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. To post to this group, send email to adwords-api@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to adwords-api+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/adwords-api?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AdWords API Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to adwords-api+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/adwords-api. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/adwords-api/870a4a47-3ba7-460b-9a19-431be5646dca%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
