HTML and JavaScript troubleshooting guide

Article
01/04/2023

Warning

As of June 1, 2020, the Microsoft Ad Monetization platform for Windows UWP apps will be shut down. Learn more

This topic contains solutions to common development issues with the Microsoft advertising libraries in JavaScript/HTML apps.

HTML
JavaScript

HTML

AdControl not appearing

Ensure that the Internet (Client) capability is selected in Package.appxmanifest.
Ensure the JavaScript reference is present. Without the ad.js reference in the <head> section (after the default.js reference) the AdControl will be unable to display and an error will occur during build.
```
<head>
    ...
    <script src="//Microsoft.Advertising.JavaScript/ad.js"></script>
    ...
</head>
```

Check the application ID and ad unit ID. These IDs must match the application ID and ad unit ID that you obtained in Partner Center. For more information, see Set up ad units in your app.

<div id="myAd" style="position: absolute; top: 50px; left: 0px;
                      width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
     data-win-options="{applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                        adUnitId: 'AdUnitID'}">
</div>

Check the height and width properties. These must be set to one of the supported ad sizes for banner ads.

<div id="myAd" style="position: absolute; top: 50px; left: 0px;
                      width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
     data-win-options="{applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                        adUnitId: 'AdUnitID'}">
</div>

Check the element positioning. The AdControl must be inside the viewable area.

Check the visibility property. This property must not be set to collapsed or hidden. This property can be set inline (as shown below) or in an external style sheet.

<div id="myAd" style="visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 1025px;
                      left: 500px; width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
     data-win-options="{applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                        adUnitId: 'AdUnitID'}">
</div>

Check the position property. The position property must be set to an appropriate value depending on the element’s other properties (for example, margins in parent element and z-index). This property can be set inline (as shown below) or in an external style sheet.

<div id="myAd" style="visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 1025px;
                      left: 500px; width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
     data-win-options="{applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                        adUnitId: 'AdUnitID'}">
</div>

Check the z-index property. The z-index property must be set high enough so the AdControl always appears on top of other elements. This property can be set inline (as shown below) or in an external style sheet.

<div id="myAd" style="visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 1025px;
                      left: 500px; width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
     data-win-options="{applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                        adUnitId: 'AdUnitID'}">
</div>

Check external style sheets. If properties are set on the AdControl element through an external style sheet, ensure all of the above properties are correctly set.

<div id="myAd" style="visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 1025px;
                      left: 500px; width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
     data-win-options="{applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                        adUnitId: 'AdUnitID'}">
</div>

Check the parent of the AdControl. If the AdControl resides in a parent element, the parent must be active and visible.

<div style="position: absolute; width: 500px; height: 500px;">
    <div id="myAd" style="position: relative; top: 0px; left: 100px;
                          width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
         data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
         data-win-options="{applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                            adUnitId: 'AdUnitID'}">
    </div>
</div>

Ensure the AdControl is not hidden from the viewport. The AdControl must be visible for ads to display properly.
Live values for ApplicationId and AdUnitId should not be tested in the emulator. To ensure the AdControl is functioning as expected, use the test values for both ApplicationId and AdUnitId.

Black box blinks and disappears

Double-check all steps in the previous AdControl not appearing section.

Handle the onErrorOccurred event, and use the message that is passed to the event handler to determine whether an error occurred and what type of error was thrown. More details can be found in Error handling in JavaScript walkthrough.

<div id="myAd" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px;
                      width: 728px; height: 90px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
     data-win-options="{applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                        adUnitId: 'AdUnitID',
                        onErrorOccurred: errorLogger}">
</div>
<div style="position:absolute; width:100%; height:130px; top:300px; left:0px">
    <b>Ad Events</b><br />
    <div id="adEvents" style="width:100%; height:110px; overflow:auto"></div>
</div>

The most common error that causes a black box is “No ad available.” This error means there is no ad available to return from the request.

The AdControl is behaving normally. By default, the AdControl will collapse when it cannot display an ad. If other elements are children of the same parent they may move to fill the gap of the collapsed AdControl and expand when the next request is made.

Ads not refreshing

Check the isAutoRefreshEnabled property. By default, this optional property is set to true. When set to false, the refresh method must be used to retrieve another ad.

<div id="myAd" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px;
                      width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
     data-win-options="{ applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                        adUnitId: 'AdUnitID',
                        onErrorOccurred: errorLogger,
                        isAutoRefreshEnabled: true}">
</div>

Check calls to the refresh method. When using automatic refresh, refresh cannot be used to retrieve another ad. When using manual refresh, refresh should be called only after a minimum of 30 to 60 seconds depending on the device’s current data connection.

This example demonstrates how to use the refresh method. The following HTML code shows an example of how to instantiate the AdControl with isAutoRefreshEnabled set to false.

