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Search Integration Steps

The instructions below will guide you on how to integrate the DNA SDK to power ads-only experiences in your launcher app.

1. Retrieve Results for Search Results

To retrieve suggested apps for immediate display, use the following code. 

DeviceNativeAds dna = DeviceNativeAds.getInstance(getApplicationContext());
List<DNAResultItem> searchResults = dna.getOrganicResultsForSearch(query);

Note:

  • There is no need to debounce this call, as we have some simple logic to handle that.
  • Results will be ranked by relevance, so the first result will be the most relevant.
  • Ads will be mixed into the link results
  • This method return an results in milliseconds, so it's safe to run on the main thread.
  • This will automatically fire an impression immediately if the impressionUrl is populated for each ad. You MUST therefore show all of the ads to the user.

Key Fields of DNAResultItem Class

  • id: Unique identifier for the ad. Just a UUID for reference if you need
  • resultType : The type of result. Will be DNAResultItem.TYPE_AD for ads.
    • DNAResultItem.TYPE_APP: For organic app results,
    • DNAResultItem.TYPE_AD: For advertisements
    • DNAResultItem.TYPE_SHORTCUT: For shortcuts and deep links (only returned for getOrganicLinkSuggestions)
    • DNAResultItem.TYPE_NOTIFICATION: For notificiations (only returned for getOrganicLinkSuggestions)
  • packageName: The package name of the advertiser's app
  • isInstalled: A convenient boolean indicating whether the advertiser's app is installed, derived from package manager
  • appName: The name of the advertiser's app
  • title: The ad creative title to be shown to the user
  • description: The ad creative description to be shown to the user. Can be null!
  • iconUrl: The ad creative icon URL to be shown to the user. Can be null!
  • clickUrl: The click URL of the ad unit. This will automatically be fired by the SDK when using the click and route method.
  • impressionUrl: The impression URL of the ad unit. This will automatically be fired by the SDK when requesting an ad for display.
  • eCPM: The expected revenue per thousand impressions for the ad unit. Note that this is not real when the learningMode is true
  • learningMode: A boolean indicating whether the ad unit is in eCPM learning mode, and whether the eCPM number can be used.

Example Implementation

Here's an example iteration through the deep link results to show an example implementation:

List<DNAResultItem> results = DeviceNativeAds.getInstance(this).getOrganicLinkSuggestions(3);
for (DNAResultItem resultItem : results) {
    View itemView = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.result_view, section, false);

    ImageView itemIcon = itemView.findViewById(R.id.item_icon);
    TextView itemTitle = itemView.findViewById(R.id.item_title);
    TextView itemDescription = itemView.findViewById(R.id.item_description);

    // Please indent the link results for best visual appearance
    if (!resultItem.resultType.equals(DNAResultItem.TYPE_APP) && !resultItem.resultType.equals(DNAResultItem.TYPE_AD)) {
        insertLeftPadding(itemIcon, 16);
    }

    // Load the icon in the case where it is not just the app icon
    if (resultItem.resultType.equals(DNAResultItem.TYPE_AD) || resultItem.resultType.equals(DNAResultItem.TYPE_SHORTCUT)) {
        resultItem.loadCreativeDrawableAsync(this, new DNAResultItem.ImageCallback() {
            @Override
            public void onImageLoaded(Drawable icon) {
                new Thread(() -> {
                    runOnUiThread(() -> {
                        if (icon == null) {
                            try {
                                Drawable backupIcon = getPackageManager().getApplicationIcon(resultItem.packageName);
                                itemIcon.setImageDrawable(backupIcon);
                            } catch (Exception e) {
                                Log.e("YourActivity", "Error loading app icon: " + e.getMessage());
                            }
                        } else {
                            itemIcon.setImageDrawable(icon);
                        }
                    });
                }).start();
            }

