Docs Grow Ears: Google Feedback now in Google Ads Developer Documentation

If you've recently visited any of the Google Ads Developer documentation, you may have noticed a "Feedback on this document" link at the top right corner of a page. That's right—you can now use that link to report errors, comment on existing content, or request further clarification for any of the Google Ads Developer docs:

• Google AdMob Ads SDK


• AdSense APIs


• AdWords API


• DoubleClick Ad Exchange APIs


• DoubleClick for Advertisers API


• DoubleClick for Publishers API


• Interactive Media Ads SDK

In addition to this new channel, you can continue to reach out to us through the developer forums or Google Developers Live events.

Quang Nguyen, Ads Developer Relations Team

OAuth in Ads APIs

Authorization is an important concern when writing software that interacts with Google’s Ads APIs. We’ve recently improved our documentation and published resources documenting how to use OAuth2 with many of our Ads APIs.



OAuth2 is an authorization flow that allows you to direct a user to a specially crafted Google URL where they grant permissions to your software to make changes to their account. With an authorized access token, you can make requests to Ads APIs on the user’s behalf. Benefits include:

• Users don’t need to provide a username and password - they just log into Google.


• No CAPTCHA challenges.


• Limited scope - the user will only be prompted to grant access to a specific part of their account. For example, they could grant access to AdWords without the application being able to see their email or calendar.

OAuth2 is supported by:

• AdWords API


• DoubleClick for Advertisers Reporting API


• DoubleClick for Advertisers Trafficking API


• AdSense Host API (v4)


• AdSense Management API


• DoubleClick for Publishers API


• DoubleClick Ad Exchange Buyer REST API

The Ads API client libraries supported by Google have built-in support for OAuth2. We’ve included examples demonstrating how to use this feature in all client libraries. See your respective product and language product sites for more information on OAuth2.



We’re also hosting a Google Developers Live event covering how to use OAuth2 on August 23rd. This will be recorded if you can’t make it. If you have any questions about OAuth2, please post on the respective product API forums.

 - Kevin Winter, AdWords API Team

Introducing the new Ads Developers Google+ Page

Today we are excited to introduce a new channel for communication - Ads Developers Google+ Page. It's a place to stay informed, engaged and connected on Ads products and developer tools.

Add our Google+ page to your circles for the latest product and feature announcements, best practices, case studies, as well as opportunities to interact with and learn from Google's Ads Developer Relations team and other members of the developer community.

We look forward to having one place to bring timely updates, concise announcements, and to share information in multimedia formats across all Ads products, as well as to listen and respond to your comments.

 - Danial Klimkin, Ads Developer Relations Team.

New Developments for the DFA API

We have some exciting changes and important announcements for the DoubleClick for Advertisers community as we begin to improve our overall approach to APIs for the product. This is just the first of many improvements that will come over the next several quarters.



DFA API v1.19 - Security at the Forefront


The newest release of the DFA API, v1.19, is now available. This release brings two major security enhancements. SSL encryption, a feature we originally slated for v1.18, is now mandatory on all API requests. This is in line with a Google-wide effort to leverage HTTPS connections for greater security.



Secondly, this release of the DFA API supports OAuth2 authentication in addition to the API passwords tied to your DFA user profiles. We recommend using this new approach. In time, we plan to phase out the profile-specific passwords in favor of making OAuth2 the single, standard way to authenticate against our API. Please see our documentation for more information on how OAuth2 is integrated with the DFA API and reference our client libraries, all of which will soon be updated with examples of using OAuth2 instead of an API password.



Our release notes page has been updated with complete notes on v1.19.



DFA Reporting Gets an API


Less than a year ago, we announced the availability of the new DFA Reporting system. This new system offers the power, flexibility and data access required to keep up with today’s always-connected, multi-device consumer. Compared to Report Central, data in the new DFA Reporting system is fresher, can be segmented by the hour, and includes a host of new features including geographic reporting for all ads. Today, we are pleased to launch an API for the new DFA Reporting system.



The DFA Reporting API is a language-neutral REST API that offers programmatic access to the same reports as can be generated through the DFA Reporting user interface. Along with improved speed and performance, the new API will allow you to create, edit, and schedule Standard reports. We will continue to launch additional features to the new DFA Reporting API over the next few months. Support for this API has been added to the Google APIs Client Libraries. The Java library currently has the most complete example set.



Version Enforcement on the Java DART API


The Java DART API, long the bread and butter of integrating with our ReportCentral service, has a large range of versions currently in use. We are going to begin enforcing a minimum version requirement on this API on November 3rd, 2012. At this time, clients will be must be using one of the newest versions of the Java DART API -- version 13.4, version 13.6, or version 13.8. We recommend you take the opportunity to consider the new DFA Reporting API. Come enjoy the benefits of its newer technology.



Changes to Our Deprecation Policy


This past April, Google announced changes to the deprecation policies surrounding our APIs to help keep our products moving and innovating quickly. DFA is joining this overall Google effort. As such, as of November 3rd, 2012, DFA will remove the depreciation policy for all of our APIs.



The removal of the deprecation policy doesn't mean we have changed the way we think about our APIs. As signaled by the launch of the new DFA Reporting API, we are more committed than ever to offering stable and relevant APIs to our developer community. We will continue to work very hard to communicate any changes to our APIs well in advance, regardless of the APIs' deprecation policy. Our commitment to our clients and to the API remains unchanged.



Until November 3,2012 we will continue the deprecation policy we currently have in place. With the the release of v1.19, version v1.17 is now deprecated. Version v1.17 will continue to be supported until September 8th, 2012, when it will be entirely removed from service, as previously announced. Meanwhile, version v1.18 will be deprecated in November and sunset in early December, 2012.



As always, we highly value your feedback and questions. Please join us on our forumwhenever you’d like to reach us.




- Joseph DiLallo, the DFA API Team