Losing Google Analytics tracking due to Spring Security login redirect

Question

I have a mailing campaign where all links include google analytics tracking code such as:

http://example.com/account/somePage.html?utm_source=example&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reminder

The context /account/** is protected via Spring security and once the user clicks on the link on the email, he is re-directed to login BEFORE actually seeing somePage.html. This way the first page that is displayed is something like /login.do which does not have the analytics tracking code. Therefore google does not track my source, medium and campaign parameters.

Any ideas how to solve?

Why you want to protect URL pattern /account/** if you want anonymous access? — Michael
With a default configuration, the user should be redirected back to the original URL after logging in, so the parameters should still be there when the page is rendered. — Shaun the Sheep
I do not have control over the login page (it is automatically redirected to via spring). — checklist

checklist checklist · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-13T17:04:52

Based on http://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009614?hl=en , I updated my LoginController that shows the login page to redirect to /login?GOOGLE_PARAMATERS:

private static final String ALREADY_REDIRECTED = "ALREADY_REDIRECTED";
....

@RequestMapping(value = "/login", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public ModelAndView loginView(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response){
....

Boolean alreadyRedirected = (Boolean) request.getSession().getAttribute(ALREADY_REDIRECTED);
    if (alreadyRedirected==null){
        SavedRequest savedRequest = new HttpSessionRequestCache().getRequest(request, response);
        if (savedRequest!=null){
            String source[] = savedRequest.getParameterValues("utm_source");
            if (source!=null && source.length>0){
                // we need to redirect with login instead

                String mediums[] = savedRequest.getParameterValues("utm_medium");
                String medium = mediums.length==0 ? "" : mediums[0];
                String campaigns[] = savedRequest.getParameterValues("utm_campaign");
                String campaign = campaigns.length==0 ? "" : campaigns[0];

                String redirect = "redirect:/login?utm_source=" + source[0] +  "&utm_medium=" + medium + "&utm_campaign=" + campaign;
                mav.setViewName(redirect);

                // mark not to do twice
                request.getSession().setAttribute(ALREADY_REDIRECTED, new Boolean(true));
                return mav;
            }
        }
    }

Losing Google Analytics tracking due to Spring Security login redirect

2 Answers