I suspect proguard is breaking ads

[ThinPotato]

Hello! I've got my test ads all setup and displaying properly in both debug and release mode, but as soon as I build an APK or Appbundle, ads no longer show up and I am unable to debug it. I'm pretty sure Proguard is to blame, but I can't find any exceptions to make. Do you have any advice? Thank you!

I've tried these to no avail: -keep class com.firebase. { *; } -keep class org.apache.* { ; } -keepnames class com.fasterxml.jackson. { *; } -keepnames class javax.servlet. { *; } -keepnames class org.ietf.jgss.* { ; } -dontwarn org.apache. -dontwarn org.w3c.dom. -keep class com.google.ads. # Don't proguard AdMob classes -keep class com.google.android.gms.ads. -dontwarn com.google.ads.

[Andrious]

I haven't had that issue personally. Possibly the class is catching the error and that could give you some leads to resolve this. There's some getters and such involved in handling errors. Below is a possible scenario where you can 'test' for errors.

  bool show = await  ads.showBannerAd(
          adUnitId: bannerUnitId,
          size: AdSize.banner,
          keywords: ['andriod, flutter'],
          contentUrl: 'http://www.andrioussolutions.com',
          childDirected: false,
          testDevices: ['Samsung_Galaxy_SII_API_26:5554'],
          listener: eventListener,
        );

   if(!show || ads.inError){
         print(ads.getError().toString());
   }

[ThinPotato]

Thank you for getting back to me.

I used your suggestion and all is normal during debug phase, the problems arise when the APK is built, and as far as I know I can't view logs on a release build. What I've just discovered is that everything works fine if I build the app with the --no-shrink option which disables Google's r8.

This isn't a very good solution because it (obviously) doesn't reduce your file size, and it also disables proguard from protecting your code.

Do you have any ideas why this might be the case? Thank you again! I really like your plugin!

[Andrious]

I'll look it over and think about it. In the meantime, being one of my more popular packages, possibly posting an inquiry on stackoveflow.com (place 'Flutter' in the subject line. Maybe even a link to Ads) will bring a solution. Someone else may have had this issue, and see your posting. Admittedly, I've not experienced this issue myself. Would you compare your proguard rules to those below? Maybe get them and see what if it helps. Stranger things have happened.

# This is a configuration file for ProGuard.
# https://www.guardsquare.com/en/proguard/manual/introduction

# Add project specific ProGuard rules here.
# By default, the flags in this file are appended to flags specified
# in C:\Programs\Tools\AndroidSDK/tools/proguard/proguard-android.txt
# You can edit the include path and order by changing the proguardFiles
# directive in build.gradle.
#
# For more details, see
#   http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/proguard.html

# Add any project specific keep options here:

#Flutter Wrapper
-keep class io.flutter.app.** { *; }
-keep class io.flutter.plugin.**  { *; }
-keep class io.flutter.util.**  { *; }
-keep class io.flutter.view.**  { *; }
-keep class io.flutter.**  { *; }
-keep class io.flutter.plugins.**  { *; }

# 27 warnings seemed to be ignored ok.
-dontwarn com.google.common.cache.**
-dontwarn com.google.common.primitives.UnsignedBytes$**

#Proguard can rename the `BuildConfig` Java class in the minification process
# and prevent React Native Config from referencing it. To avoid this:
-keep class com.gtfp.workingmemory.BuildConfig { *; }     # <--- change to your app.

## Try a little more passes for kicks.
-optimizationpasses 5

# use this option to remove logging code.
-assumenosideeffects class android.util.Log {
    public static boolean isLoggable(java.lang.String, int);
    public static int v(...);
    public static int i(...);
    public static int w(...);
    public static int d(...);
    public static int e(...);
}

# It's being sought but doesn't need to be.
-dontwarn org.joda.convert.**

# It's included as a jar file so don't worry, right?
#-dontwarn com.example.exceptionhandler.**

# Necessary since adding compile files('../../../libs/opencsv/opencsv-3.3.jar')
-dontwarn org.apache.commons.collections.BeanMap
-dontwarn java.beans.**

