AdMob banner is too small

Question

I have an AdMob Banner and it is showing up correctly but it is way too small. It's not fitting the width of the screen. This happens both on the emulator and the real devices. Can anyone help me solve this problem? XML CODE:

  <LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/lib/com.google.ads"
    android:id="@+id/LinearLayout1"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/usernameLab"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Username:"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
        android:textSize="35px" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/usernameField"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:inputType="textPersonName" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/passwordLab"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Password:"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
        android:textSize="35px" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/passwordField"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:inputType="textPassword" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/login"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Login" />

    <CheckBox
        android:id="@+id/checkBox1"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Remember me?" />

    <CheckBox
        android:id="@+id/checkBox2"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Parent Account?" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/imageView1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="124dp"
        android:src="@drawable/cool" />

    <LinearLayout
        xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/lib/com.google.ads"
        xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:id="@+id/linearLayout3"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical" >

        <com.google.ads.AdView
            android:id="@+id/adView"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            ads:adSize="BANNER"
            ads:adUnitId="..."
            ads:loadAdOnCreate="true"
            />
    </LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Answer 1

Take a look at this:

https://developers.google.com/mobile-ads-sdk/docs/android/intermediate

In most cases the best approach is to use SMART_BANNER size and let Admod SDK take care of the banner size, just make sure of leaving at least 90 pixels height for the tallest banner.

Answer 2

According to the image you posted the ad is showing at 320 x 50 pixels and your overall resolution is 480 x 800. I'm going to assume that the pixel density is 1.0 (This would be an Abstracted LCD density of 160, a setting under your AVD device properties). This is an unusual density. The vast majority of phones have a pixel density of 1.5 (Abstracted LCD density of 240) resulting in a screen width of 320 dip, and with that setting it should render properly.

If you want to make sure that your ad always fills the width of the screen, there are two approaches. On Honeycomb and up (API Level 11+) you can use setScaleX() and setScaleY() to scale it. You'll have to get the screen width and scale it appropriately. For Gingerbread and earlier you'll have to figure out scaling. I don't know what options are available there. Scaling will result in some pixelation and generally people prefer to just center the ad rather than stretch it.

TL;DR: Most people will see it fine, you can center it or stretch it yourself