Connecting to Google Ads

Before you can add the properties needed to authenticate, you must provide the following connection properties:

• DeveloperToken: The account developer token.
• ClientCustomerId: Your Google Ads customer ID. To find your ClientCustomerId, click the Help icon at the upper right corner of the Google Ads UI, then look at the bottom of the help menu.

Retrieving Data from Multiple Accounts

A common use for the driver is retrieving data from multiple customer Ids. This is useful when you have a Google Ads MCC account that includes numerous accounts/ClientCustomerIds. You can query and get data from the accounts you want by specifying CustomerId in the WHERE clause. For example:

SELECT * FROM AdGroupAd WHERE CustomerId='3333333333'
SELECT * FROM AdGroupAd WHERE CustomerId IN ('1111111111', '2222222222')

When you specify the CustomerId in WHERE clauses, the driver ignores the ClientCustomerId connection property.

Authenticating to Google Ads

All connections to Google Ads are authenticated using OAuth. The provider supports using user accounts, service accounts and GCP instance accounts for authentication.

User Accounts (OAuth/OauthPKCE)

Google Ads provides embedded OAuth credentials that simplify connection from a Desktop application or a Headless machine. To connect from a Web application, you must create a custom OAuth application, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

To connect via OAuth from all authentication flows, you must set AuthScheme to OAuth.

The following subsections describe how to authenticate to Google Ads from the available oauth flows. For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, and why you might want to create one even for auth flows that already have embedded OAuth credentials, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

For a complete list of connection string properties available in Google Ads, see Connection.

Desktop Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies authentication at the desktop. You can also authenticate from the desktop via a custom OAuth application, which you configure and register at the Google Ads console. For further information, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

Before you connect, set these properties:

• InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
• Custom OAuth applications only:
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • CallbackURL: The redirect URI defined when you registered your custom OAuth application.

When you connect, the provider opens Google Ads's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

After you grant permissions to the application, the provider completes the OAuth process:

1. Obtains an access token from Google Ads and uses it to request data.
2. Saves the OAuth values in the path specified in OAuthSettingsLocation. These values persist across connections.

When the access token expires, the provider refreshes it automatically.

Web Applications

Authenticating via the Web requires you to create and register a custom OAuth application with Google Ads, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application. You can then use the provider to get and manage the OAuth token values.

This section describes how to get the OAuth access token, how to have the driver refresh the OAuth access token automatically, and how to refresh the OAuth access token manually.

Get the OAuth access token:

1. To obtain the OAuthAccessToken, set these connection properties:
   • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in your custom OAuth application settings.

2. Call stored procedures to complete the OAuth exchange:
   • Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. Set the AuthMode input to WEB and the CallbackURL to the Redirect URI you specified in your custom OAuth application settings. The stored procedure returns the URL to the OAuth endpoint.
   • Navigate to the URL that the stored procedure returned in Step 1. Log in and authorize the web application. You are redirected back to the callback URL.
   • Call the GetOAuthAccessToken stored procedure. Set the AuthMode input to WEB. Set the Verifier input to the code parameter in the query string of the redirect URI.

After you obtain the access and refresh tokens, you can connect to data and refresh the OAuth access token automatically.

Automatic refresh of the OAuth access token:

To have the provider automatically refresh the OAuth access token, do the following:

1. The first time you connect to data, set these connection parameters:
   • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
   • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in your custom OAuth application settings.
   • OAuthAccessToken: The access token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
   • OAuthSettingsLocation: The path where you want the provider to save the OAuth values, which persist across connections.
2. On subsequent data connections, set:
   • InitiateOAuth
   • OAuthSettingsLocation

Manual refresh of the OAuth access token:

The only value needed to manually refresh the OAUth access token is the OAuth refresh token.

1. To manually refresh the OAuthAccessToken after the ExpiresIn period (returned by GetOAuthAccessToken) has elapsed, call the RefreshOAuthAccessToken stored procedure.
2. Set these connection properties:
   • OAuthClientId: The Client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret in your custom OAuth application settings.

