How do I dynamically load Google Analytics JavaScript?

Question

Without using any other JS frameworks (dojo, jquery, etc), how would I dynamically load Google Analytic\'s javascript to be used on a web page for w

Answer 1

function loadGA()
{
    if(typeof _gat == 'function') //already loaded
    {
        //innitGA();
        // you may want the above line uncommented.. 
        // I'm presuming that if the _gat object is there
        // you wouldn't want to.
        return;
    }
    var hostname = 'google-analytics.com';
    var protocol = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
    js = document.createElement('script');
    js.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript');
    js.setAttribute('src', protocol+hostname+'/ga.js');
    document.body.appendChild(js);
    //2 methods to detect the load of ga.js
    //some browsers use both, however
    loaded = false; // so use a boolean
    js.onreadystatechange = function () {
        if (js.readyState == 'loaded') 
        { 
            if(!loaded)
            {
                innitGA();
            }
            loaded = true;
        }
    };
    js.onload = function () 
    {
        if(!loaded)
        {           
            innitGA();
        }
        loaded = true;
    };
}

function innitGA()
{
    //var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('GA_ACCOUNT/PROFILE_ID');
    //pageTracker._initData();
    //pageTracker._trackPageview();
    alert('oh hai I can watch plz?');
}

just call loadGA()... tested on IE6/7/8, FF3, Chrome and Opera

sorry if I'm a bit late to this party.

Answer 2

Try using the exact JavaScript code provided by Google and then conditionally display that section of code based on a construct in your UI framework. You didn't say what platform this is running on, if it's ASP.NET you could put the code in a PlaceHolder or UserControl and then set Visible to true or false based on a config file setting if the script should be included. I've used this approach on multiple sites to prevent the Analytics script from being included in pre-production environments.

Answer 3

You could use this snippet from HTML5 Boilerplate.

<!-- Google Analytics: change UA-XXXXX-X to be your site's ID. -->
<script>
  var _gaq=[['_setAccount','UA-XXXXX-X'],['_trackPageview']];
  (function(d,t){var g=d.createElement(t),s=d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0];
  g.src=('https:'==location.protocol?'//ssl':'//www')+'.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
  s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s)}(document,'script'));
</script>

Answer 4

I've literally just put something together that does this... using jquery. The trick is to add a load event to the script tag with the tracking code in it.

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
var gaScript = document.createElement('script');
var loaded = false;
gaScript.src = gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js";

$(gaScript).load(function(){
  loaded = true;
  var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(Consts.google_analytics_uacct);
  pageTracker._initData();
  pageTracker._trackPageview();
});

document.body.appendChild(gaScript);

// And to make it work in ie7 & 8
gaInterval = setInterval(function() {
  if (!loaded && typeof _gat != 'undefined') {
    $(gaScript).load();
    clearInterval(gaInterval);
  }
},50);

The thing i'm trying to work out is... is this allowed by google.

Answer 5

Server side programming would be easier I guess, but I found this some time ago. Notice that it specifically sets it to the html head.

Also check on the first link down on 'Adding Javascript Through Ajax'.