Google Analytics API createProperty() missing array args

Question

I am working with the Google Cloud PHP API. I am hooked up and everything works great when pulling admin info like accounts and properties.

I am trying to create a basic property within an account using the API. I am running across either a bug, or I am missing something glaring. The example I am using is HERE and this is the code I am attempting to use:

function createNewProperty($accountName){
    echo "Account Name: $accountName \n\n"; // accounts/123456789

    $client = new AnalyticsAdminServiceClient();

    echo "Create Property \n\n";

    $property = ( new Property() )
        ->setDisplayName("Zaks Test GA4 Property")
        ->setTimeZone('America/Chicago');

    try {
        $createdProperty = $client->createProperty($accountName, $property);
        echo 'Property created: ' . "\n"; // . $createdProperty->getName();
        print_r( $createdProperty );
    } catch (\Exception $e) {
        echo 'An error occurred: ' . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
    }
}

And I call it simply by:

 $createAccountName = 'accounts/123456789';
 createNewProperty($createAccountName);

I feel I am following the EXAMPLE verbatim. But I get:

Account Name: accounts/123456789

Create Property

PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught TypeError: Google\Analytics\Admin\V1alpha\Gapic\AnalyticsAdminServiceGapicClient::createProperty(): Argument #2 ($optionalArgs) must be of type array, Google\Analytics\Admin\V1alpha\Property given, called in /var/www/GA/GA4/test.php on line 75 and defined in /var/www/GA/GA4/vendor/google/analytics-admin/src/V1alpha/Gapic/AnalyticsAdminServiceGapicClient.php:2618
Stack trace:
#0 /var/www/GA/GA4/test.php(75): Google\Analytics\Admin\V1alpha\Gapic\AnalyticsAdminServiceGapicClient->createProperty()
#1 /var/www/GA/GA4/test.php(32): createNewProperty()
#2 {main}
  thrown in /var/www/GA/GA4/vendor/google/analytics-admin/src/V1alpha/Gapic/AnalyticsAdminServiceGapicClient.php on line 2618

Obviously this part:

Argument #2 ($optionalArgs) must be of type array, Google\Analytics\Admin\V1alpha\Property given

is the $property argument that I am passing through to the function $client->createProperty($accountName, $property);

I have also seen it done this way:

$property = new Property([
    'display_name' => 'Zaks Test GA4 Property',
    'time_zone' => 'America/Chicago'
]);

So me being me .. I am like hmm .. Arg #2 needs to be an array. OK I'll make it an array. I do the following:

$property = [
    'display_name' => 'Zaks Test GA4 Property',
    'time_zone' => 'America/Chicago'
];

But I get a different error.

An error occurred: Expect Google\Analytics\Admin\V1alpha\Property.

Which is it? Is argument #2 supposed to be an array? Or is it supposed to be a Google/.../Property?

Is this a bug in the API or am I doing something wrong?

Answer 1

I think the issue you are having is that there are two versions of this api, the documentation is mainly focused on the beta version.

Try using the beta version instead of the alpha

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Google\Analytics\Admin\V1beta\AnalyticsAdminServiceClient;

$service_account_key_file_path = "C:\Development\FreeLance\GoogleSamples\Credentials/ServiceAccountCred.json";

$client = new AnalyticsAdminServiceClient([
        'credentials' => $service_account_key_file_path
    ]);

$accounts = $client->listAccounts();

foreach ($accounts as $account) {
    print 'Found account: ' . $account->getName() . ' '. $account->getDisplayName() . PHP_EOL;
}

$property = ( new \Google\Analytics\Admin\V1beta\Property() )
    ->setDisplayName("Test property")
    ->setTimeZone('Europe/Copenhagen')
    ->setParent('accounts/[REDACTED]');

try {
    $createdProperty = $client->createProperty($property);
    echo 'Property created: ' . "\n"; // . $createdProperty->getName();
    print_r( $createdProperty );
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    echo 'An error occurred: ' . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
}

creating Google Analytics properties using PHP