Everyone says use Google Apps Script libraries for easier maintenance — I found a better way. Here’s why NPM modules might change the game for you too.
Last time, we covered how to deploy our library as a native Google Apps Script (GAS) library using Vite, GitHub Actions, and clasp. This setup is efficient, but there’s a notable drawback to using Apps Script libraries.
According to the official guide: “Warning: A script that uses a library doesn’t run as quickly as it would if all the code were contained within a single script project. Although libraries can make development and maintenance more convenient, use them sparingly in projects where speed is critical. Because of this issue, library use should be limited in add-ons.”
Apps Script is not known for its speed, being a free runtime. Slowing it down further by using native GAS libraries is generally not advisable. Therefore, I prefer to avoid native GAS libraries whenever possible.
Instead, it’s much more efficient to bundle your dependencies directly into your source code, similar to how it’s done in Node.js. This is where NPM modules and Vite come into play.
In this post, we’ll cover:
Which NPM modules are compatible with Google Apps Script and which ones are not.
How to use NPM modules in your Apps Script projects.
Forget everything you know about deploying Google Apps Script, because the typical ‘Deploy’ button is not part of our strategy.
TLDR;
In the previous posts in this series, we focused on preparing our tools and setting the stage. We reviewed our project’s functionality, explored the project structure, and delved into the source code. We also discussed the pros and cons of using JSDoc versus TypeScript and covered essential developer tooling.
Today, we’re finally getting to the fun part—deploying something! We’ll start by deploying our library as a native Google Apps Script library. But there’s a twist: we will do it the proper CI/CD way, avoiding the typical “Deploy” button in the online IDE.
Side note: I always avoid the online IDE as it feels like my hands are tied when I use it.
Instead, we’ll use Vite with a custom plugin to bundle our library and GitHub Actions to handle the deployment.
In this series about deploying Google Apps Script libraries, Part 2 dove deep into Test-Driven Development (TDD) and highlighted jest as my go-to tool for outstanding outcomes. Now, let’s broaden our toolkit with additional essentials that not only elevate our development standards but also make our codebase more welcoming to collaborators.
First up, we’ve got ESLint. Linting, for those unfamiliar, is the process of running a program that will check your code for potential errors.
Next, we introduce Prettier, which takes our code and formats it into a structured style that you define. Think of Prettier as the stylist of your codebase, making sure everything looks ‘pretty’ and readable by cleaning up those messy or inconsistent styles left behind.
We also employ Husky, a tool for managing git hooks. Git hooks are scripts you can set to run before or after events like commits, push, and receive. Husky ensures that tools like ESLint, Prettier and Jest run every time you commit changes, helping catch issues before they hit production.
These tools are indispensable not just for solo developers but also for teams looking to contribute to the library. By maintaining consistent, pre-defined high standards of code hygiene, we ensure that our library remains robust, clean, and maintainable.
Prerequisites: You should be familiar with git, an essential skill for any developer. If you’re not, I recommend checking out the beginner’s guide at FreeCodeCamp. Additionally, being able to code locally and understanding clasp is crucial. If you need a refresher on this, visit my earlier post on setting up your local environment. Once you’re set, we can dive into making our development process even smoother and more efficient!
Here are the links to the repo and the NPM page again.
About a year ago, a notable shift occurred in the developer community when SvelteKit made the decision to transition from TypeScript to JSDoc, specifically stating that TypeScript was not the ideal choice for developing libraries. This move definitely raised some eyebrows and stirred the pot among developers. Initially, I was skeptical, perceiving it as a regression rather than progress. TypeScript was even featured in one of my previous blog posts as a recommended tool. However, this decision began to resonate with me over time, leading me to adopt a similar approach in Google Apps Script. The reasons for this shift are manifold, with some being universally applicable and others specific to the peculiarities of Apps Script.
Here are the links to the repo and the NPM page again.
Let’s dive into why TypeScript was chosen in the first place and what has changed to endorse JSDoc over it.
