When a user loads a page on your website that has our Javascript snippet, here’s the order in which things happen. Keep the Network panel open, with the "petametrics" search filter. If things don’t work correctly, go to the Sources tab and check the box marking Call Stack as Async.
1. Sequence of events
- The user’s browser sees the instruction to load our Javascript file at cdn.petametrics.com. We respect the protocol the user is using to access the site: if the user is using HTTPS to access the site then they’ll access our Javascript via HTTPS as well.
- The user’s computer fetches the Javascript file from our CDN. When this happens, you’ll see a call to cdn.petametrics.com for the Javascript SDK file in the Network panel.
- The call succeeds, and you see a 200 OK response in the Network panel. If you click on it, you can then see the response, which is the full Javascript SDK file.
- The Javascript SDK file executes, and events are sent to query.petametrics.com. Almost immediately after Javascript SDK finishes loading, you’ll see a request to api.petametrics.com/__activity.gif. This is a pageview event being sent for us to record, and is triggered by the $p("send", "pageview") line in your Javascript snippet. You can click on it and see the headers to know what information was sent. If the information is sent successfully, you’ll see a 200 OK.
2. Check that our Javascript loaded using console
If you enter into the console:
$p
you should see this output:
function n.start.e.(anonymous function)()
3. Run the Built-In Diagnostics Function
If you enter $p("runDiagnostics") in the console we will run some basic diagnostics automatically. You will get back a list of any ERRORS, WARNINGS, or INFO items that we may pick up, alerting you to possible issues and providing some first steps to resolve them. Check out our article on $p("runDiagnostics") for more information, and don't hesitate to contact Support for further assistance.
$p("runDiagnostics")Debugging Beacon Loading Issues
We process tens of millions of pageviews with our beacon every day, so it is quite unlikely that things will be broken. That said, here’s what you can do if our beacon is not loading at all, or not loading correctly.
If no call was made to cdn.petametrics.com, this probably means that something went wrong with the Javascript snippet that you installed.
- Go to the Elements panel and see if the Javascript snippet is present in the head section. Verify that you copied it correctly from your account.
- If you are using any ad-blocking or third-party blocking tools, make sure they are not blocking petametrics.com. More information on LiftIgniter and AdBlockers.
- Check your Console panel for any errors logged.
If a call was made, but gave an error (i.e., any code other than 200 OK):
- Note the error code so you can get in touch with us about it.
- Refresh the page to see if the error disappears.
- Check your network connectivity and check if you can directly load our Javascript in your browser.
- Check your Console panel for any errors logged.
If the call to cdn.petametrics.com gave a 200 OK but "$p" in the Console panel gives an error, make a note of the error as well as the page on which you found it, and get in touch with Support. We’ll aim to fix it as soon as possible.
Make sure to disable your browser cache when debugging!
Notes on Caching and Refreshing of Our Javascript
If a user views multiple pages on your website, each of which has our Javascript snippet, the user’s browser will not fetch the Javascript from our server repeatedly. Rather, the browser will recognize that the resource was recently retrieved and will use the version cached in the user's browser.
In order to make sure that the user’s browser periodically refreshes the Javascript file from our CDN, the Javascript snippet we ask you to install adds a timestamp parameter (that changes every hour) to the URL being fetched.
The parameter is ignored by our CDN, and is included solely so that the browser forces a reload of the file.