Analytics.js: What does 'auto' argument do on tracking object creation?
google-analytics, javascript, universal-analytics
Solution
Actually when I look in to code it does not pass the name of my property but the standard domain set in the configuration - which makes a lot more sense, since the parameter sets the cookie domain (in case of `"auto"` to the value of `window.location.hostname` to the hostname without subdomains). Alternatively you can pass a configuration object as third parameter (which might contain a cookie domain setting). Try and set a wrong parameter - you'll get a "no storage" error in the analytics debugger since the code cannot set a cookie.
Problem
I've just switched to the new Google Analytics Universal Analytics platform, using the new javascript API - Analytics.js In the first example code snippet from the docs a tracking object is created, then a pageview of the current page is logged using that tracking object. ``` ga('create', 'UA-XXXX-Y', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview'); ``` Notice the `'auto'` argument - I can't work out what that's there for. I had a look at the method reference and it seems that the relevant parameter is optional and should contain configuration key/value pairs. Examples can be found in the field reference. If the parameter is optional it seems odd to pass `'auto'` here unless it does something of significance, so you have to assume it does, but I can't find any mention of this. Also, in the auto generated code in your account it does a similar thing but passes your domain ``` ga('create', 'UA-XXXX-Y', 'mydomain.com'); ``` The fact your domain is specifically passed when they have it available again suggests it does something meaningful - otherwise they'd probably just use `'auto'` here too. But again, there's no mention of why this is done. Am I missing something really obvious?