AdWords API Re: need specific error messages from Google

Reminds me of a Zen tale:

"The Enlightened Man

Shogen asked: `Why does the enlightened man not stand on his feet and explain himself?' And he also said: `It is not necessary for speech to come from the tongue.'

Mumon's Comment: Shogen spoke plainly enough, but how many will understand? If anyone comprehends, he should come to my place and test out my big stick. Why, look here, to test real gold you must see it through fire."

There is a way.

In this case you would get an error code 21.
If you look at the documentation for it http://www.google.com/apis/adwords/developer/adwords_api_error_codes.html
You will see that for this type of error, a violation element is included that gives you all the details about the violation that you would get from the front end.

Now we don't want our API to be as obscure and open to interpretation as the words of Shogen or Mummon:-)
The error text is hidden, and the docs is hidden. let's make it more clear.
I will make sure we add a FAQ about that since it seems a classic mistake.

Can you tell me where you checked in the docs when you encountered that problem (the specific urls): I'd like to add a link in the doc to the error 21 description from where you searched, because obviously this information is not prominent enough in the documentation.

Sorry about the lack of discoverability of our docs.

P@

On 11/22/05, briguy <brian@webmetro.com> wrote:

Whenever I use the API, I always use a try/catch block to check for any
errors that Google throws.  For example, if I call the addCreative()
function with multiple exclamation points ("!!!") in the title and
description, an exception is thrown and the error message I get is "The
keyword or creative content violates one or more ad policies.."
However, this doesn't specifically tell me what I did wrong.  I end up
having to log into the account and enter the same information to get
the SPECIFIC error message which is "Multiple exclamation points are
not allowed."  Is there any way I can either get the specific error
message using the Google API or somehow obtain the actual business
rules to prevent these errors from occurring?

--
Patrick Chanezon, AdWords API evangelist
http://blog.chanezon.com/
http://www.google.com/apis/adwords/