##---------------Begin: proguard configuration common for all Android apps ----------
-dontskipnonpubliclibraryclassmembers

-dump class_files.txt
-printseeds seeds.txt
-printusage unused.txt
-printmapping mapping.txt

## Removes package names making the code even smaller and less comprehensible.
-repackageclasses ''

##------------- Lets obfuscated code produce stack traces that can still be deciphered later on
-renamesourcefileattribute SourceFile
-keepattributes SourceFile,LineNumberTable

# Keep because these classes can be declared in the AndrodiManifest.xml.
#-keep public class * extends android.app.Activity
#-keep public class * extends android.app.Application
#-keep public class * extends android.app.Service
#-keep public class * extends android.content.BroadcastReceiver

#-keep public class * extends android.content.ContentProvider
#-keep public class * extends android.app.backup.BackupAgent
#-keep public class * extends android.app.backup.BackupAgentHelper

#-keep public class * extends android.preference.Preference

#-keep public class * extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment
#-keep public class * extends android.support.v4.app.DialogFragment

#-keep class com.google.android.gms.internal.*
#-keep class com.google.android.gms.maps.** { *; }
#-keep interface com.google.android.gms.maps.** { *; }

# Explicitly preserve all serialization members. The Serializable interface
# is only a marker interface, so it wouldn't save them.
-keepclassmembers class * implements java.io.Serializable {
    static final long serialVersionUID;
    static final java.io.ObjectStreamField[] serialPersistentFields;
    private static final java.io.ObjectStreamField[] serialPersistentFields;
    private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream);
    private void readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream);
    java.lang.Object writeReplace();
    java.lang.Object readResolve();
}

### Keep custom views  since they are probably referenced only from layout XML instead of application code
#-keepclassmembers !abstract class !com.google.ads.** extends android.view.View {
#    public <init>(android.content.Context);
#    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
#    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
#    public void set*(...);
#}
#
#-keepclassmembers !abstract class * {
#    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
#    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
#}
#
#-keepclassmembers class * extends android.content.Context {
#   public void *(android.view.View);
#}
###-----------------  End of Keep Custom Views

## Saves any public class    YOU THEN DON'T OBFUSCATE ANYTHING??
#-keep public class * {
#    public protected *;
#}

#-keepclassmembers class * implements android.os.Parcelable {
#    static *** CREATOR;
#    }

 ##---------------End: proguard configuration common for all Android apps

##---------------Begin: proguard configuration for support library
#-keep class android.support.v4.app.** { *; }
#-keep interface android.support.v4.app.** { *; }
#-keep class com.actionbarsherlock.** { *; }
#-keep interface com.actionbarsherlock.** { *; }
#
## The support library contains references to newer platform versions.
## Don't warn about those in case this app is linking against an older
## platform version. We know about them, and they are safe.
#-dontwarn android.support.**
#-dontwarn com.google.ads.**
###---------------End: proguard configuration for support library

###---------------Begin: proguard configuration for Gson
## Gson uses generic type information stored in a class file when working with fields. Proguard
## removes such information by default, so configure it to keep all of it.
#-keepattributes Signature
#
## For using GSON @Expose annotation
## Gson specific classes
#-keep class sun.misc.Unsafe { *; }
#-keep class com.google.gson.stream.** { *; }
#
## Application classes that will be serialized/deserialized over Gson
#-keep class com.example.model.** { *; }
# ##---------------End: proguard configuration for Gson  ----------

# If your project uses WebView with JS, uncomment the following
 #and specify the fully qualified class name to the JavaScript interface
# class:
#-keepclassmembers class fqcn.of.javascript.interface.for.webview {
#   public *;
#}

[ThinPotato]

Hello again! I've tried your proguard file with no success. I'm starting to think the issue may be in the minification process, as I also tried with proguard itself disabled (again with no luck). Maybe I did something weird with ads and R8 thinks there are unused methods that are removed when its being built. I'll keep working on it and let you know if I discover anything else.

[Andrious]

@ThinPotato. What was your solution to this?