Adobe DTM Pass Unix Timestamp to eVar

Question

I'd like to pass the Unix timestamp to a hit level eVar in DTM. I would assume I could pass some Javascript like this:

function() {
  var now = new Date();
  return now.getTime();
}

However, I am not sure where to pass it in DTM. Would this be passed in the "Customize Page Code" editor in the Tool Settings or somewhere else?

Answer 1

You can create a Data Element of type Custom Code. Name it something like current_timestamp or whatever. The code should not be wrapped in the function declaration syntax (DTM already wraps it in a function callback internally). So just put the following in the code box:

var now = new Date();
return now.getTime();

Then in your Adobe Analytics Tool Config (for global variables), or within a Page Load, Event Based, or Direct Call Rule, within the Adobe Analytics Config section. choose which eVar you want to set, and for the value, put %current_timestamp% (or whatever you named it, using % at start/end of it. You should see it show up in a dropdown as you start typing % in the value field).

Alternatively, if you want to assign the eVar in a custom code box in one of those locations, you can use the following javascript syntax e.g (assume eVar1 in example).

s.eVar1 = _satellite.getVar('current_timestamp');

Note that with this syntax, you do not wrap the data element name with %

One last note. This is client-side code, so the timestamp will be based on the user's browser's timezone settings. So for example, a visitor from the US and another visitor from China both visiting a page physically at the same time (server request at the same time), will show two different timestamps because they are in two different timezones.

This makes for some misleading data in reports, so make sure you break it down by other geo based dimensions, or do some extra math in your Data Element to convert the timestamp to a single timezone (e.g. convert it to EST). In practice, most people will pick whatever timezone their office is located in, or else what their server's timezone is set to.