Added 404 support

[Noam-Alum]

Unlike this issue AlmaLinux/wiki#467 for the wiki, it was much simpler to implement this since the script tag for matomo tracking was present in the footer layout partial and it was not used on the 404 page layout.

As you can see it was as simple as inserting the tracking script tag and adding this line:

_paq.push(['setDocumentTitle',  '404/URL = ' +  encodeURIComponent(document.location.pathname+document.location.search) + ' /From = ' + encodeURIComponent(document.referrer)]);

As said in this guide.

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Let me know if this works.

Referring to this issue - #603.

[codyro]

The footer partial is still loaded when the layouts/404.html file is loaded. This results in two instances of the tracking code being on the page (with one modifying the title):

I wonder if this creates two tracking events in Matomo? Looking at the documentation[1], it seems like you can push the setDocumentTitle setting to the _paq array without re-declaring everything (I did not test this).

[1] https://developer.matomo.org/guides/tracking-javascript-guide

[Noam-Alum]

The footer partial is still loaded when the layouts/404.html file is loaded. This results in two instances of the tracking code being on the page (with one modifying the title):

I wonder if this creates two tracking events in Matomo? Looking at the documentation[1], it seems like you can push the setDocumentTitle setting to the _paq array without re-declaring everything (I did not test this).

[1] https://developer.matomo.org/guides/tracking-javascript-guide

From what I'm getting you'd have to use a separate tracking event for the 404 page (Since you can't really check if the page you're on is 404 from JavaScript unless you use something like fetch), I didn't realize the footer partial is loaded 🤔 I don't see any reference for it in the 404 page layout.

I've sent a PR for the wikis 404 tracking it has the same boundaries regarding a separate tracking instance, I've written there in more detail.

I'll check how I can bypass that on Sunday.

[codyro]

From what I'm getting you'd have to use a separate tracking event for the 404 page (Since you can't really check if the page you're on is 404 from JavaScript unless you use something like fetch), I didn't realize the footer partial is loaded 🤔 I don't see any reference for it in the 404 page layout.

You wouldn't need a separate tracking event. They're leveraging setDocumentTitle to make the title of the 404 page in a standard format so you can easily find and identify it within Matomo.

Pseudo-Example of what the snippet does to the title when reporting it to Matomo:

404/URL = /non-existent-page/From = https%3A%2F%2Falmalinux.org%2Fsome-page

Then, you'd be able to quickly view, filter, and identify the page causing a 404 and where it's coming from inside Matomo (Behavior > Pages Titles).

I think you can push the _paq changes on the 404 page (without another tracking snippet). This would be in line with the documentation referenced above:

You can push to the _paq array even after the matomo.js file has been loaded and run.

I haven't tested this, but if that works, it should be as easy as removing the tracking portion you added but keeping the setDocumentTitle part.

[Noam-Alum]

From what I'm getting you'd have to use a separate tracking event for the 404 page (Since you can't really check if the page you're on is 404 from JavaScript unless you use something like fetch), I didn't realize the footer partial is loaded 🤔 I don't see any reference for it in the 404 page layout.

You wouldn't need a separate tracking event. They're leveraging setDocumentTitle to make the title of the 404 page in a standard format so you can easily find and identify it within Matomo.

Pseudo-Example of what the snippet does to the title when reporting it to Matomo:

404/URL = /non-existent-page/From = https%3A%2F%2Falmalinux.org%2Fsome-page

Then, you'd be able to quickly view, filter, and identify the page causing a 404 and where it's coming from inside Matomo (Behavior > Pages Titles).

I think you can push the _paq changes on the 404 page (without another tracking snippet). This would be in line with the documentation referenced above:

You can push to the _paq array even after the matomo.js file has been loaded and run.

I haven't tested this, but if that works, it should be as easy as removing the tracking portion you added but keeping the setDocumentTitle part.

So I just insert a script tag with this line?

_paq.push(['setDocumentTitle',  '404/URL = ' +  encodeURIComponent(document.location.pathname+document.location.search) + ' /From = ' + encodeURIComponent(document.referrer)]);

From my understanding this would have to be located before _paq.push(['trackPageView']);.

And it is already called in the footer layout partial, that's why I created a new tracking event with the new document title in the first place (When I thought it wasn't tracking at all).

I think I'm missing something... 🙃

At first, I wanted to detect a 404 status code and then change the document title in the tracking event dynamically (this proved to be not the best idea) but it seems better to just use the 404 page template with a modified tracking event (or script tag) 🤷‍♂️ let me know what you think we should do.

[codyro]

Give something like this a try. You can see what's being sent to Matomo by viewing your network inspector.

master...codyro:almalinux.org:matomo-404-test

References

• https://matomo.org/faq/reports/manually-trigger-goals-in-matomo/