Get started with the IMA DAI SDK

IMA SDKs make it easy to integrate multimedia ads into your websites and apps. IMA SDKs can request ads from any VAST-compliant ad server and manage ad playback in your apps. With IMA DAI SDKs, apps make a stream request for ad and content video—either VOD or live content. The SDK then returns a combined video stream, so that you don't have to manage switching between ad and content video within your app.

Select the DAI solution you're interested in

Full service Pod serving

Full service DAI

This guide demonstrates how to integrate the IMA DAI SDK into a simple video player app. If you would like to view or follow along with a completed sample integration, download the basic example from GitHub.

Note: The IMA DAI SDK for Roku supports both HLS and DASH streams, with no implementation differences.

To use IMA DAI, you must have an Ad Manager 360 Advanced account. If you have an Ad Manager account, contact your account manager for more details. For information about signing up for Ad Manager, visit the Ad Manager Help Center.

Note: For information on integrating with other platforms, or on using the IMA client-side SDKs, see Interactive Media Ads SDKs.

IMA DAI overview

Implementing IMA DAI involves two main SDK components as demonstrated in this guide:

• StreamRequest: An object that defines a stream request. Stream requests can either be for video-on-demand or live streams. Requests specify a content ID, as well as an API key or authentication token and other parameters.
• StreamManager: An object that handles dynamic ad insertion streams and interactions with the DAI backend. The stream manager also handles tracking pings and forwards stream and ad events to the publisher.

Prerequisites

• Read through our compatibility page to make sure your intended use case is supported.
• Download our Roku sample player code
• Deploy the sample player code to a Roku device to verify that your development set up is working.

Play your video

The sample video player provided plays a content video out of the box. Deploy the sample player to your Roku player to ensure your development environment is set up properly.

Turn your video player into an IMA DAI stream player

Follow these steps to implement a stream player.

Create Sdk.xml

Add a new file to your project alongside MainScene.xml called Sdk.xml, and add the following boilerplate:

Sdk.xml

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "utf-8" ?>

<component name = "imasdk" extends = "Task">
<interface>
</interface>
<script type = "text/brightscript">
<![CDATA[
  ' Your code goes here.
]]>
</script>
</component>

You need to edit both of these files throughout this guide.

Load the Roku Advertising Framework

The IMA DAI SDK depends on the Roku Advertising Framework. To load the framework, add the following to manifest and Sdk.xml:

manifest

bs_libs_required=roku_ads_lib,googleima3

Sdk.xml

Library "Roku_Ads.brs"
Library "IMA3.brs"

Load the IMA DAI SDK

The first step to loading your IMA Dynamic Ad Insertion stream is to load and initialize the IMA DAI SDK. The following loads the IMA DAI SDK script.

Sdk.xml

<interface>
  <field id="sdkLoaded" type="Boolean" />
  <field id="errors" type="stringarray" />
</interface>
...
Sub init()
  m.top.functionName = "runThread"
End Sub

Sub runThread()
  if not m.top.sdkLoaded
    loadSdk()
  End If
End Sub

Sub loadSdk()
    If m.sdk = invalid
      m.sdk = New_IMASDK()
    End If
    m.top.sdkLoaded = true
End Sub

Now start this task in MainScene.xml and remove the call to load the content stream.

MainScene.xml

function init()
  m.video = m.top.findNode("myVideo")
  m.video.notificationinterval = 1
  loadImaSdk()
end function

function loadImaSdk() as void
  m.sdkTask = createObject("roSGNode", "imasdk")
  m.sdkTask.observeField("sdkLoaded", "onSdkLoaded")
  m.sdkTask.observeField("errors", "onSdkLoadedError")

  m.sdkTask.control = "RUN"
end function

Sub onSdkLoaded(message as Object)
  print "----- onSdkLoaded --- control ";message
End Sub

Sub onSdkLoadedError(message as Object)
  print "----- errors in the sdk loading process --- ";message
End Sub

Create an IMA stream player

Next, you need to use your existing roVideoScreen to create an IMA stream player. This stream player implements three callback methods: loadUrl, adBreakStarted, and adBreakEnded. Also, disable trick play when the stream is loaded. This prevents users from skipping a pre-roll in the instant that it starts, before the ad break started event is fired.

