Debugging Google Analytics code (II): A Tutorial Video on Fiddler’s Inspector and AutoResponder functions

February 7, 2012 by Lukas Oldenburg 1 Comment

Fiddler is a tool that many web developers are common with. It is my favourite tool for debugging existing tracking code and testing new code. This video shows two useful functions for this purpose: Inspectors and the AutoResponder.

Fiddler is a free Web debugging tool. You can download it at fiddler2.com. Fiddler logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the internet. That means you can view just about everything that is exchanged in the background while you’re browsing the web.

What makes Fiddler so great

Apart from the functions shown in the video below, I love Fiddler because of at least one more reason: It is not dependent on any browser. Tools like Firebug, Chrome’s Web Developer Tools or the Chrome Extension “Google Analytics Debugger” (see the first article on how to use these tools) all just work within one or the other browser. But Web Analytics code is usually JavaScript code. And JavaScript works differently from browser to browser. That does not mean that Fiddler should be seen an alternative to Firebug. Both tools have their purposes and go very well together.

The following video shows how to use Fiddler for Web Analytics purposes. You will learn:

How to test existing code with Fiddler’s “Inspectors” feature. The use case will be the test whether a click on an application button really triggers the desired Virtual Pageview call
How to try out new or different tracking code without having to upload anything to your server (no IT needed!).

About Lukas Oldenburg

Lukas Oldenburg is a Digital Analytics Specialist with 12 years of experience in the field and works as a freelancer in Switzerland and Germany.

Before deciding to start his own business, he was the Head of Analytics & BI at siroop, an ecommerce online startup in Zurich, Switzerland, founded by Swisscom (Swiss Telecom) and the large Swiss retailer coop. Earlier, Lukas was a Senior Consultant for Digital Analytics at Unic, one of the largest Swiss-based E-Business specialists.

From 2006 to 2012, Lukas worked as an editor-in-chief and webmaster for e-fellows.net, the German career network, online scholarship and recruiting company owned by McKinsey & Co. and DIE ZEIT.

He has planned and rolled out several complex data setups, using mostly Tealium, Google Tag Manager, and Adobe DTM as the Tag Management System and Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics and Webtrends as the Analytics tools. His experience goes beyond Web Analytics and Tag Management however, having been the driving force behind several Business Intelligence initiatives as well.

Lukas originally hails from the Black Forest in South West Germany and graduated in Cultural Sciences from the European University Viadrina in “the other” Frankfurt on the German-Polish border. He loves languages, speaking seven. In his freetime, he plays the piano and follows NBA basketball.

Find Lukas on Twitter or LinkedIn. Read Lukas’ Latest Articles.

Comments

Brian says
August 17, 2012 at 11:49 am

Thank you for this!

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