Google Analytics Integration
If you wish to analyze the usage data of the application using Google Analytics, you can check the Windows SDK for Google Analytics GitHub repository and build the project located in GoogleAnalytics.Core. You then need to add a reference to the generated assembly (GoogleAnalytics.Core.dll) to your custom project.
The GoogleAnalytics.Core.dll assembly has a dependency against .NET Framework 4.5.1 which should be targeted in the client`s application.
This article demonstrates a simple implementation according to the API provided by the Windows SDK for Google Analytics.
IPlatformInfoProvider Implementation
public class PlatformInfoProvider : IPlatformInfoProvider
{
private string anonymousClientId;
private int? screenColors;
private Dimensions? screenResolution;
private string userAgent;
private string userLanguage;
private Dimensions? viewPortResolution;
public PlatformInfoProvider()
{
InitializeWindow();
}
public string AnonymousClientId
{
get
{
return this.anonymousClientId;
}
private set
{
this.anonymousClientId = value;
}
}
public int? ScreenColors
{
get
{
return this.screenColors;
}
private set
{
this.screenColors = value;
}
}
public Dimensions? ScreenResolution
{
get
{
return this.screenResolution;
}
private set
{
this.screenResolution = value;
if (ScreenResolutionChanged != null)
{
ScreenResolutionChanged(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
}
public string UserAgent
{
get
{
return this.userAgent;
}
private set
{
this.userAgent = value;
}
}
public string UserLanguage
{
get
{
return this.userLanguage;
}
private set
{
this.userLanguage = value;
}
}
public Dimensions? ViewPortResolution
{
get { return this.viewPortResolution; }
private set
{
this.viewPortResolution = value;
if (ViewPortResolutionChanged != null)
{
ViewPortResolutionChanged(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
}
public event EventHandler ScreenResolutionChanged;
public event EventHandler ViewPortResolutionChanged;
public void OnTracking()
{ }
private void InitializeWindow()
{
this.AnonymousClientId = "b597d28a-0d6c-42ed-9dcb-f89e98006b37"; // Random UUID
this.ScreenResolution = new Dimensions(1920, 1080);
this.UserAgent = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko";
this.UserLanguage = "en-us";
this.ViewPortResolution = new Dimensions(1920, 1080);
}
}
Public Class PlatformInfoProvider
Implements IPlatformInfoProvider
Private m_anonymousClientId As String
Private m_screenColors As System.Nullable(Of Integer)
Private m_screenResolution As System.Nullable(Of Dimensions)
Private m_userAgent As String
Private m_userLanguage As String
Private m_viewPortResolution As System.Nullable(Of Dimensions)
Public Sub New()
InitializeWindow()
End Sub
Public ReadOnly Property AnonymousClientId() As String Implements IPlatformInfoProvider.AnonymousClientId
Get
Return Me.m_anonymousClientId
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property ScreenColors() As System.Nullable(Of Integer) Implements IPlatformInfoProvider.ScreenColors
Get
Return Me.m_screenColors
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property ScreenResolution() As System.Nullable(Of Dimensions) Implements IPlatformInfoProvider.ScreenResolution
Get
Return Me.m_screenResolution
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property UserAgent() As String Implements IPlatformInfoProvider.UserAgent
Get
Return Me.m_userAgent
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property UserLanguage() As String Implements IPlatformInfoProvider.UserLanguage
Get
Return Me.m_userLanguage
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property ViewPortResolution() As System.Nullable(Of Dimensions) Implements IPlatformInfoProvider.ViewPortResolution
Get
Return Me.m_viewPortResolution
End Get
End Property
Public Event ScreenResolutionChanged As EventHandler Implements IPlatformInfoProvider.ScreenResolutionChanged
Public Event ViewPortResolutionChanged As EventHandler Implements IPlatformInfoProvider.ViewPortResolutionChanged
Public Sub OnTracking() Implements IPlatformInfoProvider.OnTracking
End Sub
Private Sub InitializeWindow()
Me.m_anonymousClientId = "b597d28a-0d6c-42ed-9dcb-f89e98006b37"
' Random UUID
Me.m_screenResolution = New Dimensions(1920, 1080)
Me.m_userAgent = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko"
Me.m_userLanguage = "en-us"
Me.m_viewPortResolution = New Dimensions(1920, 1080)
End Sub
End Class
You can then use this provider in your custom implementation of the ITraceMonitor interface. Please note that you have to pass your own Google Analytics tracking ID in the CreateTracker method of the TrackerManager.