<div id="myAd" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px;
                      width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl"
     data-win-options="{ applicationId: 'ApplicationID',
                        adUnitId: 'AdUnitID',
                        onErrorOccurred: errorLogger,
                        isAutoRefreshEnabled: false}">
</div>

Theis example demonstrates how to use the refresh function.

args.setPromise(WinJS.UI.processAll()
    .then(function (args) {
        window.setInterval(function()
        {
            document.getElementById("myAd").winControl.refresh();
        }, 60000)
    })
);

The AdControl is behaving normally. Sometimes the same ad will appear more than once in a row giving the appearance that ads are not refreshing.

JavaScript

AdControl not appearing

Ensure that the Internet (Client) capability is selected in Package.appxmanifest.

Ensure the AdControl is instantiated. If the AdControl is not instantiated. it will not be available.

The following snippets show an example of instantiating the AdControl. This HTML code shows an example of setting up the UI for the AdControl

<div id="myAd" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px;
                      width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl">
</div>

The following JavaScript code shows an example of instantiating the AdControl

app.onactivated = function (args) {
    if (args.detail.kind === activation.ActivationKind.launch) {
        if (args.detail.previousExecutionState !==
                activation.ApplicationExecutionState.terminated)
        {
            var adDiv = document.getElementById("myAd");
            var myAdControl = new MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl(adDiv,
            {
                applicationId: "{ApplicationID}",
                adUnitId: "{AdUnitID}"
             });                
             myAdControl.onErrorOccurred = myAdError;
        } else {
            ...
        }
    }
}

Check the parent element. The parent <div> must be correctly assigned, active, and visible.

var adDiv = document.getElementById("myAd");
var myAdControl = new MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl(adDiv, {
    applicationId: "{ApplicationID}",
    adUnitId: "{AdUnitID}"
});

Check the application ID and ad unit ID. These IDs must match the application ID and ad unit ID that you obtained in Partner Center. For more information, see Set up ad units in your app.
```
var myAdControl = new MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl(adDiv, {
    applicationId: "{ApplicationID}",
    adUnitId: "{AdUnitID}"
});  
```
Check the parent element of the AdControl. The parent must be active and visible.
Live values for ApplicationId and AdUnitId should not be tested in the emulator. To ensure the AdControl is functioning as expected, use the test values for both ApplicationId and AdUnitId.

Black box blinks and disappears

Double-check all steps in the AdControl not appearing section.
Handle the onErrorOccurred event, and use the message that is passed to the event handler to determine whether an error occurred and what type of error was thrown. More details can be found in Error handling in JavaScript walkthrough.

This example demonstrates how to implement an error handler that reports error messages. This snippet of HTML code provides an example of how to set up the UI to display error messages.
```
<div style="position:absolute; width:100%; height:130px; top:300px">
    <b>Ad Events</b><br />
    <div id="adEvents" style="width:100%; height:110px; overflow:auto"></div>
</div>
```
This example demonstrates how to instantiate the AdControl. This function would be inserted in the app.onactivated file.
```
var myAdControl = new MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl(adDiv,
{
    applicationId: "{ApplicationID}",
    adUnitId: "{AdUnitID}"
});                
myAdControl.onErrorOccurred = myAdError;
```
This example demonstrates how to report errors. This function would be inserted below the self-running function in the default.js file.
```
WinJS.Utilities.markSupportedForProcessing
(
    window.errorLogger = function (sender, evt)
    {
        adEvents.innerHTML = (new Date()).toLocaleTimeString() + ": " +
        sender.element.id + " error: " + evt.errorMessage + " error code: " +
        evt.errorCode + "<br>" + adEvents.innerHTML;
    }
);
```
The most common error that causes a black box is “No ad available.” This error means there is no ad available to return from the request.
The AdControl is behaving normally. Sometimes the same ad will appear more than once in a row giving the appearance that ads are not refreshing.

Ads not refreshing

Check whether the IsAutoRefreshEnabled property of your AdControl is set to false. By default, this optional property is set to true. When set to false, the Refresh method must be used to retrieve another ad.

Check calls to the Refresh method. When using automatic refresh (IsAutoRefreshEnabled is true), Refresh cannot be used to retrieve another ad. When using manual refresh (IsAutoRefreshEnabled is false), Refresh should be called only after a minimum of 30 to 60 seconds depending on the device’s current data connection.

This example demonstrates how to create the div for the AdControl.

<div id="myAd" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px;
                      width: 250px; height: 250px; z-index: 1"
     data-win-control="MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl">
</div>

This example shows how to use the Refresh function

var myAdControl = new MicrosoftNSJS.Advertising.AdControl(adDiv,
{
  applicationId: "{ApplicationID}",
  adUnitId: "{AdUnitID}",
  isAutoRefreshEnabled: false
});
...
args.setPromise(WinJS.UI.processAll()
    .then(function (args) {
        window.setInterval(function()
        {
            document.getElementById("myAd").winControl.refresh();
        }, 60000)
    })
);

The AdControl is behaving normally. Sometimes the same ad will appear more than once in a row giving the appearance that ads are not refreshing.

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HTML and JavaScript troubleshooting guide

HTML

AdControl not appearing

Black box blinks and disappears

Ads not refreshing

JavaScript

AdControl not appearing

Black box blinks and disappears

Ads not refreshing

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