Url is not tracked in server side tracking

Support & Bugs
1

Hello everyone
I’m using Matomo with the C#-Tracker, but without client side code. We want to avoid client side tracking, if it is possible. The requests are tracked, even the unique ID that we give each user is tracked and allows to identify unique visits, but we cannot see which pages the users have visited. This is our (simplified) code:

instance = new PiwikTracker( siteId, TrackingHost );
instance.DisableCookieSupport(); // Only Server Side tracking
var authToken = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["trkToken"];
if (authToken != null)
	instance.SetTokenAuth( authToken );

var page = umbracoHelper.AssignedContentItem;
if (page != null)
{
	instance.SetUrl( page.Url() );  // This code gets executed
}

// anonymous member id
var memberString = Current.Factory.GetInstance<MembershipHelper>().GetCurrentMember()?.Key.ToString();
if (memberString != null)
	instance.SetUserId( HashHelper.CreateSha256( memberString ).Substring( 0, 16 ) );

We made sure that instance.SetUrl(…) is called with the correct values.

Does anyone have an idea that could help me?

Regards
-mm

2

Hi,

I personally don’t know the C#-Tracker, so I can’t help that specifically.

But you could check (either serverside or somehow in the tracker) the request Matomo logs and check if the url parameter is included (https://developer.matomo.org/api-reference/tracking-api)

You could also check out https://developer.matomo.org/api-reference/tracking-api#debugging-the-tracker and look in the matomo.log

3

Hi @Lukas,

thanks a lot for your answer. In the log file I see a lot of requests looking like that:

2021-04-30 20:48:34 127.0.0.1 GET /piwik.php idsite=1&rec=1&apiv=1&r=495447&cip=10.3.10.252&uid=22B65C764F00A73E&token_auth=badbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbad&_idts=1619815714&_idvc=0&_id=043529147a23460b&url=%2fde-de%2fworkspace%2f&urlref=https%3a%2f%2four.domain.de%2fde-de%2fcollaboration%2f 80 - 127.0.0.1 Mozilla/5.0+(Windows+NT+10.0;+Win64;+x64)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/90.0.4430.93+Safari/537.36 - 200 0 0 328

As far as I understand the inner workings of matomo the url and urlref parameters should show, how people navigate in the application.

The url and urlref is the information I’m missing in the reports.

EDIT: In the database in the log_link_visit_action table I see a lot of entries. All of them have the idaction_url and idaction_url_ref values set to 0.

EDIT2: I can see a lot of the Urls in the log_action table. It seems, as if the urls parameters are stored in the log_action table, but the references to these entries are not set.

4

Hi,

Have you tried enabling tracking debugging as linked above and then making the request to piwik.php in the browser again. You should see a verbose log as a response.

5

Hi @Lukas, thanks for your reply. I needed to copy the matomo instance to another machine in order to play around with it. Unfortunately I can’t upload the protocol as a .txt file, so you’ll find the complete protocol at the end of this message. What I found is the message, that the url is invalid:

[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: WARNING: URL looks invalid and is discarded [] {"class":"Actions","request_id":"c5c41"}

As the parameter shows, the url is a local path like that:
/de-de/collaboration/departments/mycity/academy/gruppe/artikeluebersicht/geplante-kooperation-mit-anothercompany-lernen-mit-vr/

Does this mean, I have to provide the urls together with the protocol and domain parts?

