after having gone through the learning process of version 1 I was ready to pursue my second goal: Create a killer Google Analytics package.

To fulfill my second goal I would have to implement the following features:

• Custom Reports
• Flash Charts
• Umbraco DataType

These features seemed somewhat simple at the time, but turned out to be very time consuming to make. Creating custom reports based on 47 predefined Metrics and 65 predefined Dimensions makes up for a s**t load of combinations, so I had to come up with a way to calculate the results as a single integer, an average, a percentage and time. I think I have tested something like 90% of the reports, which are available through Google Analytics by default and it seems that my model works (so far anyway - I dread multi-series reports).

Next feature was the Flash charts. Flash charts are simply more flashy then static images, so I chose to go with Fusion Charts Free for the implementation because 1.they are free and open source, 2.they are super nice and 3.there is an impressive amount of charts available to work with. So far I have only implemented the Single Line chart, 2D & 3D Pie chart and Bar chart, but hope to implement more. Luckily it will be easy to add more charts, as I have created a C# wrapper for the properties that make up the Flash object. I have kept the Google Chart API implementation for the summary charts, but also implemented as objects in my model.

The Data Type was one of the most requested features in the package forums on our.umbraco.org, so clearly I wanted to implement this as well and it is a very cool feature to have. I would love to be able to add a statistics-tab to my Document Types and see how many pageviews, visits etc. my content got.

With the main features down the only hurdle to overcome was the time factor. I originally thought I would be able to post an update in August 2009, but didn't have enough time so maybe October was more realistic, but no. I kept pushing the release because I didn't have enough time to dedicate to the project, and only worked on it from time to time during weekends. The new year came and I had got a lot of work done, and when the feb16 birthday event was announced it was great opportunity to prep a release. The implementation of the different charts was done, and ability to create custom reports was also ready. Only some small features was still needing some polish, and the Data Type. I thought to myself that I must release this package (give the people what they want) very soon, so I set a deadline for February 26. for release of the reworked package.

For the feb16 birthday event I demoed the new and hugely improved package in Copenhagen, which seemed to go okay. The crowd was really really quite, but I'm hoping it was because they were speechless :-) I announced that the package would be released on our.umbraco.org on feb 26. so the heat was on. The following 10 days I coded like a crazy to make my deadline, and I started creating teasers for the package to rise awareness and to further pressure myself.

Version 1.0.6 was released on feb.26th. and was very well received. The installer was updated a couple of days later, so current version is 1.0.7.

Current features include:

• 32 Standard Reports
• Custom Reports
• Data Type (choose any report)
• Switch between multiple profiles for accounts available through credentials (google account)
• Flash Charts based on Fusion Chart Free (Single line-, 2D & 3D Pie- and Bar charts)
• Static Charts for summary views (based on Google Charts API)
• Tables for viewing things like Content by Visits, Browser types, version etc.
• Sorting of reports (Umbraco tree)
• Sorting of charts within a report
• Editing of existing charts within a report
• Delete charts from a report
• Delete reports
• Change icons for reports in tree

Here are links to the 10 teasers, which I created during the last 10 days of development:

Installing the Package: http://screenr.com/EHh
Accounts & Profiles: http://screenr.com/3jx
Editing Reports: http://screenr.com/q3x and http://screenr.com/Mix
Data Type: http://screenr.com/gbx and http://screenr.com/8vx
Sorting Reports: http://screenr.com/Szx
Changing Icons: http://screenr.com/4cx
Custom Reports: http://screenr.com/k4x

I hope you find this package useful! I really enjoyed making it, and thanks for all the wonderful feedback! If you have any suggestions for updates or additions, please feel free to add a request on the forums. Please also feel free to share your custom reports, as I would love to see which reports others use.

Google Analytics for Umbraco version 1.0.7

[gallery columns="5"]