Following up from last week, we get into how I built the table() method in our ConsolAS class, using test-driven development (TDD). This is a cool way to make sure everything works perfectly by testing each part before we fully build it. We’re aiming to make it work just like the console.table() function in Google Chrome, which is pretty handy.
To subscribe to events using Apps Script, you can now use the Advanced Google Workspace Events service.
In the May 02, 2024 Google Apps Script release notes it was announced that a new Advanced Google Workspace Events service is available to let developers use the Google Workspace Events API directly in Google Apps Script. The Google Workspace Events API is a relatively new API, which was released to developer preview in January, 2024. The Google Workspace Events API uses a subscription model to handle resource changes. When you create a subscription, you specify the target resource (such as a Google Chat space or Google Meet meeting space) and the event types that you want to subscribe to. The API then sends notifications to your specified endpoint whenever an event occurs for that resource and event type.
In the case of the new Advanced Google Workspace Events service the linked documentation includes samples for using the new service with Google Chat. It’s worth noting that the Advanced Google Workspace Events service is designed specifically on managing subscriptions to events. While it lets you to control the flow of information and manage event subscriptions in your Apps Script projects, the actual processing and handling of event data occurs separately.
The linked documentation page provides sample code as well as outlines all the prerequisites.
Here’s the scoop: While tinkering with a project, I needed a way to pinpoint the last row of data in various sheets — essentially to catch any “orphan” values lurking there. Typically, something like console.table() would be the hero of the day, allowing me to effortlessly display data like so:
This tutorial shows how to make a Google Chat app that answers questions based on conversations in Chat spaces with generative AI powered by Vertex AI with Gemini. The Chat app uses the Google Workspace Events API plus Pub/Sub to recognize and answer questions posted in Chat spaces in real time, even when it isn’t mentioned.
Here is another great tutorial from the Google Chat DevRel team, this time showcasing how the Google Workspace Events API and some new Google Chat UI elements can be used to turn a Chat space into a Gemini Pro powered knowledge base.
The sample solution will let you consume your Chat space message history into a Firestore database. The Chat app is an intelligent agent that can then monitor for new questions and make suggestions using Gemini to generate content based on the previous messages.
I tried to see if an AI that’s good at writing could also make smart moves in a game. I chose Battleship and set it up in Google Sheets to play against Gemini, the AI. The result was mixed. On one hand, yes, Gemini could play the game. It followed the basic rules and even managed to sink some of my ships. This was a big deal, especially since it took me a ridiculous number of days of coding to get there, and I nearly gave up at one point.
Dmitry Kostyuk has shared a blog post detailing his experiment pitting the Gemini API against himself in a game of Battleship. As explained by Dmitry while Gemini could follow the rules and even sink some ships, it needed help to avoid basic mistakes, revealing that AI still has room to grow in the realm of strategic games.
Dmitry built the game in Google Sheets and the source code is linked from the post. To guide Gemini, Kostyuk crafted detailed prompts outlining the game’s mechanics and decision-making logic. However, he encountered challenges due to Gemini’s limitations in providing strategic responses. Despite these hurdles, the project yielded valuable insights into prompting techniques for AI decision-making.
The Slides Advisor project is an open source, Google Workspace Add-On that uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to review and give feedback on your presentations, whenever you need it. The project uses Google’s Gemini API image and text processing features to analyze your Google Slides against a set of guidelines and lets you know how you are doing against those guidelines. Even better, you can customize those guidelines to follow your organization’s recommendations, or remind you to improve your presentations based on rules you define for yourself.
We’ve all been there: scrambling to cram too much information onto a single slide. But what if you had an AI assistant to give your presentations a once-over?
The Slides Advisor is a free, open-source Google Workspace Add-on for Google Slides that uses the power of AI to analyze your presentations. It checks your slides against customisable guidelines, helping you ensure they’re clear, concise, and visually appealing.
Everything you need to get started is covered in the source post by Joe Fernandez and Steve Bazyl. One of the highlights for me is seeing how you can setup a service account to access the Gemini AI API with Google Apps Script. The post also covers how you can modify the prompt you use to get different responses from Gemini.
