Hi Oliver, You mentioned the following earlier:
We believe path1 and path2 used to be blank until early last week. The " > --" is something we started seeing only last week as our parsing code broke > for exactly this reason. Would you mind sharing the AdGroupId <https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/appendix/reports/ad-performance-report#adgroupid> and Id <https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/appendix/reports/ad-performance-report#id> for the rows where you suddenly started getting " --" instead of empty string? I'd like to look into those particular ads. Cheers, Josh, AdWords API Team On Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 8:42:13 AM UTC-4, Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team) wrote: > > Hi, > > Thanks for the additional details. I'm following up with the reporting > team specifically on the change in how nulls are represented in reports and > will get back to you as soon as I have more information. > > Best regards, > Josh, AdWords API Team > > On Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 7:36:31 AM UTC-4, Zweitze wrote: >> >> I noticed this too - see this related thread >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msg/adwords-api/G2huYDb7_Tc/3ObsQNPNAQAJ> >> where I ask for more documentation on report fields. >> >> A few thoughts: >> 1. We download XML, the null value is represented as "--" >> 2. I agree with Oliver, this null value was introduced recently for these >> fields, before we got an empty value. As far as I know such a change was >> not announced. >> 3. As Josh states, I cannot think why anyone would enter this value for >> these fields, but then again, our software downloads reports managed by >> others. And they do many things I cannot think of. >> >> >> On Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 9:22:42 PM UTC+2, Dorian Kind wrote: >>> >>> Hi Josh, >>> >>> no, as I mentioned I don't think that's a very likely scenario, and we >>> have already adapted our parsing/validation logic. >>> >>> I was just a bit surprised by the fact that there are two different >>> representations of the "Not set" value for attributes, i.e. some like >>> CreativeDestinationUrl returning an empty string and others like Path1 >>> returning " --" and wondered whether that was by design. >>> >>> Thanks for your feedback and best regards, >>> Dorian >>> >>> On Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 6:37:17 PM UTC+2, Josh Radcliff >>> (AdWords API Team) wrote: >>>> >>>> Hi Oliver, Dorian, >>>> >>>> Can either of you think of a valid reason why a user would *want* "--" >>>> as *path1* or *path2*? If not, then perhaps the solution here is to >>>> simply change the validation of those fields to prevent that value. >>>> >>>> Thanks, >>>> Josh, AdWords API Team >>>> >>>> On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 7:40:42 AM UTC-4, Oliver wrote: >>>>> >>>>> We believe path1 and path2 used to be blank until early last week. >>>>> The " --" is something we started seeing only last week as our parsing >>>>> code broke for exactly this reason. >>>>> >>>>> Oliver >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 10:41:45 AM UTC+1, Dorian Kind wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi Anash, >>>>>> >>>>>> thanks for your response. Just as an addendum, there are already >>>>>> fields that are formatted as empty in CSV reports (meaning just two >>>>>> commas >>>>>> in a row) when they are not set—"CreativeDestinationUrl" is an example. >>>>>> So >>>>>> there seems to be a certain inconsistency. >>>>>> >>>>>> Best regards, >>>>>> Dorian >>>>>> >>>>>> On Monday, October 17, 2016 at 9:22:00 PM UTC+2, Anash P. Oommen >>>>>> (AdWords API Team) wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Hi Dorian, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Thanks for reporting, I'll ask the reporting team to take a look. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Cheers, >>>>>>> Anash P. Oommen, >>>>>>> AdWords API Advisor. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Monday, October 17, 2016 at 12:51:38 PM UTC-4, Dorian Kind wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Hi, >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I just noticed that with ETAs, the path1 and path2 fields are >>>>>>>> optional—you can create an ad without either of these two fields set. >>>>>>>> This >>>>>>>> is in contrast to the previously used text ads, where every field is >>>>>>>> required. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> This has an interesting effect, as the CSV reports show unset path >>>>>>>> fields as " --" (a space and two hyphens)—but you can also set either >>>>>>>> path >>>>>>>> field to consist of two hyphens, which also causes the field in the >>>>>>>> report >>>>>>>> to show a space and two hyphens. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> This means that theoretically, you can't tell from a CSV report >>>>>>>> whether a path field of an expanded text ad is really empty or has >>>>>>>> been set >>>>>>>> as "--". Here's an actual CSV report from a test account: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Path 1,Path 2,Headline 1,Headline 2,Description >>>>>>>> --, --,Headline 1,Headline 2,Empty path fields. >>>>>>>> --, --,Headline 1,Headline 2,"Path fields set to ""--""." >>>>>>>> Total, --, --, --, -- >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Now I freely admit that this is a contrived scenario, but I wonder >>>>>>>> whether it would be possible to leave the field empty instead of using >>>>>>>> " >>>>>>>> --". >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Seeing as " --" usually means "Not applicable" in the CSV reports >>>>>>>> (it's mainly used if a metric doesn't have a meaningful aggregate in >>>>>>>> the >>>>>>>> totals line, for example), I feel a clear distinction would be helpful. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Any thoughts on this matter? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Best regards, >>>>>>>> Dorian >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- -- =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~ Also find us on our blog and Google+: https://googleadsdeveloper.blogspot.com/ https://plus.google.com/+GoogleAdsDevelopers/posts =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AdWords API Forum" group. 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