Regression in Google AdWords API V11 - DefinedReportJob Fault

[Kerri]

Hi there:

We recently upgraded from V10 to V11 of the AdWords API and in the
process, updated our code to use the new DefinedReportJob API instead
of the CustomReportJob API (as suggested by the docs).

However, for several accounts at our agency, daily report requests
fail and we get this SOAP fault:

faultCode: {http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/}
Server.userException
faultSubcode:
faultString: One or more report job parameters is invalid.
faultActor:
faultNode:
faultDetail:
{https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/v11}fault:
<ns1:code>30</ns1:code>
<ns1:message>One or more report job parameters is invalid.</
ns1:message>
<ns1:trigger> The following columns are not supported by the
Report Type Creative : [MaximumCPC, CPC]</ns1:trigger>

Note that we're using Java with Axis.

Unfortunately, we cannot upgrade our systems to V11 unless this
problem is corrected.

Can someone at Google address this issue please?

Thank you.

- Kerri

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hello Kerri,

The information in this thread might be helpful:

http://groups.google.com/group/adwords-api/browse_thread/thread/ace9696adf22e587/4cc3878425e25a52#4cc3878425e25a52

With V11 reporting, you do need to make sure that there you are
running the report against a campaign that supports the bid style if
you're requesting that bid style's columns in the report. Based on the
error you're seeing, I'm assuming that you are trying to run a report
against a campaign that does not have CPC bidding enabled, perhaps
because it is using CPM bidding. You'd want to request the CPM columns
in that situation.

Cheers,
-Jeff Posnick, AdWords API Team

[Kerri]

Hi Jeff:

Thanks for your response.
Interestingly, in looking into the failed accounts, I noticed that
these accounts were empty i.e. void of any campaigns.
The error message appears to be misleading in that it doesn't
translate to an empty account and requesting for the specified
metrics?
Also, why did this behavior change between v10 and v11?

Let me know.

Thank you.

- Kerri

On Feb 8, 11:24 am, AdWords API Advisor <adwordsapiadvi...@google.com>
wrote:

> Hello Kerri,
>
>  The information in this thread might be helpful:
>

>  http://groups.google.com/group/adwords-api/browse_thread/thread/ace96...

> > - Kerri- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[AdWords API Advisor]

Yes, I'm not surprised that running a report against an empty account
would lead to that error; see

http://groups.google.com/group/adwords-api/browse_thread/thread/397f5d7411ce6e06#

As to the question of why that particular error is returned, here's my
understanding of the general algorithm for report validation (without
revealing anything proprietary and with the caveat that I haven't
closely examined the source code):

V11 report validation has to support a number of different column
combinations and the logic is much more generic than it was in V10. In
some cases instead of hardcoding columns as being valid, they're only
considered valid if a matching campaign or ad group or criterion is
found that is included in the report and satisfies a requirement for
that column. So, for instance, in order for the *CPC columns to be
considered valid, there has to be at least one campaign included in
the report that uses CPC bidding (the logic is similar for the *CPM
columns). In the situation in which there are no campaigns in an
account the report will fail validation if *CPC columns are requested
since the requirement is not met. While it would probably be more user-
friendly in that situation to specify that the real underlying problem
is the lack of campaigns with CPC bidding, that would come at the
expense of making the validation logic less generic, which in turn
would make it more difficult to add in new columns in the future.

That's my understanding, at least. Hopefully it sheds some light on
what might otherwise seem to be an arbitrary error.

Cheers,
-Jeff Posnick, AdWords API Team