How to integrate AdMob ads in the latest MonoGame Android (XNA)?

Question

I have spent the last couple days researching AdMob integration for MonoGame Android and so far have not been able to successfully add a banner to the game I just made. All of the answers I have found so far are terribly outdated and none of the examples I found are working in the latest Android APIs.

I am using development build #983 of MonoGame 3.2 in Visual Studio.

I have tried:

• using the sample found in this github repo: /CartBlanche/MonoGame-Samples/tree/master/AdMob

• as well as the sample found in this github repo: /xamarin/monodroid-samples/tree/master/AdMob

• Updating the SDK manager to download the google play services extras

• Following the code sample at this page: http://www.craftworkgames.com/blog/monogame-code-snippets/using-admob-with-monogame/

As well as other methods found all over the internet. I have been very careful to select the correct build options when adding JAVA sources and JAR files to the project, but I have never found any AdView class, and the "Google Mobile Ads SDK v6.4.1" JAR that is out there is no longer supported by google, as outlined here: https://developers.google.com/mobile-ads-sdk/

If anyone has any new and up-to-date methods for integrating AdMob ads into a MonoGame Android project, I think the answers need a refresh (and I will be very grateful) =)

Answer 1

After a long time looking for answers and testing multiple suggestions, I have finally found the solution.

Xamarin has a Google Play Services component that can be downloaded from the component store. I had originally tried this, but was running into problems with my solution file in VS2012. So this is what I did to add the component manually:

• Login and download the component from https://components.xamarin.com/view/googleplayservices/

• Create a folder in your Android solution called "lib" and extract the dll files from the zipped component folder into it

• Add the dll files as references to your project. You should now have these four references added:

  1. GooglePlayServicesLib
  2. Xamarin.Android.Support.v4
  3. Xamarin.Android.Support.v7.AppCompat
  4. Xamarin.Android.Support.v7.MediaRouter

• Navigate into your project properties, click on the Application tab (first one) and under "Java Max Heap Size", type in 1G (otherwise you get a Java Heap out of memory error while compiling)

• Make sure your App is set to use API 14 or higher (Android 4.0). This can be done is the project properties page as well

• In your AndroidManifest.xml file, make sure you have the following:

  <activity 
      android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.AdActivity"
      android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenLayout|uiMode|screenSize|smallestScreenSize" />
  

• Get your AdMob Unit ID

• Change your Activity.cs file to something like this:

  using Android.Gms.Ads; // Add this include
  
  // Easy constants
  private const string AD_UNIT_ID = "YOUR_AD_ID";
  private const string TEST_DEVICE_ID = "YOUR_DEVICE_ID";
  private AdView adView;
  
  // Change OnCreate and make sure you're not trying to set SetContentView()
  // more than once
  protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
  {
      base.OnCreate(bundle);
      Puzzle.ARunningMan.Activity = this;
      var g = new Puzzle.ARunningMan();
  
      createAds(g.Window);
  
      g.Run();
  }
  
  // Wrapped everything in a function for less confusion.
  // Thanks to Dylan Wilson at Craftwork Games for the
  // simple layout
  private void createAds(AndroidGameWindow window)
  {
      var frameLayout = new FrameLayout(this);
      var linearLayout = new LinearLayout(this);
  
      linearLayout.Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal;
      linearLayout.SetGravity(Android.Views.GravityFlags.Right | Android.Views.GravityFlags.Bottom);
  
      frameLayout.AddView(window);
  
      adView = new AdView(this);
      adView.AdUnitId = AD_UNIT_ID;
      adView.AdSize = AdSize.Banner;
  
      linearLayout.AddView(adView);
      frameLayout.AddView(linearLayout);
      SetContentView(frameLayout);
  
      try
      {
          // Initiate a generic request.
          var adRequest = new AdRequest.Builder()
              .AddTestDevice(AdRequest.DeviceIdEmulator)
              .AddTestDevice(TEST_DEVICE_ID)
              .Build();
  
          // Load the adView with the ad request.
          adView.LoadAd(adRequest);
      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
          // your error logging goes here
      }
  }
  

• Compile (will take a little while at first), Run it, look in the LogCat window for a message tagged as "ads" that contains your device ID. More info here: http://webtutsdepot.com/2011/12/02/android-sdk-tutorial-get-admob-test-device-id/

• Set the device ID string, recompile, run it

And finally, if you wait about 30-60 seconds, you will see a test add show up as a banner. Good luck to all, I hope this helps, as it is now current information