DocumentationAnalyticsImplementation Guide

Adobe plug-in: getValOnce

Last update: Thu Jan 25 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

CREATED FOR:

  • Admin
  • Developer
IMPORTANT
This plug-in is provided by Adobe Consulting as a courtesy to help you get more value out of Adobe Analytics. Adobe Customer Care does not provide support with this plug-in, including installation or troubleshooting. If you require help with this plug-in, contact your organization’s Adobe Account Team. They can arrange a meeting with a consultant for assistance.

The getValOnce plug-in prevents a variable from being set equal to the same value more than once. Adobe recommends using this plug-in when you would like to deduplicate occurrences where a visitor refreshes a page or otherwise visit a given page multiple times. This plug-in is unnecessary if you are not worried about the ‘Occurrences’ metric in Analysis Workspace.

Install the plug-in using the Web SDK extension

Adobe offers an extension that allows you to use most commonly-used plug-ins with the Web SDK.

  1. Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.

  2. Click Tags on the left, then click the desired tag property.

  3. Click Extensions on the left, then click the Catalog tab

  4. Locate and install the Common Web SDK Plugins extension.

  5. Click Data Elements on the left, then click the desired data element.

  6. Set the desired data element name with the following configuration:

    • Extension: Common Web SDK Plugins
    • Data Element: getValOnce

  7. Set the desired parameters on the right.

  8. Save and publish the changes to the data element.

Install the plug-in manually implementing the Web SDK

This plug-in is not yet supported for use within a manual implementation of the Web SDK.

Install the plug-in using the Adobe Analytics extension

Adobe offers an extension that allows you to use most commonly-used plug-ins with Adobe Analytics.

  1. Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.

  2. Click the desired tag property.

  3. Go to the Extensions tab, then click on the Catalog button

  4. Install and publish the Common Analytics Plugins extension

  5. If you haven’t already, create a rule labeled “Initialize Plug-ins” with the following configuration:

    • Condition: None
    • Event: Core – Library Loaded (Page Top)

  6. Add an action to the above rule with the following configuration:

    • Extension: Common Analytics Plugins
    • Action Type: Initialize getValOnce

  7. Save and publish the changes to the rule.

Install the plug-in using custom code editor

If you do not want to use the Common Analytics Plugins plug-in extension, you can use the custom code editor.

  1. Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.
  2. Click on the desired property.
  3. Go to the Extensions tab, then click the Configure button under the Adobe Analytics extension.
  4. Expand the Configure tracking using custom code accordion, which reveals the Open Editor button.
  5. Open the custom code editor and paste the plug-in code provided below into the edit window.
  6. Save and publish the changes to the Analytics extension.

Install the plug-in using AppMeasurement

Copy and paste the following code anywhere in the AppMeasurement file after the Analytics tracking object is instantiated (using s_gi). Preserving comments and version numbers of the code in your implementation helps Adobe with troubleshooting any potential issues.

/******************************************* BEGIN CODE TO DEPLOY *******************************************/
/* Adobe Consulting Plugin: getValOnce v3.1 */
function getValOnce(vtc,cn,et,ep){var e=vtc,i=cn,t=et,n=ep;  if(arguments&&"-v"===arguments[0])return{plugin:"getValOnce",version:"3.1"};var o=function(){if(void 0!==window.s_c_il){for(var e,i=0;i<window.s_c_il.length;i++)if((e=window.s_c_il[i])._c&&"s_c"===e._c)return e}}();if(void 0!==o&&(o.contextData.getValOnce="3.1"),window.cookieWrite=window.cookieWrite||function(e,i,t){if("string"==typeof e){var n=window.location.hostname,o=window.location.hostname.split(".").length-1;if(n&&!/^[0-9.]+$/.test(n)){o=2<o?o:2;var r=n.lastIndexOf(".");if(0<=r){for(;0<=r&&1<o;)r=n.lastIndexOf(".",r-1),o--;r=0<r?n.substring(r):n}}if(g=r,i=void 0!==i?""+i:"",t||""===i){if(""===i&&(t=-60),"number"==typeof t){var f=new Date;f.setTime(f.getTime()+6e4*t)}else f=t}return!!e&&(document.cookie=encodeURIComponent(e)+"="+encodeURIComponent(i)+"; path=/;"+(t?" expires="+f.toUTCString()+";":"")+(g?" domain="+g+";":""),"undefined"!=typeof cookieRead)&&cookieRead(e)===i}},window.cookieRead=window.cookieRead||function(e){if("string"!=typeof e)return"";e=encodeURIComponent(e);var i=" "+document.cookie,t=i.indexOf(" "+e+"="),n=0>t?t:i.indexOf(";",t);return(e=0>t?"":decodeURIComponent(i.substring(t+2+e.length,0>n?i.length:n)))?e:""},e){var i=i||"s_gvo",t=t||0,n="m"===n?6e4:864e5;if(e!==cookieRead(i)){var r=new Date;return r.setTime(r.getTime()+t*n),cookieWrite(i,e,0===t?0:r),e}}return""}
/******************************************** END CODE TO DEPLOY ********************************************/

Use the plug-in

The getValOnce function uses the following arguments:

  • vtc (required, string): The variable to check and see if it was just previously set to an identical value
  • cn (optional, string): The name of the cookie that holds the value to check. Defaults to "s_gvo"
  • et (optional, integer): The expiration of the cookie in days (or minutes, depending on the ep argument). Defaults to 0, which expires at the end of the browser session
  • ep (optional, string): Only set this argument if the et argument is also set. Set this argument to "m" if you want the et argument to expire in minutes instead of days. Defaults to "d", which sets the et argument in days.

If the vtc argument and cookie value match, this function returns an empty string. If the vtc argument and cookie value do not match, the function returns the vtc argument as a string.

Examples

// Prevent the same value from being passed in to the campaign variable more than once in a row for next 30 days
s.campaign = getValOnce(s.campaign,"s_campaign",30);

// Prevent the same value from being passed in to eVar2 more than once in a row for the browser session
s.eVar2 = getValOnce(s.eVar2,"s_ev2");

// Prevent the same value from being passed in to eVar8 more than once in a row for 10 minutes
s.eVar8 = getValOnce(s.eVar8,"s_ev8",10,"m");

Version History

3.1 (September 22, 2022)

  • Fixed bug for expiration

3.0 (March 19, 2021)

  • Added version number as context data.

2.01

  • Fixed an issue with writing cookies.

2.0

  • Point release (recompiled, smaller code size).

1.1

  • Added the option to choose minutes or days for the expiration via the t parameter.
  • Corrected the scope of the k variable used to restrict it to the plug-in only. This change prevents possible interference with other code on the page.
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