Implementing GA4 Event Tracking in Java on Google App Engine

Question

I have a requirement to trigger a Google Analytics event from a backend that runs on Google App Engine using Java 8. I attempted the approach mentioned in the official documentation, specifically the one found here: https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/legacy/standard/java/google-analytics but unfortunately, it did not yield the desired results.

It appears that the method outlined in the documentation is intended for Universal Analytics (UA) tracking IDs, while I am using a Google Analytics 4 (GA4) tracking ID. In my search for a solution, I came across a resource intended for Firebase, which is not quite applicable to my situation: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/protocol/ga4/validating-events

Please provide guidance or suggestions on how to successfully trigger Google Analytics events from a Java 8 backend on Google App Engine, specifically for a GA4 tracking ID.

Answer 1

The issue I encountered while using the code from the provided link - https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/legacy/standard/java/google-analytics - was that the URL used for pushing events was outdated. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the URL has been updated. I can now utilize the API key and measurement ID for this purpose. After testing the following code, I found that it meets my requirements for pushing events successfully.

public class TrackAnalytics {
  final String API_KEY = "{YOUR_API_KEY}";
  final String GA_ID = "{YOUR_MEASUREMENT_ID}";
  public void triggerGAEvent() {
    String url = "https://www.google-analytics.com/mp/collect?api_secret=" + API_KEY + "&measurement_id=" + GA_ID;
    
    Map<String, String> params = new HashMap<>();
    params.put("{EVENT_PARAM_KEY_1}", "EVENT_PARAM_VALUE_1");
    params.put("{EVENT_PARAM_KEY_2}", "EVENT_PARAM_VALUE_2");

    Map<String, Object> event = new HashMap<>();
    event.put("name", "{EVENT_NAME}");
    event.put("params", params);
    
    List<Map<String, Object>> events = new ArrayList<>();
    events.add(event);
    
    Map<String, Object> payload = new HashMap<>();
    payload.put("client_id", UUID.randomUUID()); //Can be user session id
    payload.put("non_personalized_ads", false);
    payload.put("events", events);

    // Use HttpURLConnection
    // Method: POST
    // content-type: application/json
    // Body: Payload

 }
}