Why is a module needed for google analytics?

I am trying to integrate google analytics into my zen cart e shop and I saw a couple of articles pointing towards a module to do this. Why do I need a module to do this? Will not pasting the analytics code into templates/common/html_header.php work?

Of course it will!

I would rather insert it at the tpl_main_page.php
before the ending body tag. I found that it's more VALID (xhtml, html, html5) and a lot faster
(if you cant get it validated, you're doing something wrong)

eVelt, thanks for that. Was just curious to know whether the modules provide some additional benefits that I did not know of.

Regarding adding it before the end of body tag, there is a small possibility that you might loose some analytics if the user clicks on the page too soon(before it loads completely) and lands up in another page.

Using an addon potentially lets you implement it without having to touch any existing files. Thus making upgrades easier later.

Thanks for the reply DrByte. The add on seemed to be a bit heavy with SQL patch and all. So, was just pondering if it did something more than just analytics.

If I remember correctly, it does those extra things in an effort to let you enter your GA account number via your Admin control panel, instead of having to edit any PHP files to store it someplace. It likely does some other things too.

Hmm...will check it out. Thanks for your help DrByte.

Hi,

If you just want to use Google Analytics tracking without doing any ecommerce tracking then it is easy to set up in Zen Cart without using an add-on. I've written some instructions for doing that...
zen-unlocked.com/2010/07/setting-up-google-analytics-with-zen-cart/

Regards,
Christian.

CJPinder, just follow your instructions, but there is no file called jscript in my template folder, I put it in template_default/jscript, where there is only one file "readme", is-it ok ?

Thanks for your help,
Nicolas.

Hi,

niko62:

CJPinder, just follow your instructions, but there is no file called jscript in my template folder, I put it in template_default/jscript, where there is only one file "readme", is-it ok ?
It is best not to place custom files in your template_default directory. Just create a folder called jscript in your template directory and then put the file in there.

Regards,
Christian.