Regards Mirko

[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Debug enabled - Input parameters: array ( 'idsite' => '1', 'rec' => '1', 'apiv' => '1', 'r' => '969406', 'cip' => '10.0.32.163', 'uid' => 'EACA07B81FF3A8E5', 'token_auth' => 'badbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbad', '_idts' => '1619800202', '_idvc' => '0', '_id' => '1e89c85fdd8e79bd', 'url' => '/de-de/collaboration/departments/mycity/academy/gruppe/artikeluebersicht/geplante-kooperation-mit-anothercompany-lernen-mit-vr/', 'urlref' => 'https://mysite.mydomain.de/', ) {"params":"array (\n 'idsite' => '1',\n 'rec' => '1',\n 'apiv' => '1',\n 'r' => '969406',\n 'cip' => '10.0.32.163',\n 'uid' => 'EACA07B81FF3A8E5',\n 'token_auth' => 'badbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbad',\n '_idts' => '1619800202',\n '_idvc' => '0',\n '_id' => '1e89c85fdd8e79bd',\n 'url' => '/de-de/collaboration/departments/mycity/academy/gruppe/artikeluebersicht/geplante-kooperation-mit-anothercompany-lernen-mit-vr/',\n 'urlref' => 'https://mysite.mydomain.de/',\n)"} {"class":"Piwik\\Tracker","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Current datetime: 2021-05-04 10:12:07 {"date":"2021-05-04 10:12:07"} {"class":"Piwik\\Tracker","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\CoreHome\Tracker\VisitRequestProcessor::manipulateRequest()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\IntranetMeasurable\Tracker\RequestProcessor::manipulateRequest()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Actions\Tracker\ActionsRequestProcessor::manipulateRequest()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Goals\Tracker\GoalsRequestProcessor::manipulateRequest()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Ecommerce\Tracker\EcommerceRequestProcessor::manipulateRequest()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\SitesManager\Tracker\SitesManagerRequestProcessor::manipulateRequest()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\CustomVariables\Tracker\CustomVariablesRequestProcessor::manipulateRequest()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\PrivacyManager\Tracker\RequestProcessor::manipulateRequest()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Heartbeat\Tracker\PingRequestProcessor::manipulateRequest()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\CoreHome\Tracker\VisitRequestProcessor::processRequestParams()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: token_auth is authenticated! [] {"class":"CoreHome","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: DoNotTrack header not found [] {"class":"PrivacyManager","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Matching visitors with: visitorId=1e89c85fdd8e79bd OR configId=88123e5d93a5ea52 [] {"class":"CoreHome","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: The visitor is known (idvisitor = 1e89c85fdd8e79bd, config_id = 88123e5d93a5ea52, last action = Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000, first action = Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000) [] {"class":"CoreHome","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Visitor detected, but last action was more than 30 minutes ago... [] {"class":"CoreHome","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\IntranetMeasurable\Tracker\RequestProcessor::processRequestParams()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Actions\Tracker\ActionsRequestProcessor::processRequestParams()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: (this is not a Site Search request) [] {"class":"Actions","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: WARNING: URL looks invalid and is discarded [] {"class":"Actions","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Excluding parameters "gclid,fbclid,fb_xd_fragment,fb_comment_id,phpsessid,jsessionid,sessionid,aspsessionid,doing_wp_cron,sid,pk_vid,pk_cpn,pk_campaign,piwik_campaign,utm_campaign,utm_source,utm_medium,pk_kwd,pk_keyword,piwik_kwd,utm_term" from URL [] {"class":"Actions","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: WARNING: URL looks invalid and is discarded [] {"class":"Actions","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Before was "" {"rawActionUrl":false} {"class":"Actions","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: After is "/de-de/collaboration/departments/mycity/academy/gruppe/artikeluebersicht/geplante-kooperation-mit-anothercompany-lernen-mit-vr/" {"url2":"/de-de/collaboration/departments/mycity/academy/gruppe/artikeluebersicht/geplante-kooperation-mit-anothercompany-lernen-mit-vr/"} {"class":"Actions","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Action