Force older version of HTML5 ima3.js

[teun.van...@rtl.nl]

Hi,

We're having some issues with IMA 3.116.4 for HTML5 on mobile. Is it possible to force a specific version in the imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js url?

Kind Regards,

Teun

RTL Digital (rtlxl.nl)

[Vu Chau (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Teun,

The ima3.js always loads the most recent code, so it's not possible to force any other specific version. 

What issue(s) are you currently facing that we could help troubleshoot?

Vu Chau

IMA SDK Team

[teun.van...@rtl.nl]

The problem is that we are seeing a Learn More button, while we are expecting to see no ui elements at all.
It seems that since last update the uiElements default has changed.

I'm forced to add

adsRenderingSettings.uiElements = [];

to our ima implementation, this removes the countdown ui at the bottom, but not the learn more button.

Thanks for looking in to it!

Regards,

Teun

[Vu Chau (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Teun,

Thanks for the details.  To begin with, "Learn More" shouldn't be removable by any means, so instantiating the rendering settings with no UI element will not work.  Having said that, if you are seeing the "Learn More" button while it shouldn't be shown at all, then it sounds like something we need to look into.

Are you able to replicate the issue in the VSI and/or the sample HTML5 implementation? Would you be able to provide an ad tag and/or a live site where we can see the issue in action? Any particular steps involved to reproduce the issue?

Vu Chau

IMA SDK Team

[Ameba Dev]

We're having a similar issue with the latest update.  We wish to disable clickthrough within a cordova web-app so that the user isn't brought off-site without anyway to return to the app.  We'd like a way to hide or disable the Learn More button.

Eric

[Vu Chau (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Eric,

Would you be able to provide us a live page so we can see this issue? Normally, clicking on Learn More will redirect you to outside the app/page, but you should be able to return to the implementation.  Since there isn't a way or plan to disable Learn More, I'd suggest disabling the clickthrough node found in the XML.  I'm not very familiar with the serving side as I am with the SDK, but I'd imagine you can do this on DFP when you are generating your ad tag.  Note that I haven't tested this approach with "Learn More" ads, so I'm not positive if disabling the clickthrough would also make "Learn More" go away (it would certainly disable clickthrough if you click on the ad, though).

Vu Chau

IMA SDK Team

[Ameba Dev]

Hi,

For the creatives we create on DFP, it requires a clickthrough URL to be defined; we can't omit it.  Also for third-party redirect creatives, the clickthrough URLs is set by the third-party ad network's response.  I can't figure out how to disable clickthrough on the DFP side of things.

From the IMA side, we also had this in our code from a while ago, but can't find any reference to it in the API docs anymore.  Does still exist, or did we have something wrong in the first place?

var adsRenderingSettings = new google.ima.AdsRenderingSettings();
adsRenderingSettings.disableClickThrough = false;

So far I'm at a loss if we can't disable it from the client side, short of masking the player and Learn More with a <div>.  We're not set up for TrueView ads so "skip this ads" button doesn't seem to be a feature we need to protect.

Cheers,

Eric

[Ameba Dev]

Hi,

Basically the cordova app does not send the click through to open a new tab in a web browser.  The link is visited within the same "web view" inside a native cordova app wrapper, but it happens to be an external page resource for the advertiser instead of an internal HTML5 page for the app.  In cordova ther are no on-screen browser navigation controls; UI controls are made on screen to look like a native app would look.  So when the app visits that advertiser's site, the user is stranded. On android they could perhaps hit the hardware back button if available, but not possible on iOS.  If we can prevent the off-site visit, we can avoid stranding the user.

Eric

[Vu Chau (IMA SDK Team)]

Hey Eric,

Thanks for the details and the explanation of your use case.  However, IMA doesn't support Cordova use cases, so I cannot comment on how to workaround for the issue you are facing.  My best recommendation would be to implement a kind of custom playback to ensure a smooth playback experience across platforms.  From there, hopefully you can further customize/fine-tune the implementation.  Please note that I haven't tested this approach yet.

Cheers,

Vu Chau

IMA SDK Team