Test, adapt SoftMeter for sending statistics to a Google Analytics 4 ("G-xxxx") property (not Universal Analytics, "UA-xxxx-y")

starmessage / libSoftMeter

Application analytics (software usage analytics) for Windows, MacOS and IOS software

https://www.starmessagesoftware.com/softmeter

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Test, adapt SoftMeter for sending statistics to a Google Analytics 4 ("G-xxxx") property (not Universal Analytics, "UA-xxxx-y") #14

Closed starmessage closed 1 year ago

starmessage commented 3 years ago

Google Analytics introduced in 2020 a new type of tracking property, the "Google Analytics 4" property.
Google Analytics 4 property IDs start with "G-".
"Universal Analytics" properties start with a "UA-" prefix. On July 1, 2023, Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits. See: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11583528
SoftMeter, up to version 1.4, expects the property ID, as given by the Desktop application, to start with "UA-" and rejects the calls if the ID passed is not like that.
In an upcoming version of SoftMeter we will add support for Google Analytics 4 properties.
Google Analytics new properties are created by default as Google Analytics 4 properties.

liuying1129 commented 2 years ago

Universal Analytics will no longer process new data in standard properties beginning July 1, 2023. Prepare now by setting up and switching over to a Google Analytics 4 property.

Excuse me, When will it be supported？

starmessage commented 2 years ago

We are working on GA4 compatibility, to get it ready in time. There is no ETA yet.

ArcticLampyrid commented 2 years ago

Any progress?

starmessage commented 1 year ago

This is the 2.0.0 beta version, adding support for Google Analytics 4 properties (Measurement ID in the form of G-xxxxxxxx) libSoftmeter v2.0.0 beta.zip

Changes needed in your program:

before calling the Softmeter start() function, you need to provide the ApiSecret string of your GA4 property. setOptions("ApiSecret=Your-Api-Secret-As-given-from-GA-administration-config");
at the call of the start() function, replace your UA-xxxxxxxx-y property ID of your Universal analytics property, with the GA4 measurement id, in the form of G-zzzzzzzzzz

Missing functionality in this version:

Google has not yet announced a date for the public release of the GA4 measurement API. Features are still missing from the API: recording of screen resolution, app name, app version, user language, country, etc. We are looking to find a workaround for these issues.

liuying1129 commented 1 year ago

No version 2.0 demo for delphi

liuying1129 commented 1 year ago

I hope to see the richer documents of version 2.0 as soon as possible

starmessage commented 1 year ago

SoftMeter version 2.0.1 was released. https://github.com/starmessage/libSoftMeter/tree/master/bin The Delphi, C/C++ samples will soon be updated. The only change needed (apart of cource of replacing the UA-xxxxx property number with the G-xxxxxx property) is to call the setOptions() function to pass your API secret. (see comment above). As always, the setOptions() must be called before the start() function is called.

starmessage commented 1 year ago

Instructions on how to setup your GA4 property to collect application usage data from SoftMeter and the creation of custom dimensions for the SoftMeter PRO metadata. https://www.starmessagesoftware.com/blog/create-configure-ga4-google-analytics-property-softmeter

liuying1129 commented 1 year ago

I use delphi to test. When calling the start() function, if the parameter appVersion is null, version 1.0 is normal, but version 2.0 crashes

starmessage commented 1 year ago

Thanks for reporting this. It is fixed and will be available in the next version. However, the parameters of the start() function should not be NULL. You must pass valid strings.

We are closing this issue as it is specific to the GA4 compatibility. Please open new issues for any bug or improvement that you want to report.