redis_analytics

What is redis_analytics?

A gem that provides a Redis based web analytics solution for your rack-compliant apps

Why should I use it?

It gives you detailed analytics about visitors, unique visitors, browsers, OS, visitor recency, traffic sources and more

Does it have a cool dashboard?

Yes, It uses the excellent Morris.js for the main dashboard and Highcharts for drawing the various detailed graphs

OK, so how do I install it?

gem install redis_analytics

or in your Gemfile

gem 'redis_analytics'

Make sure your redis server is running! Redis configuration is outside the scope of this README, but check out the Redis documentation.

How do I enable tracking in my rack-compliant app?

Step 1: Load the redis_analytics library and configure it

# this is not required unless you use :require => false in your Gemfile
require 'redis_analytics'

# configure your redis connection (this is mandatory) and namespace (this is optional)
Rack::RedisAnalytics.configure do |configuration|
  configuration.redis_connection = Redis.new(:host => 'localhost', :port => '6379')
  configuration.redis_namespace = 'ra'
end

Step 2: Use the Tracker rack middleware (NOT REQUIRED FOR RAILS)

# in Sinatra you would do...
use Rack::RedisAnalytics::Tracker

For rails the middleware is added automatically, so you do not need to add it manually using config.middleware.use

Where do I view the dashboard?

Option 1: Set a dashboard endpoint in your configuration

Rack::RedisAnalytics.configure do |configuration|
  configuration.dashboard_endpoint = '/dashboard'
end

and navigate to http://localhost:3000/dashboard assuming your rack-compliant app is hosted at http://localhost:3000

Option 2: Simply run the bundled Sinatra application binary

redis_analytics_dashboard --redis-host 127.0.0.1 --redis-port 6379 --redis-namespace ra

and navigate to http://localhost:4567

What if I have multiple rails apps that I want to track as one?

In the configuration, keep the value of redis_namespace the same across all your rails apps

Rack::RedisAnalytics.configure do |configuration|
  configuration.redis_connection = Redis.new(:host => 'localhost', :port => '6379')
  configuration.redis_namespace = 'mywebsite.org'
end

Why is the Geolocation tracking giving me wrong results?

IP based Geolocation works using MaxMind's GeoLite database. The free version is not as accurate as their commercial version. Also it is recommended to regularly get an updated binary of 'GeoLite Country' database from here and extract the GeoIP.dat file into a local directory. You will then need to point to the GeoIP.dat file in your configuration.

Rack::RedisAnalytics.configure do |configuration|
  configuration.redis_connection = Redis.new(:host => 'localhost', :port => '6379')
  configuration.redis_namespace = 'mywebsite.org'
  configuration.geo_ip_data_path = '/path/to/GeoIP.dat'
end

Customizing & Extending

Tracking custom parameters

You can define and track your own parameters by defining an instance method inside the Parameters module

All you need to do, is make sure the method name conforms to the following format:

[abc]_[x]_per_[y]

where

• abc is a parameter name
• x can be any one of ratio or count and defines how the parameter is stored (zset or astring)
• y can be any one of hit or visit and defines when this parameter will be tracked (once per hit or once per visit)

The return value of the method should be Fixnum for count and String for ratio

If the return value is an error or nil the parameter won't be tracked

You can access the Rack::Request object via @rack_request and the Rack::Response object via @rack_response in your method

You are free to define other methods that do not have the above format in the Parameter module as helper methods

module Rack::RedisAnalytics::Parameters

  # whenever a product is sold, i want to track it per product_id
  def product_sales_ratio_per_hit
    if @request.path == '/product/sale'
      return @request.params['product_id']
    end
  end

  # whenever a product is viewed by a user, i want to track it per product & user
  def user_product_views_ratio_per_hit
    if @request.path == '/product/info'
      return "#{@request.params['product_id']}_#{@request.params['user_id']}"
    end
  end

  # track the first page the user hit to enter the site
  def entry_page_ratio_per_visit
    return @request.path
  end
  
  # how many times did a visitor reach the payment step
  def payment_step_count_per_hit
    return 1 if @request.path == '/payment'
  end

end

Using filters

Rack::RedisAnalytics.configure do |configuration|

  # simple string path filter
  configuration.add_path_filter('/robots.txt')

  # regexp path filter
  configuration.add_path_filter(/^\/favicon.ico$/)

  # generic filters
  configuration.add_filter do |request, response|
    request.params['layout'] == 'print'
  end

  # generic filters
  configuration.add_filter do |request, response|
    request.ip =~ /^172.16/ or request.ip =~ /^192.168/
  end

end

How does it work?

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2012-2013 Schubert Cardozo. See LICENSE for further details.