Magic Macros
- Erik Geurts
The Revive Adserver software supports a number of macros. These are placeholders that can be placed into the content of an HTML banner or in a banner's destination URL. When the banner is delivered (displayed), these macros will be replaced with the corresponding value in real time.
Below is a list of the macros currently supported by the Revive Adserver software.
| Macro | Description |
|---|---|
| {clickurl} | Substituted by the click tracking URL for the delivered ad Note: starting with version 5.1.0, the click tracking URL has been changed. The file is now cl.php and the parameters now follow the usual conventions with ampersands. See the release notes for more information. |
{clickurl_enc} | This is a URL encoded version of the clickurl macro. |
| {clickurl_html} | This is an HTML version of the clickurl macro. |
Note: this macro has been removed from the application with the release of v5.1.0 on January 19, 2021. See the release notes for more information. | |
| {timestamp} | Substituted by a decimal string based on the current timestamp example: 1185290310.72 |
| {random} | Substituted by a 10 character alpha-numeric random string value example: b616f31e72 |
| {logurl} * | Substituted by an impression logging URL example: https://…/delivery/lg.php?bannerid=… |
| {logurl_enc} * | Substituted by the url-encoded impression logging URL example: https%3A%2F%2F…%2Fdelivery%2Flg.php%3Fbannerid%3D… |
| {target} | Substituted by the target value for the selected banner example: _blank |
| {url_prefix} | Substituted by the base delivery URI of installation example: https://.../www/delivery |
{img_url_prefix} | Substituted by the base banner images URI of the installation example: https://..//www/images |
| {bannerid} | Substituted by the ID of the selected banner example: 123 |
| {zoneid} | Substituted by the ID of the selected zone example: 456 |
| {source} | Substituted by the value of “source=” as passed into the ad-request from the site tags example: source=cat123/cat456… |
| {pageurl} | Substituted by the URL of the page the ad was requested on (url encoded) example: https%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%2Fmagic_macros%2Ftest.html |
| {referer} | Substituted by the referrer of the page the ad was requested on (url encoded) example: https%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%2Fmagic_macros%2F |
| {width} | Substituted by the width (in pixels) of the selected ad example: 468 |
| {height} | Substituted by the height (in pixels) of the selected ad example: 60 |
| {ANY_INPUT_VARIABLE} | Substituted by any value present in the php $_REQUEST array ($_GET/$_POST/$_COOKIE) example: {OAID} -> $_COOKIE[‘OAID’] = 1fd819ffc7267757ba681ff5daa3007e |
If any of the magic macros are present in the HTML, but the value cannot be found, then the replaced value depends on the type of macro:
- For core macros ending in id – The value zero is used
- For other core macros – An empty string is used
- For “ANY_INPUT_VARIABLE” macros – The macro string is left unchanged in the HTML
* If either {logurl} or {logurl_enc} are detected in an HTML ad, Revive AdServer will not log an impression, but will pass the logging URL on to a 3rd party and rely on them to call-back using the logurl provided.
URL Macros
Some special considerations for macros related to ad server URLs.
The {clickurl} macro
By inserting the {clickurl} macro into the banner HTML for an ad stored on a third party server, Revive Adserver can track clicks on that ad.
When the ad is clicked, Revive Adserver substitutes the click tracking URL for the macro, for example: https://.../delivery/cl.php?<paramters> The browser is redirected to this URL where Revive Adserver counts the click and then forwards the browser to the actual destination URL. There are also URL encoded and HTML coded version of this macro, {clickurl_enc} and {clickurl_html} respectively.
{clickurlparams}
The {clickurlparams} are the parameters that are passed to the {clickurl} address for third party click tracking. These parameters are:
banneridzoneidsourcecbmaxdest
Note that this macro has been removed from the software starting with version 5.1.0 released on January 19, 2021.
{pageurl}
The URL of the page that requested the ad (url-encoded), for example: https%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%2Fmagic_macros%2Ftest.html
{logurl}
To track impressions for third party ads, use the {logurl} macro. When the ad is displayed, Revive Adserver substitutes the impression logging URL for the macro, for example http://.../delivery/lg.php?bannerid=.... The browser is redirected to this URL where Revive AdServer logs the impression and then forwards the browser to the ad. As with the {clickurl} macro, Revive Adserver appends various parameters for the ad to the URL and passes these to the impression logging page.
{logurl_enc}
The {logurl_enc} macro is similar to the {logurl} macro but the substituted URL is url-encoded, for example: https%3A%2F%2F...%2Fdelivery%2Flg.php%3Fbannerid%3D....
{url_prefix}
The URL to the base of the Revive Adserver delivery server, for example https://ads.example.com/www/delivery