The sunset of DFA API version v1.18 has been pushed back to April 16th, 2013. This version of the API has been deprecated since November, 2012 and was previously scheduled to be retired on February 28th, 2013.

If you’re still using v1.18, please be sure to update your applications before April 16th. Our release notes will help you identify differences in v1.19, the most important one being the necessity to use HTTPS connections. We are available on our forum to help you with any questions you have.

- Joseph DiLallo, the DFA API Team

The new sunset date of DFA API version v1.18 has been set for February 28th, 2013. This version of the API has been deprecated since November, 2012 and was originally scheduled to be retired in December, 2012. We pushed back this sunset during the holiday season, but the time has come for this version to be laid to rest.

If you’re still using v1.18, please be sure to update your applications before February 28th. Our release notes will help you identify differences in v1.19, the most important being the necessity to use HTTPS connections. We are available on our forum to help you with any questions you have.

- Joseph DiLallo, the DFA API Team

We recently announced that the Java DART API now has version limitations placed upon it. Going forward, we are going to only support the 4 most recent versions of this API. With a release cycle of approximately 3 months, this translates into one required update per year. Now that you may need to migrate to a newer version, we will be posting release announcements on this blog to keep you up to date.

Java DART API Releases Version 14.2

A new version of the Java DART API is now available: 14.2. There are no changes pertinent to DFA developers in this release. Since this is now the fourth officially supported version, no one needs to migrate to a newer version of the Java DART API at this time.

We strongly recommend you migrate from the Java DART API to the DFA Reporting API, our new reporting platform, at your earliest convenience.

DFA API v1.18 Sunset Pushed Back

We previously announced that version v1.18 of the DFA API would be sunset in December. This sunset has been pushed back until after the holiday season. You should still migrate to v1.19 as soon as possible in order to future-proof yourself, but no immediate action is required at this time. The new sunset date for v1.18 will be announced on this blog at a later date.

All of your questions are always welcome on our forum.

- Joseph DiLallo, the DFA API Team

Previously, we discussed extending the set of operations in version v1.18 of the DFA API which will receive a limit of 1000 objects per page on June 2nd, 2012. Additional operations have been added to this set since the announcement. The new list is as follows:

• getSpotlightActivities
• getCreativeFields
• getCreativeFieldValues
• getChangeLogRecords
• getUsersByCriteria
• getAds
• getContacts
• getDomainNamesBySearchCriteria
• getAdvertisers
• getAdvertiserGroups
• getCampaignsByCriteria
• getContentCategories
• getCreatives
• getNetworks
• getPlacementGroupsByCriteria
• getDfaSites
• getSitesByCriteria
• getSpotlightActivities
• getPlacementStrategiesByCriteria
• getSubnetworkSummaries
• getSubnetworks
• getUserRoleSummaries
• getUserRoles

The getPlacementsByCriteria operation has been capped at 1000 results per page since version v1.18’s release. The original post has also been updated with this new list. You can reach us with any questions you may have on our forum.

 - Joseph DiLallo, DFA API Team

The newest version of the DFA API is now available: v1.18. This release adds support for In-Stream Video creatives and makes some assorted improvements, including better error messages and trimming out some unused fields. This post reflects just some of the changes in the release. Our updated release notes page gives you a more in-depth breakdown of what has changed since the previous version.

In-Stream Video Creatives

New to v1.18, you can create and manage your In-Stream video creatives through the API. Several new classes have been added to the creative service to represent these objects. You can expect to see examples of their use in our updated client libraries.

Capping on Page Sizes

Most get operations in the DFA API return pageable result sets. We are now beginning to enforce reasonable limits on the number of objects within an individual pages (also known as pageSize). With the release of v1.18, the placement service’s getPlacementsByCriteria operation is limited to a maximum of 1000 objects in a single page.

[Update 5/17/2012: The following list of operations has been extended as explained in this blog post.]

Beginning June 2nd, 2012, the same limit also applies for the following operations:

• getSpotlightActivities
• getCreativeFields
• getCreativeFieldValues
• getChangeLogRecords
• getUsersByCriteria
• getAds
• getContacts
• getDomainNamesBySearchCriteria
• getAdvertisers
• getAdvertiserGroups
• getCampaignsByCriteria
• getContentCategories
• getCreatives
• getNetworks
• getPlacementGroupsByCriteria
• getDfaSites
• getSitesByCriteria
• getSpotlightActivities
• getPlacementStrategiesByCriteria
• getSubnetworkSummaries
• getSubnetworks
• getUserRoleSummaries
• getUserRoles

All affected operations will have a default page size of 1000 if a page size is not provided.

Deprecation and Sunset of Older Versions

With the the release of v1.18, version v1.16 is now deprecated. Version v1.16 will continue to be supported until June 2nd, 2012, when it will be entirely removed from service, as previously announced.

Meanwhile, version v1.17 will be deprecated in August and sunset in early September, 2012.

As always, we highly value your feedback and questions. Please join us on our forum whenever you’d like to reach us.

 - Joseph DiLallo, DFA API Team

As we continue to improve the DFA API, two upcoming security enhancements are particularly noteworthy. We want you to be aware of adjustments to HTTP support and token lifespan and to take them into consideration when planning the development and upkeep of your applications.

Moving Towards Secure Connections

Last year Google began an effort to improve the security of our APIs with SSL encryption. Most of Google’s Ads APIs already require requests to be made over HTTPS connections. The DFA API will be following suit this year. We’ll consider the use of HTTP connections deprecated with the release of v1.17 in mid-February, 2012. Support for making requests over HTTP will be completely retired in v1.18, expected to launch in May, 2012. Our client libraries will transition to using HTTPS connections during the launch of v1.17.

On the Horizon: Expiring Tokens

Currently, tokens generated from the login service’s authenticate operation do not expire unless the user profile’s password is changed. In the not-too-distant future, API tokens will have a timed lifespan. We will be adding a new error code to represent a failure due to an expired token so that your applications will be able to catch and handle this situation.

We do not have a concrete release date for token expirations yet. It will not be part of the v1.17 release. Please keep an eye on our blog for further updates about this topic. Questions and comments are always welcome on our forum.

 - Joseph DiLallo, DFA API Team