How do I make SMART_BANNER ads from admob fill correctly in Android?

Question

I have a smart banner at the bottom of my portrait app.

My layout looks like this:

<RelativeLayout 
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:paddingBottom="0dp"
        android:paddingLeft="0dp"
        android:paddingRight="0dp"
        android:paddingTop="0dp">

        <TextSwitcher
            ...
            Some TextSwitcher Stuff Here
            ... />

        <com.google.ads.AdView
            xmlns:googleads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/lib/com.google.ads"
            android:id="@+id/bannerAd"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
            android:gravity="bottom"
            android:visibility="visible"
            googleads:adSize="SMART_BANNER"
            googleads:adUnitId="@string/admobId" />

    </RelativeLayout>

My Manifest has appropriate permissions and this:

<activity
            android:name="com.google.ads.AdActivity"
            android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenLayout|uiMode|screenSize|smallestScreenSize" >
</activity>

And my ads are initialised by this code:

private void initialiseAds()
    {
        AdView adView = (AdView) findViewById(R.id.bannerAd);
        adView.setAdListener(new MyAdListener(adView));
        AdRequest adRequest = new AdRequest();
        adRequest.addKeyword("games");
        adRequest.addKeyword("tabletop games");
        adRequest.addKeyword("board games");
        adRequest.addKeyword("monopoly");
        adRequest.addKeyword("gambling");
        adRequest.addKeyword("dice");
        final TelephonyManager tm =(TelephonyManager)getBaseContext().getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
        String deviceId = tm.getDeviceId();
        adRequest.addTestDevice(deviceId);
        adView.loadAd(adRequest);
    }

When I run the app, my ads do not display. LogCat gives me this:

08-01 11:24:59.015: E/Ads(10436): Not enough space to show ad! Wants: <720, 100>, Has: <656, 935>
08-01 11:24:59.020: E/Ads(10436): Not enough space to show ad! Wants: <720, 100>, Has: <656, 935>

The device is a Galaxy S3. It seems to be getting the size requirements wrong ((720, 100) is surely too big for a phone banner app?).

The SMART_BANNER is declared in XML so I cannot believe the AdView needs to be regenerated incode since it must already know the sizes on the first instantiation?

Any ideas?

EDIT:

If I put SMART_BANNER inside only the most exterior Layout, this is the XML:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/lib/com.google.ads"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="0dp"
    android:paddingLeft="0dp"
    android:paddingRight="0dp"
    android:paddingTop="0dp"
    tools:context=".MainActivity" >

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnRollDice"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="top"
        android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:layout_marginRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
        android:contentDescription="@string/buttonDescription"
        android:onClick="rollDice"
        android:text="@string/btnRoll"
        android:textSize="40sp" />

    <RelativeLayout 
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:paddingBottom="0dp"
        android:paddingLeft="0dp"
        android:paddingRight="0dp"
        android:paddingTop="0dp">

        <TextSwitcher
            android:id="@+id/diceValue"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:animateFirstView="false"
            android:contentDescription="@string/textSwitcherDescription"
            android:inAnimation="@anim/slide_down"
            android:outAnimation="@anim/abc_fade_out"
            android:textAlignment="center"
            android:visibility="visible" />

    </RelativeLayout>
    <com.google.ads.AdView
            android:id="@+id/bannerAd"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
            android:layout_margin="0dp"
            ads:adSize="SMART_BANNER"
            ads:adUnitId="@string/admobId"
            android:gravity="bottom"
            android:padding="0dp"
            android:visibility="visible" />
</LinearLayout>

And this is the Error Message:

08-01 12:59:38.120: E/Ads(22919): Not enough space to show ad! Wants: <720, 100>, Has: <720, 0>

I suspect that this is because the RelativeLayout and Button have filled the LinearLayout and left no room for the AdView. Is there a way to assign a wrap_contents's worth of height to adview without impacting the RelativeLayout?

Edit: Solution:

This gets it about 95% of the way there (good enough :) ). The TextSwitcher is about 1% off dead center and it has a slightly capped height but you wouldn't really notice unless you stared and compared for hours. Hopefully this will help someone. Thanks to Harshid and William for the contributions.

