Javascript

Introduction

The Piano Analytics JavaScript SDK is the most popular way to implement data collection on websites. This lightweight library enables you to track user interactions, page views, conversions, and custom events with minimal setup.

What you'll learn in this guide:

How to load and configure the JavaScript SDK
Different implementation methods
Basic and advanced configuration options
How to send events and track user behavior

Prerequisites:

Basic knowledge of HTML and JavaScript
Access to your Piano Analytics site ID and collection domain
Ability to modify your website's code

attention

"xtor" marketing campaigns syntax will not be recognized anymore. Please use "at_" instead.

Load the library

The first step to use our SDK is to load the JS file. You have two ways to do this:

CDN

We offer delivery of our JS SDK on our CDN. You can choose between different implementation approaches:

Standard implementation (>= 6.16.0)

Our recommended approach combines library loading and configuration in a single, self-contained script:

(function (_config) {
  var script = document.createElement("script");
  script.src = "https://tag.aticdn.net/piano-analytics.js";
  script.async = true;
  script.crossorigin = "anonymous";
  script.dataset.config = JSON.stringify(_config);
  document.head.appendChild(script);
})({
  site: 123456789,
  collectDomain: "https://xxxxxxx.pa-cd.com",
  consentDefaultMode: "opt-in",
});

advantages

Single script: No need to manage separate loading and configuration steps
Asynchronous loading: Non-blocking script execution
Configuration via data attribute: Clean configuration management

note

Replace 123456789 with your site ID and xxxxxxx.pa-cd.com with your collection domain. You can customize any configuration parameters within the _config object.

To use a specific version, replace piano-analytics.js with js-sdk/piano-analytics-<version.number>.js in the script source (>= 6.16.0).

Traditional script tag

You can also load our SDK using traditional HTML script tags:

<script
  type="text/javascript"
  crossorigin="anonymous"
  src="https://tag.aticdn.net/piano-analytics.js"
></script>

Available files

We offer delivery of every version of our JS SDK on our CDN, the file URL follows this pattern: https://tag.aticdn.net/js-sdk/piano-analytics-<version.number>.js.

You can also load the latest version from https://tag.aticdn.net/piano-analytics.js.

Latest version: 6.16.3

Standard implementation:

(function (_config) { 
  var script = document.createElement("script"); 
  script.src = "https://tag.aticdn.net/js-sdk/piano-analytics-6.16.3.js"; 
  script.async = true; 
  script.crossorigin = "anonymous"; 
  script.dataset.config = JSON.stringify(_config); 
  document.head.appendChild(script);
})({ 
  site: 123456789, 
  collectDomain: "https://xxxxxxx.pa-cd.com", 
  consentDefaultMode: "opt-in",
});

Traditional script tag:

<script type="text/javascript" crossorigin="anonymous" src="https://tag.aticdn.net/js-sdk/piano-analytics-6.16.3.js"></script>

You can find a list of all our JS SDK versions available from Github releases page.

Available files

6.16.3

CDN URL:

https://tag.aticdn.net/js-sdk/piano-analytics-6.16.3.js

SHA384 SRI checksum:

integrity="sha384-A97bdkrpKedzwN4jashR/QRCQWukpkoKezGy56rrXLVlgtKCSnba2+eKDPU2XF9t"

Source code:

View on Github

6.16.2

CDN URL:

https://tag.aticdn.net/js-sdk/piano-analytics-6.16.2.js

SHA384 SRI checksum:

integrity="sha384-cVVcQekx/78gr+aaD/HlCCFLQAMEMKdnuwrRFYZeDGB3/L1dzTOx+fW0+47DRsf4"

Source code:

View on Github

6.16.1

CDN URL:

https://tag.aticdn.net/js-sdk/piano-analytics-6.16.1.js

SHA384 SRI checksum:

integrity="sha384-Ycef5N78HX10m2bPKhjHG8lLnb+5cCoy1YqusH/WhSzN6jVkU42+KFagvqc3FWzO"

Source code:

View on Github

View all available files →

attention

Using the latest version file (piano-analytics.js) will lead to automatic SDK versions upgrade. If you need to have control over the version used, please use versioned files instead.