is a PAGE_URL, Action name = , Action URL = {"type":"PAGE_URL","name":"","url":false} {"class":"Actions","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Goals\Tracker\GoalsRequestProcessor::processRequestParams()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Ecommerce\Tracker\EcommerceRequestProcessor::processRequestParams()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\SitesManager\Tracker\SitesManagerRequestProcessor::processRequestParams()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\CustomVariables\Tracker\CustomVariablesRequestProcessor::processRequestParams()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\PrivacyManager\Tracker\RequestProcessor::processRequestParams()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Heartbeat\Tracker\PingRequestProcessor::processRequestParams()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\CoreHome\Tracker\VisitRequestProcessor::afterRequestProcessed()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Visitor IP (was: 10.0.32.163) has been anonymized: 10.0.0.0 [] {"class":"PrivacyManager","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\IntranetMeasurable\Tracker\RequestProcessor::afterRequestProcessed()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Actions\Tracker\ActionsRequestProcessor::afterRequestProcessed()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Goals\Tracker\GoalsRequestProcessor::afterRequestProcessed()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Ecommerce\Tracker\EcommerceRequestProcessor::afterRequestProcessed()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\SitesManager\Tracker\SitesManagerRequestProcessor::afterRequestProcessed()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\CustomVariables\Tracker\CustomVariablesRequestProcessor::afterRequestProcessed()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\PrivacyManager\Tracker\RequestProcessor::afterRequestProcessed()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Heartbeat\Tracker\PingRequestProcessor::afterRequestProcessed()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: New Visit (IP = 10.0.0.0) [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Following dimensions have been collected from plugins: idsite, user_id, visit_first_action_time, visit_first_action_time, visit_goal_buyer, visit_goal_converted, idvisit, location_ip, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visit_last_action_time, visitor_days_since_first, visitor_days_since_order, config_id, idvisitor, visitor_returning, visitor_count_visits, visit_entry_idaction_name, visit_entry_idaction_url, visit_exit_idaction_name, visit_exit_idaction_url, visit_total_actions, visit_total_interactions, visit_total_searches, , referer_keyword, referer_name, referer_type, referer_url, , location_browser_lang, config_browser_engine, config_browser_name, config_browser_version, config_device_brand, config_device_model, config_device_type, config_os, config_os_version, visit_total_events, visitor_localtime, visitor_localtime, visitor_days_since_last, , , , config_resolution, config_cookie, config_director, config_flash, config_gears, config_java, config_pdf, config_quicktime, config_realplayer, config_silverlight, config_windowsmedia, , visit_total_time, location_city, location_country, location_latitude, location_longitude, location_provider, location_region, location_region [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Excluding parameters "gclid,fbclid,fb_xd_fragment,fb_comment_id,phpsessid,jsessionid,sessionid,aspsessionid,doing_wp_cron,sid,pk_vid,pk_cpn,pk_campaign,piwik_campaign,utm_campaign,utm_source,utm_medium,pk_kwd,pk_keyword,piwik_kwd,utm_term" from URL [] {"class":"Referrers","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Excluding parameters "gclid,fbclid,fb_xd_fragment,fb_comment_id,phpsessid,jsessionid,sessionid,aspsessionid,doing_wp_cron,sid,pk_vid,pk_cpn,pk_campaign,piwik_campaign,utm_campaign,utm_source,utm_medium,pk_kwd,pk_keyword,piwik_kwd,utm_term" from URL [] {"class":"Referrers","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Excluding parameters "gclid,fbclid,fb_xd_fragment,fb_comment_id,phpsessid,jsessionid,sessionid,aspsessionid,doing_wp_cron,sid,pk_vid,pk_cpn,pk_campaign,piwik_campaign,utm_campaign,utm_source,utm_medium,pk_kwd,pk_keyword,piwik_kwd,utm_term" from URL [] {"class":"Referrers","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Excluding parameters "gclid,fbclid,fb_xd_fragment,fb_comment_id,phpsessid,jsessionid,sessionid,aspsessionid,doing_wp_cron,sid,pk_vid,pk_cpn,pk_campaign,piwik_campaign,utm_campaign,utm_source,utm_medium,pk_kwd,pk_keyword,piwik_kwd,utm_term" from URL [] {"class":"Referrers","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: GEO: Found IP 10.0.32.163 location (provider 'default'): array ( 'country_code' => 'de', 'continent_code' => 'eur', 'continent_name' => 'Intl_Continent_eur', 'country_name' => 'Unknown', ) [] {"class":"UserCountry","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: array ( 'idvisitor' => '1e89c85fdd8e79bd', 'config_id' => '88123e5d93a5ea52', 'location_ip' => '10.0.0.0', 'idsite' => 1, 'user_id' => 'EACA07B81FF3A8E5', 'visit_first_action_time' => '2021-05-04 10:12:07', 'visit_goal_buyer' => 0, 'visit_goal_converted' => 0, 'visit_last_action_time' => '2021-05-04 10:12:07', 'visitor_days_since_first' => '3', 'visitor_days_since_order' => 0, 'visitor_returning' => 1, 'visitor_count_visits' => 1, 'visit_entry_idaction_name' => 0, 'visit_entry_idaction_url' => 0, 'visit_exit_idaction_name' => 0, 'visit_exit_idaction_url' => 0, 'visit_total_actions' => 1, 'visit_total_interactions' => 1, 'visit_total_searches' => 0, 'referer_keyword' => NULL, 'referer_name' => 'mysite.mydomain.de', 'referer_type' => 3, 'referer_url' => 'https://mysite.mydomain.de/', 'location_browser_lang' => 'de', 'config_browser_engine' => 'Gecko', 'config_browser_name' => 'FF', 'config_browser_version' => '88.0', 'config_device_brand' => '', 'config_device_model' => 'generic desktop', 'config_device_type' => 0, 'config_os' => 'WIN', 'config_os_version' => '10', 'visit_total_events' => 0, 'visitor_localtime' => '10:12:07', 'visitor_days_since_last' => 0, 'config_resolution' => 'unknown', 'config_cookie' => 0, 'config_director' => 0, 'config_flash' => 0, 'config_gears' => 0, 'config_java' => 0, 'config_pdf' => 0, 'config_quicktime' => 0, 'config_realplayer' => 0, 'config_silverlight' => 0, 'config_windowsmedia' => 0, 'visit_total_time' => 0, 'location_country' => 'de', ) [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\CoreHome\Tracker\VisitRequestProcessor::recordLogs()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\IntranetMeasurable\Tracker\RequestProcessor::recordLogs()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Actions\Tracker\ActionsRequestProcessor::recordLogs()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Inserted new action: array ( 'idvisit' => '176212', 'idsite' => 1, 'idvisitor' => '1e89c85fdd8e79bd', 'idaction_url' => 0, 'idaction_url_ref' => 0, 'idaction_name_ref' => 0, 'server_time' => '2021-05-04 10:12:07', 'idpageview' => '', 'interaction_position' => 1, 'time_spent_ref_action' => 0, 'idaction_name' => 0, 'idlink_va' => '417210', ) {"action":"array (\n 'idvisit' => '176212',\n 'idsite' => 1,\n 'idvisitor' => '1e89c85fdd8e79bd',\n 'idaction_url' => 0,\n 'idaction_url_ref' => 0,\n 'idaction_name_ref' => 0,\n 'server_time' => '2021-05-04 10:12:07',\n 'idpageview' => '',\n 'interaction_position' => 1,\n 'time_spent_ref_action' => 0,\n 'idaction_name' => 0,\n 'idlink_va' => '417210',\n)"} {"class":"Actions","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Goals\Tracker\GoalsRequestProcessor::recordLogs()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Ecommerce\Tracker\EcommerceRequestProcessor::recordLogs()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\SitesManager\Tracker\SitesManagerRequestProcessor::recordLogs()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\CustomVariables\Tracker\CustomVariablesRequestProcessor::recordLogs()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\PrivacyManager\Tracker\RequestProcessor::recordLogs()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Executing Piwik\Plugins\Heartbeat\Tracker\PingRequestProcessor::recordLogs()... [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: -> Scheduled tasks not triggered. [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Next run will be from: 2021-05-04 11:09:06 UTC [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: Nothing to notice => default behaviour [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: End of the page. [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: array ( 'MATOMO_SESSID' => 'gu47s5vmsqjpvfsj0heoa8sn6h', ) [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"} 
[2021-05-04 10:12:07] piwik.DEBUG: [] {"class":"Piwik\\Common","request_id":"c5c41"}