Ryan Campbell Flex/Flash Developer Blog

Adobe Flex and Google AdSense

I've recently launched a Flex-based classified ads product allowing anyone to start a classified ads service. Almost the very first question I was asked was how to place a Google AdSense banner in to their app. I really didn't want to tell them that wasn't possible because I choose to use Flex. Instead I set out to find a solution. It turns out not only was it possible but it was a lot less complicated than I imagined.

For those who don't like reading, a quick summary of what I did is:

1. Create a search engine friendly HTML version of my content (home page, category/search results, ad full details)
2. Add a param that will toggle displaying the Google AdSense banner at the top of that content
3. Use the IFrame component to load the banner in an iframe
4. Reload the iframe as the user views different content
5. Have a beer!

You can see an example of this in use at www.shopcarro.com.