Custom Errors

Experience Monitoring has tools to capture API errors or unmanaged JS errors. E.g. Technical errors which were not expected to happen.

However there are many other errors (some expected) which can lead to messages being displayed to users. E.g. “Oops, This product is out of stock” or "This is not a valid zip code’.

Custom Errors enables you to collect and rank by business impact, any handled error message that happens during the user’s experience so you can better understand which fixes to prioritize first.

What are Custom Errors

Custom errors collect any text displayed on the user’s screen E.g. Text message in banners and pop ups or in a form field based on a user action. 

Example of a form validation error:

You can also use Custom Errors to collect errors that are not visible to users.

Custom errors contain the following information:

How to collect Custom Errors

A maximum of 20 custom errors can be collected per pageview (this limit includes console messages).

Step One: Function Implementation

You need to implement a function directly in the code of the web page to be able to collect custom errors. The function should be triggered whenever the to-be-collected text is displayed on the screen. 

Static Example: Collecting a specific text string (You will need to implement this function for each specific text string you want to collect).

window._uxa.push(["trackError","140000 is not a valid postcode"])

Dynamic Example: Collecting a generic string (You can use this option so you don't have to set up a different snippet for every single error string).

window._uxa.push([
"trackError",
document.querySelector("div[class='newMessagesInfo newError']").textContent,
])

The Tracking Tag will use the trackError command and route the data to the /custom-errors endpoint.

You can use the trackError command with attributes and we recommend specifying attributes so the error can be categorized.

Example of a trackError command with attributes:

window._uxa.push(["trackError", "140000 is not a valid postal code", 
{type: "formValidation", severity:"minor", language: "english"}])

Step two: Set up optional attributes

The attribute is a javascript object in the form 'key':'value'.

Note: The 'Key' is only to be used for categorization, and 'Value' is the exact category name.

Below is an example of an attributes object:

{type: "formValidation",
severity: "minor",
language: "english"
}

Limitations of the attributes object include:

• The number of properties (aka number of attributes) is limited to 5
• Max key length: 30 characters
• Max value length: 30 characters

Examples of custom errors and naming best practices

Please find examples of potential custom errors and recommended naming conventions, for implementation of custom errors, per use case. 

To be able to filter and prioritize custom errors easily, it is highly recommended that you use our guide to using attributes to specify the error message. 

Note: The 'Key' is only to be used for categorization, and 'Value' is the exact category name.

{type: formValidation}

{type: formSubmitFail}

{language: english}

{type: formValidation}

{language: english}

{type: formValidation}

{language: english}

{type: formValidation}

{language: english}

{type: timeout}

{language: english}

{type: formValidation}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textError}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textError}

{language: english},

{severity: critical}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textError}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textError}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textError}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textError}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textError}

{language: english}

{type: httpError}

{language: english}

{errorStatus: 404}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: caughtError}

{language: english}

{type: textError}

{language: english}

{type: textInfo}

{language: english}

{type: textError}

{language: english}

FAQs

1. Can custom errors be collected retrospectively?

No custom errors cannot be collected retrospectively.

2. Do I need to add attributes when setting up custom errors?

Attributes are optional but we strongly advise that you specify attributes so the error can be categorized.