            @Override
            public void onError(String message) {
                try {
                    Drawable icon = getPackageManager().getApplicationIcon(resultItem.packageName);
                    itemIcon.setImageDrawable(icon);
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    Log.e("YourActivity", "Error loading app icon: " + e.getMessage());
                }
            }
        });
    } else {
        try {
            Drawable icon = getPackageManager().getApplicationIcon(resultItem.packageName);
            itemIcon.setImageDrawable(icon);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.e("YourActivity", "Error loading app icon: " + e.getMessage());
        }
    }

    itemTitle.setText(resultItem.title);
    String description = resultItem.description;
    if (resultItem.resultType.equals(DNAResultItem.TYPE_AD)) {
        if (description != null && !description.isEmpty()) {
            description = description.concat(" - Ad");
        } else {
            description = "Promoted";
        }
    }
    if (description == null || description.isEmpty()) {
        itemDescription.setVisibility(View.GONE);
    } else {
        itemDescription.setText(description);
    }

    itemView.setOnClickListener(view -> {
        // Show some loading bar while the click is being processed
        DeviceNativeAds.getInstance(this).fireClickAndRoute(resultItem, new DeviceNativeClickHandler() {
            @Override
            public void onAdClickRouterCompleted(boolean didRoute) {
                // stop showing a loading bar, or handle routing yourself if didRoute is false
            }

            @Override
            public void onFailure(int errorCode, String errorMessage) {
                // Log the error
            }
        });
    });

    linksSection.addView(itemView);
}

Here's an example implementation that inserts the left padding.

private void insertLeftPadding(View view, int padding) {
    // Convert dp to pixels
    final float scale = getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density;
    int leftPaddingInPx = (int) (padding * scale + 0.5f);

    // Get existing paddings for top, right, and bottom to preserve them.
    int topPadding = view.getPaddingTop();
    int rightPadding = view.getPaddingRight();
    int bottomPadding = view.getPaddingBottom();

    // Set the new padding. Only the left padding is changed.
    view.setPadding(leftPaddingInPx, topPadding, rightPadding, bottomPadding);
}

2. Loading The Icons

Case when isInstalled is true

When the app is installed, we recommend just retrieving the icon from the package manager for speed and simplicity.

if (resultItem.isInstalled) {
    // load the icon from the package manager
    Drawable icon = getPackageManager().getApplicationIcon(resultItem.packageName);
}

Case when isInstalled is false - load the icon from the iconUrl

When the app is not installed, we have provided a convenient method to load the icon from the iconUrl. You can also retrieve the iconUrl from the ad unit object and handle this yourself if you prefer.

Synchronously

To be called on a background thread.

if (!resultItem.isInstalled) {
    // load the icon from the iconUrl
    Drawable icon = resultItem.loadCreativeDrawable();
    // set the image on your UI
    imageView.setImageDrawable(icon);
}

Asynchrously

Can be called on the main thread.

if (!resultItem.isInstalled) {
    // load the icon from the iconUrl
    resultItem.loadCreativeDrawableAsync(new ImageCallback() {
    @Override
    public void onImageLoaded(Drawable icon) {
        // Run on UI thread if updating UI components
        runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                // set the image on your UI
                imageView.setImageDrawable(image);
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    public void onError(String error) {
        // Log the error, show a default icon, etc
    }
});
}

3. Handle User Click Interaction

When a user clicks on the ad, use the following code to handle the routing and receive notifications of status.

It executes on a separate thread to ensure the click handling URL properly tracks before the user is sent to the destination, and loading could take a second, so it's recommended to show a loading indicator until the callback is fired. Fine to pass null to the clickHandler callback if you don't need to.

DeviceNativeAds dna = DeviceNativeAds.getInstance(getApplicationContext());
dna.fireClickAndRoute(adUnit, new DeviceNativeClickHandler() {
    /**
     * This method is called when the ad click routing process is completed, which means the user was
     * sent to their destination, or it failed to route for soem reason.
     * @param didRoute A boolean indicating whether the routing was successful.
     */
    public void onAdClickRouterCompleted(boolean didRoute) {
        // stop showing a loading bar, or handle routing yourself if didRoute is false
    }

    /**
     * This method is called when there is a failure in the ad click process. Implement this method to
     * define what should happen when there is a failure in the ad click process.
     * @param errorCode An integer representing the error code of the failure.
     * @param errorMessage A string representing the error message of the failure.
     */
    public void onFailure(int errorCode, String errorMessage) {
        // log the fail, stop showing loading bar, etc
    }
});

Need Help?

Please email help@devicenative.com for assistance or questions about the process.