Download

You can also download the file from Github and host it on your own side.

Configuration

In order to setup your tracking, you need to set the configuration of the library.

To do this, we offer two configuration methods depending on what you want to setup.

Basic configuration

pa.setConfiguration(configurationKey, configurationValue);

// or

pa.setConfigurations(configurationObject);

Here is the minimal configuration required:

try {
  // Basic configuration method
  pa.setConfiguration("site", 123456789); // your site id
  pa.setConfiguration("collectDomain", "https://<xxxxxxx>.pa-cd.com"); // your collection domain

  // or bulk configuration (recommended)
  pa.setConfigurations({
    site: 123456789,
    collectDomain: "https://<xxxxxxx>.pa-cd.com",
  });
} catch (error) {
  console.error("Piano Analytics configuration error:", error);
  // Handle configuration failure gracefully
}

note

Don't hesitate to read our collection methods article to find the collection domain that has been assigned to you.

You can also use a custom domain thanks to our CDDC.

Here are the available configurations:

Category	Name	Description	Type	Value	More info
Global	`collectDomain`	Collection domain	`string`	`"https://<xxxxxxx>.pa-cd.com"`	View
Global	`site`	Site id	`int`	`123456789`	View
Global	`path`	Request path	`string`	`"event"`
Global	`addEventURL`	Automatically adds a `event_url_full` property to all events, containing the URL of the current page. Was `page_url` on < 6.10.0	`string`	`"false"`, `"withoutQS"` (default), `"true"`
Global	`sendEmptyProperties`	≥ 6.9.0 Allow sending properties with an empty value (empty string or `undefined`)	`boolean`	`true` (default), `false`
Global	`enableAutomaticPageRefresh`	≥ 6.12.0 Allow the SDK to automatically manage page context refresh	`boolean`	`true` (default), `false`	View
Privacy	`sendEventWhenOptout`	Do you want to send events when optout?	`boolean`	`true` (default), `false`
Campaign	`campaignPrefix`	Choose with an order of priority the type of campaign to be collected	`array`	`["at_"]`	View
Campaign	`enableUTMTracking`	UTM parameters collected as properties	`boolean`	`true` (default), `false`	View
Global	`allowHighEntropyClientHints`	≥ 6.9.0 Allow retrieving of high entropy client hints	`boolean`	`true` (default), `false`	View

SDK configuration

This method is ran asynchronously and override SDK configuration.

You have to define it before SDK's loading.

window._pac = window._pac || {};

<script
  type="text/javascript"
  crossorigin="anonymous"
  src="https://tag.aticdn.net/piano-analytics.js"
></script>;

tip

We recommend setting the configuration within the <head> of your page.

Here an example of what you can configure:

window._pac = window._pac || {};
_pac.cookieDomain = ".mysite.com";
_pac.privacyDefaultMode = "no-consent";

<script
  type="text/javascript"
  crossorigin="anonymous"
  src="https://tag.aticdn.net/piano-analytics.js"
></script>;

These configurations must be set before loading the SDK:

Category	Name	Description	Type	Value	More info
Global	`cookieDomain`	Domain of cookie deposit	`string`	`"mysite.com"` (current domain by default)
Global	`cookieSameSite`	"SameSite" flag in cookies in client-side	`string`	`"lax"` (default), `"none"`, `"strict"`
Global	`cookieSecure`	"Secure" flag in cookies in client-side cookies	`boolean`	`true` (default), `false`
Global	`encodeStorageBase64`	Storage value encode (base64)	`boolean`	`true`, `false` (default)
Global	`queueVarName`	≥ 6.4.0 Variable name used for queuing	`string`	`"_paq"` (default)	View
Global	`globalVarName`	≥ 6.12.0 Variable name used for global instance	`string`	`"pa"` (default)
Privacy	`privacyDefaultMode`	Privacy mode by default	`string`	`"optin"` (default)	View
Privacy	`enableExtendedOptout`	≥ 6.13.0 Enable extended opt-out feature	`boolean`	`false` (default)	View
Storage	`storageLifetimePrivacy`	Lifetime Storage Privacy value	`int`	`395` (days)	View
Storage	`storageLifetimeUser`	Lifetime Storage User value	`int`	`395` (days)	View
Storage	`storageLifetimeVisitor`	Lifetime Storage Visitor value	`int`	`395` (days)	View
Storage	`visitorStorageMode`	Relative or fixed cookie lifetime value for visitor	`string`	`"fixed"` (default), `"relative"`
Visitor Policy	`isVisitorClientSide`	Is cookie deposit client side ? If `false`, server side	`boolean`	`true` (default), `false`

