ArcAds

ArcAds is a GPT (Google Publisher Tag) wrapper created by Arc XP. Using ArcAds you can make use of many GPT features such as size mapping, refreshing, and targeting. In addition you can also make use of header bidding vendors such as Prebid.js and Amazon A9/TAM by using the appropriate configuration.

Getting Started

To get started you must include the script tag for ArcAds in your page header, located here. You can also optionally run npm install followed by npm run build to compile it yourself in case you need to make any modifications. Once included you can initialize the ArcAds wrapper class like so in your page header.

<script src="path/to/arcads.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
  const arcAds = new ArcAds({
    dfp: {
      id: '123',
      collapseEmptyDivs: true
    }
  })
</script>

collapseEmptyDivs is an optional parameter that directly toggles googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs()

Alternatively, if you're using a bundler you can use the library as a module.

npm install arcads 

You can then include it in your own JavaScript projects like so.

import { ArcAds } from 'arcads'

Displaying an Advertisement

You can display an advertisement by calling the registerAd method, this can be called as many times and wherever you'd like as required.

arcAds.registerAd({
  id: 'div-id-123',
  slotName: 'hp/hp-1',
  dimensions: [[300, 250], [300, 600]],
  display: 'desktop'
})

Along with the registerAd call you also need a div on the page with the same id.

<div id="div-id-123"></div>

If you are using an external service to manage initial ad load (like Didomi), set window.blockArcAdsLoad = true on page load to block ArcAds from refreshing ads. Set window.blockArcAdsLoad = false when you want ArcAds to control refreshing ads again.

The following table shows all of the possible parameters the registerAd method accepts.

Out of Page Ads

If an advertisement has an empty or missing dimensions parameter it will be considered as a GPT Out of Page creative and rendered as such.

Callback

Whenever an advertisement loads you can access data about the advertisement such as its size and id by passing in an optional callback to the initialization of ArcAds. This ties a handler to the slotRenderEnded event that GPT emits and is called every time an advertisement is about to render, allowing you to make any page layout modifications to accommodate a specific advertisement.

const arcAds = new ArcAds({
  dfp: {
    id: '123'
  }
}, (event) => {
  console.log('Advertisement has loaded...', event)
})

Refreshing an Advertisement

If you require the ability to refresh a specific advertisement you can do so via the googletag library, providing it the slot object from GPT. You can get access to the slot object in the callback of ArcAds via event.slot.

const arcAds = new ArcAds({
  dfp: {
    id: '123'
  }
}, (event) => {
  window.adSlot = event.slot
})

// Refresh a single ad slot
window.googletag.pubads().refresh([window.adSlot])

// Refresh all ad slots on the page
window.googletag.pubads().refresh()

Targeting

Advertisement targeting parameters can be passed to the registration call via the targeting object.

arcAds.registerAd({
  id: 'div-id-123',
  slotName: 'hp/hp-1',
  adType: 'cube',
  dimensions: [[300, 250], [300, 600]],
  display: 'all',
  targeting: {
    section: 'weather'
  }
})

The service will automatically give the advertisement a position target key/value pair if either the targeting object or position key of the targeting object are not present. The position value will increment by 1 in sequence for each of the same adType on the page. This is a common practice between ad traffickers so this behavior is baked in, only if the trafficker makes use of this targeting will it have any effect on the advertisement rendering.

If adType is excluded from the registerAd call the automatic position targeting will not be included.

Size Mapping

You can configure GPT size mapped ads with the same registration call by adding a sizemap object. To utilize size mapping the dimensions key should be updated to include an array representing a nested array of arrays containing the applicable sizes for a specific breakpoint.

[ [[970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90]],
  [[728, 90]],
  [[320, 100], [320, 50]] ]

Followed by an array of equal lengths of breakpoints which will sit within sizemap.breakpoints.

[ [1280, 0], [800, 0], [0, 0] ]

When put together this will mean that at a window width of 1280 wide, the service can load a 970x250, 970x90 or a 728x90 advertisement. At 800 wide, it can load a 728x90, and anything below 800 it will load a 320x90 or a 320x50.

If the advertisement should refresh dynamically when the user resizes the screen after the initial load you can toggle refresh to true. otherwise it should be false.

arcAds.registerAd({
  id: 'div-id-123',
  slotName: 'hp/hp-1',
  adType: 'cube',
  dimensions: [ [[970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90]], [[728, 90]], [[320, 100], [320, 50]] ],
  targeting: {
    section: 'weather'
  },
  sizemap: {
    breakpoints: [ [1280, 0], [800, 0], [0, 0] ],
    refresh: true
  }
})

Prerender Hook

ArcAds provides a way for you to get information about an advertisement before it loads, which is useful for attaching targeting data from third party vendors.