Sdk.xml

<interface>
  <field id="sdkLoaded" type="Boolean" />
  <field id="errors" type="stringarray" />
  <field id="urlData" type="assocarray" />
  <field id="adPlaying" type="Boolean" />
  <field id="video" type="Node" />
</interface>
...
Sub setupVideoPlayer()
  sdk = m.sdk
  m.player = sdk.createPlayer()
  m.player.top = m.top
  m.player.loadUrl = Function(urlData)
    m.top.video.enableTrickPlay = false
    m.top.urlData = urlData
  End Function
  m.player.adBreakStarted = Function(adBreakInfo as Object)
    print "---- Ad Break Started ---- "
    m.top.adPlaying = True
    m.top.video.enableTrickPlay = false
  End Function
  m.player.adBreakEnded = Function(adBreakInfo as Object)
    print "---- Ad Break Ended ---- "
    m.top.adPlaying = False
    m.top.video.enableTrickPlay = true
  End Function
End Sub

Create and execute a stream request

Now that you have a stream player, you can create and execute a stream request. This example has data for a livestream and a VOD stream. It uses the VOD stream, but you can use live instead by changing selectedStream from m.testVodStream to m.testLiveStream.

To be able to support AdUI, such as adChoices icons, you must also pass a reference to the node containing your content video as part of your request.

MainScene.xml

function init()
  m.video = m.top.findNode("myVideo")
  m.video.notificationinterval = 1
  m.testLiveStream = {
    title: "Livestream",
    assetKey: "sN_IYUG8STe1ZzhIIE_ksA",
    apiKey: "",
    type: "live"
  }
  m.testVodStream = {
    title: "VOD stream"
    contentSourceId: "2548831",
    videoId: "tears-of-steel",
    apiKey: "",
    type: "vod"
  }
  loadImaSdk()
end function

function loadImaSdk() as void
  m.sdkTask = createObject("roSGNode", "imasdk")
  m.sdkTask.observeField("sdkLoaded", "onSdkLoaded")
  m.sdkTask.observeField("errors", "onSdkLoadedError")

  selectedStream = m.testVodStream
  m.videoTitle = selectedStream.title
  m.sdkTask.streamData = selectedStream

  m.sdkTask.video = m.video
  m.sdkTask.control = "RUN"
end function

Sdk.xml

<interface>
  <field id="sdkLoaded" type="Boolean" />
  <field id="errors" type="stringarray" />
  <field id="urlData" type="assocarray" />
  <field id="adPlaying" type="Boolean" />
  <field id="video" type="Node" />
  <field id="streamData" type="assocarray" />
  <field id="streamManagerReady" type="Boolean" />
</interface>
...
Sub runThread()
  if not m.top.sdkLoaded
    loadSdk()
  End If
  if not m.top.streamManagerReady
    loadStream()
  End If
End Sub

Sub loadStream()
  sdk = m.sdk
  sdk.initSdk()
  setupVideoPlayer()

  request = {}
  streamData = m.top.streamData
  if streamData.type = "live"
    request = sdk.CreateLiveStreamRequest(streamData.assetKey, streamData.apiKey)
  else if streamData.type = "vod"
    request = sdk.CreateVodStreamRequest(streamData.contentSourceId, streamData.videoId, streamData.apiKey)
  else
    request = sdk.CreateStreamRequest()
  end if

  request.player = m.player
  request.videoObject = m.top.video
  ' Required to support UI elements for 'Why This Ad?' and skippability
  request.adUiNode = m.top.video

  requestResult = sdk.requestStream(request)
  If requestResult &lt;&gt; Invalid
    print "Error requesting stream ";requestResult
  Else
    m.streamManager = Invalid
    While m.streamManager = Invalid
      sleep(50)
      m.streamManager = sdk.getStreamManager()
    End While
    If m.streamManager = Invalid or m.streamManager["type"] &lt;&gt; Invalid or m.streamManager["type"] = "error"
      errors = CreateObject("roArray", 1, True)
      print "error ";m.streamManager["info"]
      errors.push(m.streamManager["info"])
      m.top.errors = errors
    Else
      m.top.streamManagerReady = True
      addCallbacks()
      m.streamManager.start()
    End If
  End If
End Sub

Add event listeners and start the stream

After requesting your stream, there are only a few things left to do: add event listeners to track ad progress, start your stream, and forward Roku messages to the SDK.