note

All configurations in "Basic configuration" are compatible with "SDK configuration" method.

Asynchronous tagging

The object _paq can be used to push commands in a queue, executed as soon as the tracker is loaded.

Each command is represented by an array pushed to the queue:

_paq.push([command, (... args)]);

The first element of the array represent the tracker's method to call (e.g.: sendEvent, setProperty, setUser...). The following elements are the method's arguments.

Example:

let _paq = window._paq || [];

try {
  _paq.push(["setUser", "ID18859", "Premium user", true]);
  _paq.push(["sendEvent", "page.display", { page: "homepage" }]);
} catch (error) {
  console.error("Piano Analytics error:", error);
}

note

In some cases, you could need to change the name of the variable used for queuing asynchronous calls (e.g.: Matomo conflict). This can be changed thanks to the configuration key queueVarName.

window._pac = window._pac || {};
_pac.queueVarName = '_paqueue'; // set the queue variable name

window._paqueue = window._paqueue || [];
_paqueue.push(['sendEvent', 'page.display', {"page": "homepage", ...}]);

Piano Cross-product integration

Since v6.7.0, PA JS SDK integrates native synchronization with other Piano products SDKs.

This includes automatic retrieving of a common visitor ID, pageview ID, user access and content properties.

SPA

In order to refresh the pageview_id in your SPA, you can call the method pa.refresh() to regenerate the page context.

Automatic page context management

Since version 6.12.0, the SDK automatically refresh the page context when a second page.display event is sent on the same instance (configuration enableAutomaticPageRefresh: true by default).

Only one of both (pa.refresh() or automatic detection) is possible for an implementation. Only the first one encountered on an instance will be available for the lifetime of the instance.

Content properties

Since 6.7.0, the SDK automatically sends content properties from HTML markup. Please check this page for expected markup.

In order to set the content properties, you can either do it through Composer implementation, or through PA SDK:

// set one content property
pa.setContentProperty("type", "article");
// -> content_type = 'article'

// or set multiple properties at once
pa.setContentProperties({
  type: "article",
  publication_date: 1669109350,
});
// -> content_type = 'article'
// -> content_publication_date = 1669109350

note

When using these methods, content_ prefix is automatically added to the property key.

Specification

Piano Analytics Javascript SDKs are based on the sendBeacon browser API. Please refer to the documentation if you want more information.

Content Security Policy (CSP)

Configure your CSP settings:
SDK loading source	CDN Self-hosted
Collection domain

The following directives are needed in the CSP to use this setup:

script-src: 'unsafe-inline' https://tag.aticdn.net
connect-src: https://xxxxxxx.pa-cd.com

Changelog

You can find the Javascript changelog directly on GitHub.

info

If you want to stay updated with our SDK releases, please subscribe to it on Github directly:

subscribe to Github releases

Introduction​

Load the library​

CDN​

Standard implementation (>= 6.16.0)​

Traditional script tag​

Available files​

6.16.3

6.16.2

6.16.1

Download​

Configuration​

Basic configuration​

SDK configuration​

Asynchronous tagging​

Piano Cross-product integration​

SPA​

Automatic page context management​

Content properties​

Specification​

Content Security Policy (CSP)​

Changelog​

Introduction

Load the library

CDN

Standard implementation (>= 6.16.0)

Traditional script tag

Available files

Download

Configuration

Basic configuration

SDK configuration

Asynchronous tagging

Piano Cross-product integration

SPA

Automatic page context management

Content properties

Specification

Content Security Policy (CSP)

Changelog