Setting data values with Previous page information as condition is not working

[jaimebupa]

We have a set of pages being tracked with events in our site. So if the customer lands in step-1 we fire an event. The problem is if the customer goes back from step-2 to step-1 we fire the event again.

To avoid this, I tried to create an extension that looks at the pagename and previous page name setting a new value in a variable if the previous page name doesn't equal step-2 or step-1.

I cannot make it to work.

Every time I try to use previos page name value in the extension my variable gets undefined. I looked and we have ct.s_ppn value BLR so not sure why isn't working. I also tried to use the mapping we have with adobe (use prop value instead of previous_page_name variable), changing when the tag should load, changing tag scope...

Does anyone knows why I'm unable to make it work? or knows how to use PPN as a condition for a set value data extension?

Thanks,

J

[GavinAttard]

Hi

One of of resolving this i think is simply dropping a couple of flags as cookie. 

Then set conditions on the extention firing the event agaisnt those flags. 

ciao

Gavin

[jaimebupa]

Hi Gavin, Thanks for your answer!

Could you explain a littel more how could I do this?

At the moment I set up a cookie that tells me which step are the in in the journey. I was trying to store the value of the highest step they've been but couldn't work it out without creating one cookie for each step.

Really appreciate the help :)

Thanks

J

[GavinAttard · Accepted solution]

HI @jaimebupa 

So, here's what i'm thinking. 

You want a flag that allows you to only fire on first visit to a step. Subsequent views, should not fire a step. 

lets say you setup a cookie, called ct.step_visited

On first step page view, you drop the initial cookie with a value of 's1'

when the 2nd step is loaded, you read the same cookie and append the next step so the result should be an updated cookie with value 's1-s2'

and so on and so forth. 

The extention condition for firing the event should check that the cookie does not contain the flag for the relevant step. Page is Step 1 and Cookie does not contain s1

Even if you ended up with mulitple step visits so the cookie reads 's1-s2-s1' The condition will still work... 

then get rid of the cookie once the sequence is complete. 

Hope that helps

[jaimebupa]

Hi @GavinAttard,

Thanks so much for the detailed answer.

I'm going to use this approach, will let you know how it goes! :)

One more question I have. When you say at the end "get rid of the cookie" wouild it be enough to set it as a session cookie? Or how do I get rid of the cookie?

As you can see I'm not very experienced with cookies in general... :S

Thanks

J

[GavinAttard]

HI @jaimebupa 

Pleasure, glad i could help. 

To 'get rid of a cookie', you effectivly expire the cookie. 

When setting it, set against a fixed time expiry, something long enough for the sequence, say 1 hour or so. 

When the sequence ends you simply update the cookie time setting to 0 time or an earlier time period and this will expire the cookie. 

The below code can also be used to drop a cookie using a javascript extention. Once you google your way to expert cookie knowledge, you will find that the below code can be reduced, based on your needs. 

var cookieName = "give me a name";
  var cookiePath = "/";
  var cookieValue = ;//Populate a value, this can be from a variable, or a fixed variable
  var expirationTime = 2628000; //For example one month in seconds (2628000)
  expirationTime = expirationTime * 1000; //Convert expirationtime to milliseconds
  var date = new Date(); //Create javascript date object
  var dateTimeNow = date.getTime(); //Get current time in milliseconds since 1 january 1970 (Unix time)
  date.setTime(dateTimeNow + expirationTime); //Set expiration time (Time now + one month)
  var expirationTime = date.toUTCString(); //Convert milliseconds to UTC time string. 
  document.cookie = cookieName + "=" + cookieValue + "; expires=" + expirationTime + "; path=" + cookiePath; //This drops the cookie - to expiire the cookie you can set expires=Thu, 01-Jan-70 00:00:01 GMT

[jaimebupa]

Hi @GavinAttard 

Thanks again! Really appreciate it 

Looks like I'll be a cookie expert in no time with all your support :p

Have a good day,

J