Facebook Ads API: How can I create ads preview without create campaign first? - facebook

Question

I check a lot of documents, and flow like that:
Submit data to create Campaign, target, and AdCreative
Use ID of AdCreative to generate preview code
Display preview code to my site (to show to my user)
But I don't want to create Campaign, Targeting, and AdCreative before preview, just submit raw data of AdCreative to get preview code.
I found that doc https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/reference/generatepreviews/, and look like they can solve my problem... But it didn't work.
My test data is: https://graph.facebook.com/v2.6/generatepreviews?ad_format=RIGHT_COLUMN_STANDARD&creative={"object_story_spec":{"link_data":{"message":"msg","link":"http://kimkha.com?1","caption":"ccccc"}},"name":"NAME 1","body":"dddddd","title":"titititit","call_to_action_type":"OPEN_LINK","object_url":"http://kimkha.com"}&access_token=<token>
And the error:
{
"error": {
"message": "(#275) Cannot determine the target object for this request. Currently supported objects include ad account, business account and associated objects.",
"type": "OAuthException",
"code": 275,
"fbtrace_id": "GeckbxpU9gr"
}
}

Answer 1

I ran into the same problem and got past it, despite not being able to get a fully-functioning dynamic preview working. Here are some more pointers to help save others the pain.
The url needs to include an "ad account, business account or associated objects" like the error message states. For my case I used my ad account id (https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1492627900875762). The url changed to be the following base format: https://graph.facebook.com/v2.10/act_<your-app-id>/generatepreviews
When you get the response, you need to decode the body and you can use the url directly to test. I replaced \/ with /, & with & and removed the trailing slash. After this you get a url that should give you more specific error messages
I had to also specify a "page_id" parameter that the ad will be associated with. This is a sibling of "link_data" in the sample JSON listed above.
You may get error messages telling you to change the format of certain fields.
Eventually I got the error "Preview Not Available: Unable to display a preview of this ad. (fbtrace_id: Dsfql/z/qVI)" and finally lost the will to continue. The documentation is far from easy to follow and does not have clear examples.
I'm sorry I can't give a working solution, but for my case I was evaluating this API for a non-critical piece of work and timeboxing prevented me from proceeding. Hopefully I help save some time for someone else.

Answer 2

I ran into this problem. The solution for me was to use my app token instead of the Graph API Explorer's token. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

My two cents after struggling on this issue. My request had to be formatted as follows (this is using video data, but should extend to link data):
act_{ACT_ID}/generatepreviews
?ad_format=DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD
&creative={object_story_spec:{
page_id:<PAGE_ID>,
video_data: {
image_url: <IMAGE_URL>,
call_to_action:{
type:"SHOP_NOW",
value:{
link: <URL>
}
}
}
}}
In this case, the call_to_action has to be placed inside the video_data (or link_data) parameter and has to be formatted as an object. I did also have to change & with &, as Matt mentions.