[Mason]

In Google Analytics 4 (GA4), once a custom parameter has been registered as a custom dimension or metric, it becomes available to all the events that are recorded in your property, not just the events it was originally associated with. Even though you registered those parameters with specific events, GA4 doesn’t retain any association between the events and the parameters once they’re registered; they’re essentially seen as being applicable to all events from that point forward.

This is why when you click “Updated_Header_Menu_event”, you are seeing not only its own definitions but also the definitions from “Updated_Footer_Menu_event”. Even though “Updated_Header_Menu_event” doesn’t contain those parameters, they are still available to all events once registered in GA4. This behavior might seem confusing but it’s actually by design to provide maximum flexibility in the way you can use custom dimensions or metrics with your events.

[Mason]

Yes, many users have reported differences in custom event counts after migrating from Universal Analytics to GA4. Even though the triggers in Google Tag Manager remain the same, discrepancies may arise because GA4 has a different way of processing and counting events compared to Universal Analytics. GA4 is more focused on event-based tracking, while Universal Analytics primarily uses session-based tracking. Additionally, default events in GA4 might be named differently or might not exist in Universal Analytics, and vice versa. It’s always advisable to double-check your custom event setup, ensure that the events are correctly configured in GA4 and that they are firing as expected. Remember to use the GA4 DebugView feature for this purpose.

[Mason]

From the code snippet you provided, it seems there could be instances where the orders do not have an associated order number, possibly leading to your ‘not set’ issue. To resolve this, you could add an additional if-statement to your script to check if the order number is defined before pushing the purchase event to the dataLayer. You can add the condition if order.order_number or if order.order_number != "" before pushing the data to Google Analytics. This way, only transactions with a set transaction ID will be tracked. If your order_number is coming up as null in the first place, you might also need to review your order processing and data extraction to make sure all orders are properly assigned an order number.

[Mason]

Sure thing! From what you’ve shared, it seems like you’re following the steps correctly and should be seeing your events in Google Analytics 4’s debug view. However, here’s a small thing that might be causing the issue. According to Google Analytics’ official documentation, anything sent to the Validation Server won’t appear in any reports. This could be why you’re not seeing your data.

Good news is that, a simple tweak should solve this. Just shift the endpoint of your call back to /mp/collect. Now, you should be able to view your events in the debug view. Hope this helps and you’re able to progress without any more hiccups.

[Mason]

Hey! No need to worry. It’s actually pretty simple. All you need to do is take a peek at the left menu and find the section called “Audience”. After that, just look for the “User Explorer”. Voila! You should be able to find all the user info you need there.

[Mason]

In this case, what you’re experiencing is due to the difference between GA4 and GA3. The metrics and dimensions that are compatible in GA3 may not work the same way in GA4 due to Google’s updates to these systems. Unfortunately, as of now, you may need to make separate requests to the GA4 API to get the transaction details. While it isn’t as streamlined as the process used in GA3, currently, there might not be a way around this issue. However, Google continues to update and improve GA4 tools, and the compatibility of dimensions and metrics may change in the future.

[Mason]

Your problem may be related to dependency issues or how your network calls are being handled in the Spark cluster environment. Since your code is running fine locally but encountering the DEADLINE_EXCEEDED error in Spark cluster environment on Databricks, it could be a result of different handling of network calls, where network operations are taking longer than expected or are getting blocked altogether. There might be a need for additional configuration for your Spark Cluster to ensure it works with the GA4 libraries, or it might be a matter of increasing timeouts values if possible. The fact that it’s also happening when just fetching metadata suggests it’s not related to data load, but more to how the network calls are handled. I recommend reaching out to Spark or Databricks support with this issue or see if there is any known difference in network call handling between the two environments that might be causing this behavior.

[Mason]

It seems like you’re having trouble configuring Avo to send event tracking information to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). You said that although your events are being successfully tracked in Avo, they’re not appearing in GA4, which suggests that there might be a problem with the way you’ve set up your GA4 destination. As you also shared the code you’re using and a screenshot of your GA4 destination setup, it could be possible that an error might have occurred while you were linking Avo with GA4 given your unfamiliarity with the latter. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact issue without technical know-how, but it’s recommended to revisit the steps involved in linking Avo with GA4, ensure proper configuration according to guidelines, or seek technical help.

[Mason]

It is possible that they’re using a hybrid mobile app approach and leveraging web-based analytics setup in Firebase. That said, tracking might not be as accurate or comprehensive as traditional mobile app analytics setup, which could explain why you’re not seeing the same level of detail. It might be worth asking if they can improve the tracking or grant you some backend access to get a closer look.

[Mason]

Hey, no worries. Just a quick little tweak needed here. You’ll just have to add ‘TOTAL’ to the metricAggregations list in your request. Once you do that, you should start seeing the totals field in your response. Here is a link to the spot in the GA4 documentation that talks about it: [GA4 docs link](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/data/v1/rest/v1beta/properties/runReport#:~:text=see%20Pagination.-,metricAggregations,-%5B%5D). Hope that helps out, mate! Let me know how it goes.