Trace

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Trace provides the necessary tools to put your Universal Data Hub configuration to the test. With Trace, you can observe every detail of a defined workflow, ensure attributes update correctly, rules are dialed in, and actions fire as expected. Trace works in real-time, so you know immediately what works and what needs adjusting.

This article covers the following topics:

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Getting a Trace ID

Once you have saved your UDH configuration and are ready to begin testing your Enrichments, Audiences, and Actions, you need to get a Trace ID to use in the Trace tool.

To get a Trace ID:

1. Navigate to Discover > Trace.
2. If you haven't already, install Tealium Tools for Chrome.
3. Click Start Trace and copy the Trace ID. 

Starting a Trace

Once you have a Trace ID you can open another browser window and start the trace.

To start a Trace:

1. Open a new Chrome browser window and navigate to the first page of the workflow to test.
2. Open the Tealium Tools browser plugin and click AudienceStream Trace.
3. Enter the Trace ID.
4. Uncheck Trace me as a new visitor if you are tracing a session across multiple domains.
5. Click Start Trace.
6. Return to UDH, where you got the Trace ID, and click Continue.

Now, as you begin navigating through your workflow in one browser window, Trace will send information back to UDH where a timeline of visitor activity will be displayed.

Joining an Active Trace

To join a Trace that is currently in progress:

1. Go to Discover > Trace.
2. Enter the known Trace ID for an active trace.
3. Click the arrow next to Join Trace. This will redirect you to the corresponding Trace in progress.

Stopping a Trace

You can end an active Trace and its visitor session.

1. Open a new browser window and navigate to your site.
2. Open the Tealium Tools plugin (click AudienceStream Trace if the Trace tool is not already open).
3. Verify the Current Domain and Current Trace Id of the Trace you want to stop.
4. Click Stop Trace.

Filtering Attributes

Choose how you want to view the attributes and their values by selecting an option from the Show filter. This is your opportunity to examine if the attributes and the configurations tied to them are functioning properly.

• All: Shows all the attribute types (setup in your AudienceStream profile) along with their values, if available.
• Existing: Shows only the attributes that acquired a value post AudienceStream processing.
• Modified: Shows only the modified, or enriched, attributes.

Starting a Trace From the Browser Console

If you don't use Chrome or can't use the Tealium Tools plugin you can start a Trace manually using the browser developer tools. The Trace tool uses a cookie called "trace_id", which can be created manually.

To start a trace manually:

1. Open a new Chrome browser window and navigate to the first page of the workflow to test.
2. Open the browser's developer tools or web console.
3. Enter this line of code, replacing "12345" with your Trace ID from UDH:

   document.cookie="trace_id=12345;path=/";

4. Reload the page to begin the Trace.

To end a trace manually:

1. Open your browser's developer tools or web console.
2. Enter this line of code to trigger the event and delete the trace_id cookie:

   console.log("Attempting to kill visitor session for Trace."),window.utag&&utag.track?utag.track("kill_visitor_session",{event:"kill_visitor_session","cp.trace_id":utag.data["cp.trace_id"]}):console.log("Unable to kill visitor session using utag.track.");
   

Traces started manually will always follow the "Trace me as a new visitor" feature.