The Query Builder Blog Series: Part 1 - Setting the Stage

An important part of our role in Developer Relations is gathering your feedback, as developers using our APIs, so that we can improve products and create tools that will make for a better developer experience. This is particularly important now because the Google Ads API is now out of Beta. We have received several important pieces of feedback as it relates to the Google Ads Query Language (GAQL) and constructing GAQL queries. Specifically, we’ve learned that

• GAQL is a powerful and flexible mechanism for retrieving data from the Google Ads API. In order to get the most out of it and construct queries efficiently, it is important to understand the details and nuances of this query language.
• The previous version of the Interactive Google Ads Query Builder tool was useful for constructing GAQL query strings. However, there were opportunities to make the query building process faster while exposing some of the logic behind the tool to better understand how GAQL query string validation works.

As a result, we have released a new version of the Interactive Google Ads Query Builder tool that has several benefits, which you can view in the release blog post.

In developing this new tool, we approached the Google Ads API from a user's perspective to better understand developer use cases. Throughout the process, we documented our experience to share how we approach using the Google Ads API. This is the first in a series of blog posts following that journey. The Query Builder Blog Series will include the following topics.

• Designing a resource schema: designing a detailed JSON resource schema that will serve as the canonical data set for the Interactive Query Builder Angular application.
• Creating a resource schema: how we can use the GoogleAdsFieldService to create an enhanced resource schema that includes incompatible fields to make building this application easier.
• Creating a resource service: how to create a resource service that determines which fields are displayed to users in various parts of the application.
• Determining Field Selectability: how to create a selection service that determines whether a field is selectable or not in a given clause of a Google Ads Query Language (GAQL) query string.
• Field Selection & Query Validation: how to update the selection service to select fields and validate the GAQL string.
• Summary: a summary of key lessons learned from this process.

We hope you enjoy and learn from this blog series. Stay tuned for more interesting content.

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum or at googleadsapi-support@google.com.

- Devin Chasanoff, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team