Key Point: You must forward all messages to the SDK to ensure correct ad playback.

MainScene.xml

function loadImaSdk() as void
  m.sdkTask = createObject("roSGNode", "imasdk")
  m.sdkTask.observeField("sdkLoaded", "onSdkLoaded")
  m.sdkTask.observeField("errors", "onSdkLoadedError")

  selectedStream = m.testVodStream
  m.videoTitle = selectedStream.title
  m.sdkTask.streamData = selectedStream

  m.sdkTask.observeField("urlData", "urlLoadRequested")
  m.sdkTask.video = m.video
  m.sdkTask.control = "RUN"
end function

Sub urlLoadRequested(message as Object)
  print "Url Load Requested ";message
  data = message.getData()

  playStream(data.manifest)
End Sub

Sub playStream(url as Object)
  vidContent = createObject("RoSGNode", "ContentNode")
  vidContent.url = url
  vidContent.title = m.videoTitle
  vidContent.streamformat = "hls"
  m.video.content = vidContent
  m.video.setFocus(true)
  m.video.visible = true
  m.video.control = "play"
  m.video.EnableCookies()
End Sub

Sdk.xml

Sub runThread()
  if not m.top.sdkLoaded
    loadSdk()
  End If
  if not m.top.streamManagerReady
    loadStream()
  End If
  If m.top.streamManagerReady
    runLoop()
  End If
End Sub

Sub runLoop()
  m.top.video.timedMetaDataSelectionKeys = ["*"]

  m.port = CreateObject("roMessagePort")

  ' Listen to all fields.

  ' IMPORTANT: Failure to listen to the position and timedmetadata fields
  ' could result in ad impressions not being reported.
  fields = m.top.video.getFields()
  for each field in fields
    m.top.video.observeField(field, m.port)
  end for

  while True
    msg = wait(1000, m.port)
    if m.top.video = invalid
      print "exiting"
      exit while
    end if

    m.streamManager.onMessage(msg)
    currentTime = m.top.video.position
    If currentTime > 3 And not m.top.adPlaying
       m.top.video.enableTrickPlay = true
    End If
  end while
End Sub

Function addCallbacks() as Void
  m.streamManager.addEventListener(m.sdk.AdEvent.ERROR, errorCallback)
  m.streamManager.addEventListener(m.sdk.AdEvent.START, startCallback)
  m.streamManager.addEventListener(m.sdk.AdEvent.FIRST_QUARTILE, firstQuartileCallback)
  m.streamManager.addEventListener(m.sdk.AdEvent.MIDPOINT, midpointCallback)
  m.streamManager.addEventListener(m.sdk.AdEvent.THIRD_QUARTILE, thirdQuartileCallback)
  m.streamManager.addEventListener(m.sdk.AdEvent.COMPLETE, completeCallback)
End Function

Function startCallback(ad as Object) as Void
  print "Callback from SDK -- Start called - "
End Function

Function firstQuartileCallback(ad as Object) as Void
  print "Callback from SDK -- First quartile called - "
End Function

Function midpointCallback(ad as Object) as Void
  print "Callback from SDK -- Midpoint called - "
End Function

Function thirdQuartileCallback(ad as Object) as Void
  print "Callback from SDK -- Third quartile called - "
End Function

Function completeCallback(ad as Object) as Void
  print "Callback from SDK -- Complete called - "
End Function

Function errorCallback(error as Object) as Void
  print "Callback from SDK -- Error called - "; error
  m.errorState = True
End Function

Add support for skippable ads (optional)

In order to support skippable ads, you need to add a seek method to the IMA DAI SDK's player object that programmatically seeks the video to the specified location, in floating-point seconds.

To support skippable ads, you must also make sure you set the adUiNode in your request.

Sdk.xml

  m.player.loadUrl = Function(urlData)
    m.top.video.enableTrickPlay = false
    m.top.urlData = urlData
  End Function

  m.player.seek = Function(timeSeconds as Float)
     print "---- SDK requested seek to ----" ; timeSeconds
     m.top.video.seekMode = "accurate"
     m.top.video.seek = timeSeconds
  End Function

  m.player.adBreakStarted = Function(adBreakInfo as Object)
    print "---- Ad Break Started ---- "
    m.top.adPlaying = True
    m.top.video.enableTrickPlay = false
  End Function