Bug: API Registration Process

Yesterday we identified a bug in the AdWords API registration process that is preventing some developers from successfully entering their billing information and accepting/rejecting the Terms and Conditions. We have identified the issue and hope to have a fix in place in the next few days.

Please note that this bug only affects the “billing information” stage of the registration process. Therefore, all users are still able to complete the “developer and application information” stage of the process.

In the meantime, if you need to review the new Terms and Conditions, you can find a temporary copy available at http://www.google.com/apis/adwords/terms_preview.html.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause you, and we will notify you as soon as this bug is fixed.

-- Jon Diorio, Sr. Product Marketing Manager

Bug: API Sandbox

Yesterday we identified a bug in the AdWords API sandbox that results in requests returning error code 131. We are working on a fix now. In the meantime, we would like to recommend a work-around.

Developers can still work with the sandbox by using the older V4 request headers. Specifically, developers should use “token” instead of “developerToken,” and they should not include “applicationToken” in their headers.

Thank you for your patience, and we will let you know as soon as this bug is resolved.

-- Jon Diorio, Sr. Product Marketing Manager

IMPORTANT: API Registration Process Now Available

We’d like to update you on our April 11 announcement about the AdWords API Beta Program revisions.

Today we opened the new registration process that supports the AdWords API Beta program revisions we plan to launch on October 1, 2006. All AdWords API token-holders will need to register by September 15 to ensure that their developer tokens are not temporarily disabled when the program revisions are rolled out on October 1, 2006.

During the registration process you will be asked to complete three steps: review and accept the new AdWords API Terms and Conditions, enter your billing information, and apply for an Application Token. More information is available from within the registration wizard.

Registration Instructions:

• Log in to your My Client Center (the one your Developer Token is associated with)
• Access the AdWords API Center page (under the “My Account” tab)
• Follow the instructions highlighted in the yellow box
• Be sure to complete both the “billing preferences” and “developer and application information” steps

Given the size of our third-party developer ecosystem, we need several days to review and process all of your data. Therefore, we strongly urge you to complete this registration process by September 15. If you miss this registration deadline, we may need to temporarily disable your Developer Token (starting 10/1) until we’ve had an opportunity to fully review and process your registration data.

Finally, if you encounter problems during this registration process, you can submit technical support questions to api-migration-help@google.com.

Thank you again for your support of the AdWords API.

-- Rohit Dhawan, Product Manager

UPDATE as of 9/27/2006

Based on your feedback, we understand that end of quarter processes have made it difficult for some of you to meet the September 15 registration deadline. Therefore, we are extending our deadlines by a few weeks to give you more time to complete the registration and migration process and implement your new Application Tokens. For more specifics, please read our post entitled “Deadline for Registration and Billing Extended.”

API Version 5 (V5) Now Available

We are happy to announce the release of the AdWords API Version 5.

Version 5 (V5) introduces four major changes to the AdWords API: improved error reporting, the removal of KeywordService, support for hourly reporting and a new getAccountInfo method. This announcement highlights only the major components of the V5 release. Complete details of all changes are available in our Release Notes.

Improved Error Reporting for Multiple Errors

Based on your feedback, we’ve made some improvements to our error reporting in order to provide greater system clarity and minimize quota impact associated with list operation errors. As you will see in the Release Notes, there are two significant changes:

• First, we will return all errors detected during an operation (not just the first one encountered). Please note that the behavior of list operations does not change: if there is at least one error, no transaction is performed.
• Second, we will only charge quota for a number of operations equal to the number of errors (previously you were charged for a number of operations equal to the size of the request). For example if you submit 100 creatives, 3 of them failing validation, you will make a first call, which will return 3 errors, for a cost of 3 x 250 (instead of 100 x 250 in the old system), then a second call with only the 97 creatives that work for a cost of 97 x 250. This makes it desirable to use the List operations (enjoy better throughput), without incurring the quota penalty that the previous semantics generated.

Removal of KeywordService

As announced in our September 20 and April 13 postings, we have removed KeywordService from V5. Therefore, all API applications will need to switch over from KeywordService to CriterionService by October 29, 2006.

Hourly Reporting

We have exposed the hourly reporting functionality currently available in the AdWords web interface (adwords.google.com). Hourly reports provide data about account or campaign performance on an hourly basis across one or more days. You can find more information about hourly reporting at https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=40037.

New getAccountInfo Method

We have added a new getAccountInfo method to AccountService. Requesting getAccountInfo will return multiple pieces of account information in a single AccountInfo object, including customer ID (a field not previously accessible via AccountService).

V4 SUNSET IN OCTOBER

Per our versioning policy, V4 will be supported for two months from today, at which time it will be turned off. Therefore, please make sure that you upgrade to V5 before October 29, 2006.

As with every new version, we strongly urge you to review the Release Notes section of the Developer’s Guide as this posting only covers the major additions to this release.

-- Jon Diorio, Sr. Product Marketing Manager

Updated as of Oct 26, 2006
We are going to move the V4 sunset date from October 29 to October 30, since the 29th is a Sunday.

System Maintenance - August 26

We will be performing routine AdWords system maintenance from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT on Saturday, August 26, 2006. While all AdWords advertisements will continue to run as normal, you may not be able to perform any API operations during this maintenance period.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

--Rohit Dhawan, Product Manager

APIlitAx 1.0.1 Released: AJAX GUI for AdWords

We are pleased to announce that APIlitAx v1.0.1, an open source AJAX GUI for AdWords, is now available for download.

Version 1.0.1 includes many new modifications including:

• a more compact UI design, more consistent icon layout,
• a WYSIWYG creative editor,
• better support for Javascript multi-window interface,
• support for creative exemption requests, and
• better support for many browsers including MSIE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Konqueror, and Camino on the Linux, Windows and Mac platforms.
• support for the AdWords API sandbox.

APIlitAx is an open source project founded by AdWords API Specialist Thomas Steiner. As with all open source projects, we encourage any and all developers to submit external contributions. For more information, or to learn how to contribute to APIlitAx, please visit http://sourceforge.net/projects/apilitax.

-- Jon Diorio, Sr. Product Marketing Manager

Correction: New Terms & Conditions

We recently identified and corrected an error on our new Terms and Conditions preview page. While there are still a few more weeks before these new Terms and Conditions go into effect, we wanted to let you all know about the correction as early as possible.

Specifically, we made one edit to section III 2a. We marked up the edits directly on the document so you can see what has changed.

-- Rohit Dhawan, Product Manager

The API Sandbox has Arrived!

We are very happy to announce the general availability of our new AdWords API Sandbox. The AdWords API Sandbox is an environment that replicates the API of our production system, for developing, testing and debugging applications that use the API. Most importantly, operations performed in the Sandbox do not consume quota points.

For your reference, we have created a new “Sandbox” section of the AdWords API Developer’s Guide. You can find this page at http://www.google.com/apis/adwords/developer/adwords_api_sandbox.html.

We hope you find value in this new service, and we’ll be watching the Forum closely for your feedback.

-- Rohit Dhawan, Product Manager