You can setup a function within the registerAd call by adding a prerender parameter, the value of which being the function you'd like to fire before the advertisement loads. This function will also fire before the advertisement refreshes if you're using sizemapping.

arcAds.registerAd({
  id: 'div-id-123',
  slotName: 'hp/hp-1',
  dimensions: [[300, 250], [300, 600]],
  display: 'desktop',
  prerender: window.adFunction
})

Your prerender function must return a promise. Once it's resolved the advertisement will display. If you do not resolve the promise the advertisement will not render.

window.adFunction = function(ad) {
  return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
    // The 'ad' argument will provide information about the unit
    console.log(ad)
    // If you do not resolve the promise the advertisement will not display
    resolve()
  });
}

You can gather information about the advertisement by accessing the ad argument/object.

For a more detailed example of how to utilize this functionality please see the wiki.

Header Bidding

ArcAds supports Prebid.js and Amazon TAM/A9. To enable these services you must first enable them when you configure the wrapper.

Prebid.js

If you'd like to include Prebid.js you must include the library before arcads.js. You can get a customized version of Prebid.js with the adapters your site needs from their website here.

<script src="path/to/prebid.js"></script>
<script src="path/to/arcads.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
  const arcAds = new ArcAds({
    dfp: {
      id: '123'
    }, 
    bidding: {
      prebid: {
        enabled: true
      }
    }
  })
</script>

You can enable Prebid.js on the wrapper by adding a prebid object to the wrapper initialization and setting enabled: true. If enabled is undefined, prebid can still be used by providing a valid bids object. You can also optionally pass it a timeout value which corresponds in milliseconds how long Prebid.js will wait until it closes out the bidding for the advertisements on the page. By default, the timeout will be set to 700.

const arcAds = new ArcAds({
  dfp: {
    id: '123'
  },
  bidding: {
    prebid: {
      enabled: true,
      timeout: 1000
    }
  }
}

If you want to use the slotName instead of the ad id when registering ads, pass useSlotForAdUnit: true.

const arcAds = new ArcAds({
  dfp: {
    id: '123'
  },
  bidding: {
    prebid: {
      enabled: true,
      timeout: 1000,
      useSlotForAdUnit: true
    }
  }
}

On the wrapper you can also configure a size mapping configuration, which will provide information to Prebid.js on which sized advertisements it should fetch bids for on each breakpoint. For more information on what needs to be configured within the sizeConfig array click here.

const arcAds = new ArcAds({
  dfp: {
    id: '123'
  },
  bidding: {
    prebid: {
      enabled: true,
      timeout: 1000,
      sizeConfig: [
        {
          'mediaQuery': '(min-width: 1024px)',
          'sizesSupported': [
            [970, 250],
            [970, 90],
            [728, 90]
          ],
          'labels': ['desktop']
        }, 
        {
          'mediaQuery': '(min-width: 480px) and (max-width: 1023px)',
          'sizesSupported': [
            [728, 90]
          ],
          'labels': ['tablet']
        }, 
        {
          'mediaQuery': '(min-width: 0px)',
          'sizesSupported': [
            [320, 100],
            [320, 50]
          ],
          'labels': ['phone']
        }
      ]
    }
  }
})

On the advertisement registration you can then provide information about which bidding services that specific advertisement should use. You can find a list of parameters that Prebid.js accepts for each adapter on the Prebid.js website. Additionally you can turn on Prebid.js debugging by adding ?pbjs_debug=true to the url.

arcAds.registerAd({
  id: 'div-id-123',
  slotName: 'hp/hp-1',
  adType: 'cube',
  display: 'desktop',
  dimensions: [ [[970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90]], [[728, 90]], [[320, 100], [320, 50]] ],
  sizemap: {
    breakpoints: [ [1280, 0], [800, 0], [0, 0] ],
    refresh: 'true'
  },
  bidding: {
    prebid: {
      enabled: true,
      bids: [{
        bidder: 'appnexus',
        labels: ['desktop', 'tablet', 'phone'],
        params: {
          placementId: '10433394' 
        }
      }]
    }
  }
})

Amazon TAM/A9

You can enable Amazon A9/TAM on the service by adding an amazon object to the wrapper initialization and then passing it enabled: true. You must also include the apstag script on your page with:

<script src="https://c.amazon-adsystem.com/aax2/apstag.js"></script>

You must also provide your publication id that corresponds to the owners Amazon account.

const arcAds = new ArcAds({
  dfp: {
    id: '123'
  },
  bidding: {
    amazon: {
      enabled: true,
      id: '123'
    }
  }
})

On the advertisement registration you simply provide enabled: true for the specific advertisement within the bidding object. There are no additional properties which are required.

arcAds.registerAd({
  id: 'div-id-123',
  slotName: 'hp/hp-1',
  adType: 'cube',
  display: 'desktop',
  dimensions: '[ [[970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90]], [[728, 90]], [[320, 100], [320, 50]] ]',
  sizemap: {
    breakpoints: '[ [1280, 0], [800, 0], [0, 0] ]',
    refresh: 'true'
  },
  bidding: {
    amazon: {
      enabled: true
    }
  }
})

NOTE: Currently Amazon A9/TAM is not supported for use with Singe Request Architecture (SRA).

Registering Multiple Ads

You can display multiple ads at once using the registerAdCollection method. This is useful if you're initializing multiple advertisements at once in the page header. To do this you can pass an array of advertisement objects similar to the one you would with the registerAd call. Note that when using this function, if setAdsBlockGate() has not been called, the calls for each ad will be made individually. If you need to achieve Single Request Architecture, see the documentation below, "SRA Single Request Architecture".

const ads = [{
    id: 'div-id-123',
    slotName: 'hp/hp-1',
    adType: 'cube',
    display: 'desktop',
    dimensions: '[ [[970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90]], [[728, 90]], [[320, 100], [320, 50]] ]',
    sizemap: {
      breakpoints: '[ [1280, 0], [800, 0], [0, 0] ]',
      refresh: 'true'
    },
    bidding: {
      prebid: {
        enabled: true,
        bids: [{
          bidder: 'appnexus',
          labels: ['desktop', 'tablet', 'phone'],
          params: {
            placementId: '10433394' 
          }
        }]
      }
  },
  {
    id: 'div-id-456',
    slotName: 'hp/hp-2',
    adType: 'square',
    display: 'mobile',
    dimensions: '[ [300, 250], [300, 600] ]',
    bidding: {
      prebid: {
        enabled: true,
        bids: [{
          bidder: 'appnexus',
          labels: ['desktop', 'tablet', 'phone'],
          params: {
            placementId: '10433394' 
          }
        }]
      }
  }
]


arcAds.registerAdCollection(ads)

SRA Single Request Architecture

SRA architecture Functions will allow all ads to go out in one single ad call. The functions are presented in the order they should be called:

1. setPageLevelTargeting(key, value): sets targeting parameters- applied to all ads on the page. Extracting common targeting values is recommended in order to avoid repeating targeting for each ad in the single ad call.
2. setAdsBlockGate(): “closes” the gate - as ads are added, calls do not go out. This allows ads configurations to accumulated to be set out later, together all at once.
3. reserveAd(params): accumulates ads to be sent out later. This function is called once per one ad.
4. releaseAdsBlockGate(): “opens” the gate - allows an ad call to go out.
5. sendSingleCallAds(): registers all the ads added via reserveAd(), and sends out a single ad call (SRA call) containing all the ads information that has been added so far via reserveAd().

To add more ads, repeat steps 1-5 as needed.

NOTE: Prebid is supported for SRA. Amazon A9/TAM is not supported for SRA and will need to be implemented at a future date.

NOTE: ArcAds SRA implementation calls enableSingleRequest() which means that when using pubads lazyLoad functions together with SRA, when the first ad slot comes within the viewport specified by the fetchMarginPercent parameter, the call for that ad and all other ad slots is made. If different behavior is desired after the initial SRA call is made, an outside lazy loading library may be used to manage the calls for registerAd, reserveAd and other calls.

Developer Tools

There's a series developer tools available, to get started run npm install.

Slot Override

You can override the slot name of every advertisement on the page by appending ?adslot= to the URL. This will override whatever is placed inside of the slotName field when invoking the registerAd method. For example, if you hit the URL arcpublishing.com/?adslot=homepage/myad, the full ad slot path will end up being your GPT id followed by the value: 123/homepage/myad.

You can also debug slot names and GPT in general by typing window.googletag.openConsole() into the browsers developer console.

Logging

To inspect the function calls taking place within the ArcAds library, you can include the debug=true query parameter on your page.

Contributing

If you'd like to contribute to ArcAds please read our contributing guide.