Exvo::Metrics

Wrapper class/gem for the Mixpanel metrics system. It is configured to be used together with the Mixpanel::Middleware Rack middleware so that the tracking requests are sent asynchronously via client-side Javascript to the Mixpanel site.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'exvo-metrics'

Then execute:

$ bundle

In your ApplicationController:

def metrics
  @metrics ||= Exvo::Metrics.new(current_user, request)
end

In config/environments/production.rb:

config.middleware.use "Mixpanel::Middleware", ENV['MIXPANEL_API_TOKEN'], { persist: true }

You can also add the above line to any environemnt you want (staging, development, etc.).

Remember to set the ENV['MIXPANEL_API_TOKEN'] as well!

Usage

Add the following tracking code in one of your controllers:

 metrics.track 'Profile update'

You can also pass some custom params, which will be visible in the Mixpanel dashboard:

 metrics.track 'Profile update', Type: 'Normal flow'

If there is a situation, where current_user might be nil (as is the case during sign up process), you can explicitly identify such user after you have a user record created in the database:

 metrics.identify(user)
 metrics.track 'Sign in'

There's also a method to track selected metrics anonymously (without identifying the user at Mixpanel). This is useful to track page views/site visits:

metrics.track_anonymously 'Marketing site visit'

Caveats

Since the actual tracking is happening via client-side javascript calls, there might be a situation, when you track something in the controller, but after that there is a redirect to another website. In such situation the metric might not be recorded properly (it is usually the case with Exvo-Auth and signing in).

If, however, during the same browser session the user visits the app which did the redirect (i.e. Exvo-Auth), the stored event ('Signing in') will be sent to Mixpanel. After browser restart it is lost.

Contributing

Fork it
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
Create new Pull Request