<!-- This is the XML for the Portrait View of the App
It has 2 major tiers
The first tier contains 3 items:
    The Ad Banner
    The button
    The 2nd Tier
The second tier contains 1 item
    The TextSwitcher

XML is pretty readable so just read it! :)

 -->

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/lib/com.google.ads"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="0dp"
    android:paddingLeft="0dp"
    android:paddingRight="0dp"
    android:paddingTop="0dp"
    tools:context=".MainActivity"
    android:id="@+id/masterContainer">


    <com.google.ads.AdView
        android:id="@+id/bannerAd"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_margin="0dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
        ads:adSize="SMART_BANNER"
        ads:adUnitId="@string/admobId"
        android:padding="0dp"
        android:visibility="visible" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnRollDice"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="top"
        android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:layout_marginRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
        android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
        android:layout_marginBottom="0dp"
        android:paddingBottom="0dp"
        android:contentDescription="@string/buttonDescription"
        android:onClick="rollDice"
        android:text="@string/btnRoll"
        android:textSize="40sp" />

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:layout_above="@id/bannerAd"
        android:layout_below="@id/btnRollDice"
        android:layout_margin="0dp"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:paddingBottom="0dp"
        android:paddingLeft="0dp"
        android:paddingRight="0dp"
        android:paddingTop="0dp" >

            <TextSwitcher
                android:id="@+id/diceValue"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_alignParentBottom="false"
                android:layout_alignParentLeft="false"
                android:layout_alignParentRight="false"
                android:layout_alignParentTop="false"
                android:layout_centerHorizontal="false"
                android:layout_centerInParent="true"
                android:layout_centerVertical="false"
                android:layout_gravity="center"
                android:animateFirstView="false"
                android:contentDescription="@string/textSwitcherDescription"
                android:inAnimation="@anim/slide_down"
                android:outAnimation="@anim/abc_fade_out"
                android:textAlignment="center"
                android:visibility="visible" />

        </RelativeLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 17 '14 at 14:19

Ensure that your outer layout does not have any padding

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingBottom="0dp"
    android:paddingLeft="0dp"   // Change to 0dp
    android:paddingRight="0dp"  // Change to 0dp
    android:paddingTop="2dp"    >

Harshid · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-01T12:34:11.193

4

I Think your Admob banner is in Layout.

Put banner out side of all Layout and inner on Main Layout.Because you have used padding,Margin and Blah blah..

<Your Main Layout>
     <Secondary Layout>
        < Layout />
     </Secondary Layout>
//put your banner here
</Your Main Layout>

try this way.

edited Aug 01 '13 at 12:34

answered Aug 01 '13 at 11:53

Harshid

5,701
4
37
50

Updated Question with new XML file :) – BigTobster Aug 01 '13 at 12:12
Better but still not quite. The banner now displays perfectly (Well done!) but the container is wrap_content so it fills the rest of the page (because a smart_banner could be of any height assumably). This means the content is pushed out of the center of the page. The only way around this that I can think of is to go back to square 1 and put both elements in an interior layout! – BigTobster Aug 01 '13 at 13:34
Unfortunately your answer is not usable for my problem. I have tried tweaking it but it seriously will not go together (I'm a noob). I will accept your answer on the grounds that it might work for someone else who doesn't have the same set-up that I do. Thanks for your help. – BigTobster Aug 01 '13 at 14:08

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 01 '13 at 22:32

If you want to use your second layout then you should give the relative layout a layout_weight of 1 (layout_weight only,applies to LinearLayouts). This will tell it to expand to fill any unused space in the containing LinearLayout.

Suggest you read http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/declaring-layout.html to get a better understanding of Android layouts, you are using attributes from RelativeLayout and LinearLayout indiscriminately. Some of the layout attributes are only applicable to one type of layout.

<LinearLayout 
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    ...>

    <Button
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        .../>

    <RelativeLayout 
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        ...>

        <TextSwitcher
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            .../>
    </RelativeLayout>

    <com.google.ads.AdView
            android:id="@+id/bannerAd"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            ads:adSize="SMART_BANNER"
            ads:adUnitId="@string/admobId"
     />
</LinearLayout>

Thanks for your answer. It was very helpful. Your link has given me the answer that I needed in the end with the help of your code :) Some of the dodgy attributes were because I was changing Relative and Linear layouts and being damn lazy! Some of them I had screwed up though so link was definitely useful. — BigTobster, Aug 01 '13 at 23:12

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 01 '13 at 11:20

0

Check your device dp and load using the various ad constants(banner, leaderboard etc) with respective key given in admob mediation.

answered Aug 01 '13 at 11:20

zelva

1

I'm not using Mediation. Just using standard ads. What am I checking for specifically on my device DP? – BigTobster Aug 01 '13 at 11:29

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 14 '14 at 07:28

0

From your XML Code, Remove the Four Padding Attributes i.e., PaddingBottom, PaddingLeft, PaddingRight, PaddingTop

answered Dec 14 '14 at 07:28

zackygaurav

4,369
5
26
40

How do I make SMART_BANNER ads from admob fill correctly in Android?

5 Answers5