home page page triggers 2 page views in google analytics

[joost-atmire]

Describe the bug During the page load of the DSpace front page 2 requests get send to google analytics. Both events signify a page view, but use a different way of contacting the google analytics api, one sends an event of type pageview and one triggers a virtual pageview.

Google analytics has made a chrome plugin to help debugging calls to it. Installing this tool gives the following output when visiting the home page of a DSpace instance:

\__, |\___/ \___/ \__, |_|\___|  \__,_|_| |_|\__,_|_|\__, |\__|_|\___|___/
  __/ |             __/ |                              __/ |
 |___/             |___/                              |___/

analytics.js:30 Running analytics_debug.js. This script is intended for testing and debugging only.
log @ analytics.js:30
J @ analytics.js:29
(anonymous) @ analytics.js:129
(anonymous) @ analytics.js:129
analytics.js:30 Initializing Google Analytics.
analytics.js:30 Running command: ga("create", "UA-XXXXXX-X", "auto")
analytics.js:30 Creating new tracker: t0
analytics.js:30 Auto cookieDomain found: "none"
analytics.js:30 The tracking Id should only be of the format UA-NNNNNN-N.
log @ analytics.js:30
J @ analytics.js:29
La @ analytics.js:44
Td @ analytics.js:41
ad @ analytics.js:100
Z.create @ analytics.js:122
Y.b.<computed> @ analytics.js:79
jf.R @ analytics.js:121
jf.H @ analytics.js:119
Z.P @ analytics.js:126
cd @ analytics.js:113
A @ analytics.js:113
(anonymous) @ analytics.js:129
(anonymous) @ analytics.js:129
analytics.js:30 Running command: ga("send", "pageview", "/")
analytics.js:30 
Sent beacon:
v=1&_v=j98d&a=792940351&t=pageview&_s=1&dl=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%2Fhome&dp=%2F&ul=nl-nl&de=UTF-8&dt=DSpace&sd=24-bit&sr=1920x1080&vp=1163x976&je=0&_u=AACAAEABAAAAACAAI~&jid=&gjid=&cid=1621726639.1664894804&tid=UA-XXXXXX-X&_gid=1109278256.1664894804&_slc=1&z=1612913127


analytics.js:30 _j1              (&jid)  
analytics.js:30 _j2              (&gjid) 
analytics.js:30 adSenseId        (&a)    792940351
analytics.js:30 apiVersion       (&v)    1
analytics.js:30 clientId         (&cid)  1621726639.1664894804
analytics.js:30 encoding         (&de)   UTF-8
analytics.js:30 hitType          (&t)    pageview
analytics.js:30 javaEnabled      (&je)   0
analytics.js:30 language         (&ul)   nl-nl
analytics.js:30 location         (&dl)   http://localhost/home
analytics.js:30 page             (&dp)   /
analytics.js:30 screenColors     (&sd)   24-bit
analytics.js:30 screenResolution (&sr)   1920x1080
analytics.js:30 title            (&dt)   DSpace
analytics.js:30 trackingId       (&tid)  UA-XXXXXX-X
analytics.js:30 viewportSize     (&vp)   1163x976
analytics.js:30 Registered new plugin: ga(provide, "render", Function)
core.mjs:24889 Angular is running in development mode. Call enableProdMode() to enable production mode.
analytics.js:30 Executing Google Analytics commands.
analytics.js:30 Running command: ga("send", "event", {eventCategory: "Event", eventAction: "pageView", eventLabel: undefined, eventValue: undefined, nonInteraction: undefined, page: "/home", userId: null, hitCallback: undefined})
analytics.js:30 
Sent beacon:
v=1&_v=j98d&a=792940351&t=event&_s=2&dl=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%2Fhome&dp=%2Fhome&ul=nl-nl&de=UTF-8&dt=DSpace%20Angular%20%3A%3A%20DSpace%20Angular%20%3A%3A%20Home&sd=24-bit&sr=1920x1080&vp=1163x976&je=0&ec=Event&ea=pageView&_u=CACAAEABAAAAACAAI~&jid=&gjid=&cid=1621726639.1664894804&tid=UA-XXXXXX-X&_gid=1109278256.1664894804&z=76909085


analytics.js:30 _j1              (&jid)  
analytics.js:30 _j2              (&gjid) 
analytics.js:30 adSenseId        (&a)    792940351
analytics.js:30 apiVersion       (&v)    1
analytics.js:30 clientId         (&cid)  1621726639.1664894804
analytics.js:30 encoding         (&de)   UTF-8
analytics.js:30 eventAction      (&ea)   pageView
analytics.js:30 eventCategory    (&ec)   Event
analytics.js:30 hitType          (&t)    event
analytics.js:30 javaEnabled      (&je)   0
analytics.js:30 language         (&ul)   nl-nl
analytics.js:30 location         (&dl)   http://localhost/home
analytics.js:30 page             (&dp)   /home
analytics.js:30 screenColors     (&sd)   24-bit
analytics.js:30 screenResolution (&sr)   1920x1080
analytics.js:30 title            (&dt)   DSpace Angular :: DSpace Angular :: Home
analytics.js:30 trackingId       (&tid)  UA-XXXXXX-X
analytics.js:30 viewportSize     (&vp)   1163x976

I have already determined that the 2 requests come from different places in the code: One gets triggered by the view tracker component that is embedded in the home page. The other request is made because of the [browser-init component](https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/blob/1370363a54e3194a5b1cbf195cccb86726e11409/src/modules/app/browser-init.service.ts# L132). This adds the google tracker id to every page. I have also attached a screenshot of the http requests made during the loading of the home page.

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. add a google analytics key to the backend configuration
2. install the google analytics debugger extension in chrome
3. visit the home page
4. 2 page visits get send to google analytics, this is visible in the javascript console

Expected behavior 1 page visit gets send to google analytics

Related work Link to any related tickets or PRs here.

[TanyaHolm]

Hi Would this bug also be applicable to Google Analytics 4? Thanks Tanya Holm

[artlowel]

We'd like to claim this ticket