3. Call RefreshOAuthAccessToken with OAuthRefreshToken set to the OAuth refresh token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
4. After the new tokens have been retrieved, set the OAuthAccessToken property to the value returned by RefreshOAuthAccessToken. This opens a new connection.

Store the OAuth refresh token so that you can use it to manually refresh the OAuth access token after it has expired.

Headless Machines

If you need to log in to a resource that resides on a headless machine, you must authenticate on another device that has an internet browser. You can do this in either of the following ways:

• Option 1: Obtain the OAuthVerifier value.
• Option 2: Install the provider on a machine with an internet browser and transfer the OAuth authentication values after you authenticate through the usual browser-based flow.

After you execute either Option 1 or Option 2, configure the driver to automatically refresh the access token on the headless machine.

Option 1: Obtaining and Exchanging a Verifier Code

To obtain a verifier code, you must authenticate at the OAuth authorization URL as follows:

1. Authenticate from the machine with an internet browser, and obtain the OAuthVerifier connection property.

   If you are using the embedded OAuth application, call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. Open the URL returned by the stored procedure in a browser.

   If you are using a custom OAuth application, set these properties:

   • InitiateOAuth: OFF.
   • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

2. Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. The stored procedure returns the CallbackURL established when the custom OAuth application was registered. (See Creating a Custom OAuth Application.)

   Copy this URL and paste it into a new browser tab.

3. Log in and grant permissions to the provider. The OAuth application redirects you the redirect URI, with a parameter called code appended. Note the value of this parameter; you will need it later, to configure the OAuthVerifier connection property.

4. Exchange the OAuth verifier code for OAuth refresh and access tokens. On the headless machine, to obtain the OAuthAccessToken, set these connection properties:

   • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
   • OAuthVerifier: The noted verifier code (the value of the code parameter in the redirect URI).
   • OAuthSettingsLocation: persist the encrypted OAuth authentication values to the specified file.
   • Custom OAuth applications only:
     • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
     • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in the custom OAuth application settings.

5. Test the connection to generate the OAuth settings file.

6. You are ready to connect after you re-set these properties:

   • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
   • OAuthSettingsLocation: The file containing the encrypted OAuth authentication values. To enable the automatic refreshing of the access token, be sure that this file gives read and write permissions to the provider.
   • Custom OAuth applications only:
     • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
     • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

Option 2: Transferring OAuth Settings

Prior to connecting on a headless machine, you must install and create a connection with the driver on a device that supports an internet browser. Set the connection properties as described above in "Desktop Applications".

After completing the instructions in "Desktop Applications", the resulting authentication values are encrypted and written to the path specified by OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.

Test the connection to generate the OAuth settings file, then copy the OAuth settings file to your headless machine.

To connect to data via the headless machine, set these connection properties:

• InitiateOAuth: REFRESH
• OAuthSettingsLocation: The path to the OAuth settings file you copied from the machine with the browser. To enable automatic refreshing of the access token, ensure that this file gives read and write permissions to the provider.
• Custom OAuth applications only:
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

Service Accounts (OAuthJWT)

To authenticate using a service account, you must create a new service account and have a copy of the account's certificate.

For a JSON file, set these properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuthJWT.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH.
• OAuthJWTCertType: Set this to GOOGLEJSON.
• OAuthJWTCert: Set this to the path to the .json file provided by Google.
• OAuthJWTSubject:The service account should be part of a GSuite domain, with delegation enabled. The value of this property should be the email address of the user whose data you want to access.

For a PFX file, set these properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to the email address of the service account. This address usually includes the domain iam.gserviceaccount.com.
• OAuthJWTSubject: The service account must part of a GSuite domain, with delegation enabled. The value of this property is the email address of the user whose data you want to access.

If you do not already have a service account, you can create one by following the procedure in Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

GCP Instance Accounts

When running on a GCP virtual machine, the provider can authenticate using a service account tied to the virtual machine. To use this mode, set AuthScheme to GCPInstanceAccount.