Independent Analytics includes a simple developer API for anyone who wants to access their data outside of the analytics dashboard.

As of now, the API includes two simple functions, as documented below.

iawp_analytics(DateTime $from, DateTime $to)

Gets analytics data from the given date range. Includes views, visitors, and sessions.

Parameters

• $from
  • Type: DateTime
  • Required
  • Description: This is the starting date for your selected date range.
• $to
  • Type: DateTime
  • Required
  • Description: This is the ending date for your selected date range.

Return

Returns an IAWP\Public_API\Analytics object with three properties: views, visitors, and sessions.

IAWP\Public_API\Analytics {
  views: 800,
  visitors: 325,
  sessions: 355
}

Example

Here’s how you would get data from the past three days and output the number of views:

$analytics = iawp_analytics(new DateTime('-3 days'), new DateTime());
echo $analytics->views;

iawp_singular_analytics(int $singular_id, DateTime $from, DateTime $to)

Gets analytics data from the given date range for a specific page. Includes views, visitors, and sessions.

Parameters

• $singular_id
  • Type: int
  • Required
  • Description: This is the ID of the page you want to get stats for.
• $from
  • Type: DateTime
  • Required
  • Description: This is the starting date for your selected date range.
• $to
  • Type: DateTime
  • Required
  • Description: This is the ending date for your selected date range.

Return

Returns an IAWP\Public_API\Singular_Analytics object with the three properties: views, visitors, and sessions.

IAWP\Public_API\Singular_Analytics {
  views: 400,
  visitors: 125,
  sessions: 255
}

Example

Here’s how you would get data from the last seven days for a page with an ID of “60” and output the sessions:

$singular_analytics = iawp_singular_analytics(60, new DateTime('-7 days'), new DateTime());
echo $singular_analytics->sessions;

iawp_top_posts(array $arguments)

This function gets the top posts by view count. It returns each post’s ID, title, views, visitors, and sessions.

Arguments:

• post_type
  • Type: string
  • Optional
  • Default: post
  • Description: The post type you want to fetch, such as post or page.
• category
  • Type: ?int
  • Optional
  • Default: null
  • Description: Choose one category to fetch the posts from.
• limit
  • Type: int
  • Optional
  • Default: 10
  • Description: The maximum number of posts to fetch.
• from
  • Type: DateTime
  • Optional
  • Default: 30 days ago
  • Description: The starting date to check from.
• to
  • Type: DateTime
  • Optional
  • Default: today
  • Description: The ending date to check up to
• sort_by
  • Type: string
  • Optional
  • Default: views
  • Description: acceptable values are views, visitors, or sessions

Return

Returns an array of objects, each representing one post. Each object includes the ID, title, views, visitors, and sessions.

array(2) {
  [0]=>
  object(stdClass)#774 (5) {
    ["id"]=>
    int(1270)
    ["title"]=>
    string(14) "This is a Post"
    ["views"]=>
    int(215)
    ["visitors"]=>
    int(172)
    ["sessions"]=>
    int(186)
  }
  [1]=>
  object(stdClass)#776 (5) {
    ["id"]=>
    int(1272)
    ["title"]=>
    string(17) "Another test post"
    ["views"]=>
    int(199)
    ["visitors"]=>
    int(140)
    ["sessions"]=>
    int(153)
  }
}

Example

Here’s how you could get the top 10 posts in a category with the ID 5, sorted by visitors from the last 30 days. Then, create a simple clickable list from them:

$posts = iawp_top_posts([
	'post_type' => 'posts',
        'category' => 5,
	'limit' => 10, 
	'from' => new DateTime('-30 days'), 
	'to' => new DateTime('now'), 
	'sort_by' => 'visitors'
]);

<div>
  <ul>
    <?php foreach($posts as $post) {
      echo '<li>';
      echo '<a href="'. get_permalink($post->id) .'">'. $post->title .'</a>';
      echo ' ('. $post->views .' Views)';
      echo '</li>';
    } ?>
  </ul>
</div> 

If you’re using Pantheon, you’ll see an error message like this when you first install Independent Analytics:

BladeOne Error [Compiling]:
Unable to save the file [/code/wp-content/plugins/independent-analytics-pro/temp/template-cache/partials.report-header_4f3062d1c7ff949f2bb7ee5fc8c000f4f591cf45.bladec].

This error occurs because Independent Analytics creates a handful of files for caching purposes inside a folder called “temp” in the plugin folder, and this directory is not writable in Pantheon environments.

For this reason, we have provided a filter that will let you modify where the caching files are written. Here’s how it is used:

add_filter('iawp_temp_directory_path', function ($value) {
  return '/code/wp-content/uploads/iawp/';
});

Alternatively, you can define the path using the IAWP_TEMP_DIR constant in your wp-config.php file, like this:

define('IAWP_TEMP_DIR', '/code/wp-content/uploads/iawp/');

Independent Analytics will create two folders named template-cache and device-data-cache inside the target path you provide.

The example above uses the uploads folder because this is writable in Pantheon, but you can choose any directory path you want.

The nature of these cache files is to speed up the analytics dashboard and user device recognition on the front end.