Custom ITraceMonitor Implementation
public class CustomAnalitycsMonitor : ITraceMonitor
{
private Tracker tracker;
public CustomAnalitycsMonitor()
{
this.CreateGoogleTracker();
}
public void CreateGoogleTracker()
{
var trackerManager = new TrackerManager(new PlatformInfoProvider());
tracker = trackerManager.CreateTracker("YOUR_PROPERTY_ID"); // your GoogleAnalytics property ID goes here
tracker.AppName = "WinForms App";
}
public void TrackAtomicFeature(string feature)
{
string category;
string eventAction;
this.SplitFeatureName(feature, out category, out eventAction);
var data = HitBuilder.CreateCustomEvent(category, eventAction + " event", feature.ToString(), 1).Build();
tracker.Send(data);
}
public void TrackError(string feature, Exception exception)
{
var data = HitBuilder.CreateException(feature + ":" + exception.ToString(), true).Build();
tracker.Send(data);
}
public void TrackFeatureCancel(string feature)
{
string category;
string eventAction;
this.SplitFeatureName(feature, out category, out eventAction);
var data = HitBuilder.CreateCustomEvent(category, eventAction + " event.Cancelled", feature.ToString(), 1).Build();
tracker.Send(data);
}
public void TrackFeatureStart(string feature)
{
// Measuring timings provides a native way to measure a period of time in Google Analytics.
// This can be useful to measure resource load times, for example.
TimeSpan ts = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2.2);
var loadTiming = HitBuilder.CreateTiming("Loaded", "MainWindow", ts).Build();
tracker.Send(loadTiming);
}
public void TrackFeatureEnd(string feature)
{
TimeSpan ts = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2.2);
var unLoadTiming = HitBuilder.CreateTiming("Loaded", "MainWindow", ts).Build();
tracker.Send(unLoadTiming);
}
public void TrackValue(string feature, long value)
{
string category;
string eventAction;
this.SplitFeatureName(feature, out category, out eventAction);
var data = HitBuilder.CreateCustomEvent(category, eventAction + " event", feature.ToString(), value).Build();
tracker.Send(data);
}
private void SplitFeatureName(string feature, out string category, out string eventAction)
{
string[] parameters = feature.Split('.');
category = parameters[0];
eventAction = parameters[1];
}
}
Public Class CustomAnalitycsMonitor
Implements ITraceMonitor
Private tracker As Tracker
Public Sub New()
Me.CreateGoogleTracker()
End Sub
Public Sub CreateGoogleTracker()
' Random UUID
Dim trackerManager = New TrackerManager(New PlatformInfoProvider())
tracker = trackerManager.CreateTracker("YOUR_PROPERTY_ID")
' your GoogleAnalytics property ID goes here
tracker.AppName = "WinForms App"
End Sub
Public Sub TrackAtomicFeature(feature As String) Implements ITraceMonitor.TrackAtomicFeature
Dim category As String
Dim eventAction As String
Me.SplitFeatureName(feature, category, eventAction)
Dim data = HitBuilder.CreateCustomEvent(category, eventAction & Convert.ToString(" event"), feature.ToString(), 1).Build()
tracker.Send(data)
End Sub
Public Sub TrackError(feature As String, exception As Exception) Implements ITraceMonitor.TrackError
Dim data = HitBuilder.CreateException((feature & Convert.ToString(":")) + exception.ToString(), True).Build()
tracker.Send(data)
End Sub
Public Sub TrackFeatureCancel(feature As String) Implements ITraceMonitor.TrackFeatureCancel
Dim category As String
Dim eventAction As String
Me.SplitFeatureName(feature, category, eventAction)
Dim data = HitBuilder.CreateCustomEvent(category, eventAction & Convert.ToString(" event.Cancelled"), feature.ToString(), 1).Build()
tracker.Send(data)
End Sub
Public Sub TrackFeatureStart(feature As String) Implements ITraceMonitor.TrackFeatureStart
' Measuring timings provides a native way to measure a period of time in Google Analytics.
' This can be useful to measure resource load times, for example.
Dim ts As TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2.2)
Dim loadTiming = HitBuilder.CreateTiming("Loaded", "MainWindow", ts).Build()
tracker.Send(loadTiming)
End Sub
Public Sub TrackFeatureEnd(feature As String) Implements ITraceMonitor.TrackFeatureEnd
Dim ts As TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2.2)
Dim unLoadTiming = HitBuilder.CreateTiming("Loaded", "MainWindow", ts).Build()
tracker.Send(unLoadTiming)
End Sub
Public Sub TrackValue(feature As String, value As Long) Implements ITraceMonitor.TrackValue
Dim category As String
Dim eventAction As String
Me.SplitFeatureName(feature, category, eventAction)
Dim data = HitBuilder.CreateCustomEvent(category, eventAction & Convert.ToString(" event"), feature.ToString(), value).Build()
tracker.Send(data)
End Sub
Private Sub SplitFeatureName(feature As String, ByRef category As String, ByRef eventAction As String)
Dim parameters As String() = feature.Split("."c)
category = parameters(0)
eventAction = parameters(1)
End Sub
End Class
All that is left is to set the static ControlTraceMonitor.AnalyticsMonitor property, possibly in the constructor of your application.
Set AnalyticsMonitor
ControlTraceMonitor.AnalyticsMonitor = new CustomAnalitycsMonitor();
ControlTraceMonitor.AnalyticsMonitor = New CustomAnalitycsMonitor()
If you then go to the Google Analytics dashboard after some user interaction has took place, you will find information and statistics for the registered features similar to the ones shown below.
Figure 1: Google Analytics Dashboard
