Use Google Apps Script to automate actions on Bluesky Social using their API.
I’ve largely given up on X (formerly Twitter) and there are now numerous alternatives including Bluesky Social. If you would like to automate posting and getting messages from Bluesky Stéphane Giron provides a guide on how to communicate with Bluesky Social API using Google Apps Script. It includes detailed steps on how to obtain an app password, authenticate with Bluesky, retrieve messages for a user, and post a new message. The post also includes code snippets for each step, making it easy if you want to modify this integration to your own needs.
Use the Apps Script Lock Service to control Form submissions and prevent data loss
Lock Service code snippet
The following Google Apps Script is a one example of how the Lock Service can be used to prevent concurrent running of code. Here we have a Google Form that can be submitted by users at any point, the code then takes some of those details and appends them to another Google Sheet row. In normal circumstances this will happen relatively quickly and without clashes, but what if multiple people submit the Form at the same time!?
[Editor note: An alternative approach to tryLock() is waitLock(). The only different with a waitLock() is it will throw an exception after the set number of milliseconds. An example of waitLock() with onFormSubmit is included in the reference documentation]
I use Google Apps Script to support staff and students in my job. I enjoy dabbling with creating tools to help with automation and I freely share my learning experiences on my blog, where I also have a number of useful Google Add-ons: www.pbainbridge.co.uk
This post describes how I designed and ran an audience survey with over 1,700 responses, using Google Forms, Sheets, Apps Script, and ChatGPT. I’ll show you the entire process from end-to-end, including how I:
Created a survey with Google Forms
Used Apps Script to automatically say thank you to 1,700 respondents
Analyzed the response data in Google Sheets
Used AI to help me understand the qualitative data
Presented the results in Google Docs
It’s rather fitting that the 1,000th Pulse post features content by the one and only Ben Collins! Back in late 2019, when I was thinking about creating a new community site for Google Workspace developers, Ben’s encouragement was the spark that ignited AppsScriptPulse.
And today’s post by Ben is a nice example of Apps Script’s power to automate repetitive tasks. As part of this he shows how to craft personalised “thank you” emails for Google Form survey response with Google Apps Script. Ben’s insights go beyond ‘thank-you’s as he outlines how he administers and analyses customer surveys, highlighting his design choices for Google Forms and data analysis using built-in Google Sheets functions.
To take things a step further, Ben also highlights how he used ChatGPT to categorize qualitative survey responses. With Google’s recent announcement of their new AI model, Gemini, which outperforms ChatGPT in a number of academic benchmarks, it would be interesting to see how these two platforms compare for this type of analysis.
Raising a glass (or an espresso :) to Ben and this 1,000-post milestone!
You’ve made a formula, but someone deleted it. It may be annoying to restore your formula. You are not always able to protect a range with formulas, as protection will also forbid users from sorting range, adding new rows, hiding rows, etc.
Let’s create our formula protection with the help of a few formulas and app script code.
Google Sheets are fantastic for collaboration, the downside however can be that other people can break stuff. The Protected Sheets and Ranges can help with this, but there might be times when you need an alternative solution. If you find yourself in this situation Max Makhrov has come to the rescue with a solution to rewrite formula if they are accidentally deleted. You can find out more in the source post link. As a bonus Max includes a named Google Sheets function, FormulasMap, which can be used to export functions in a range to another sheet.
This is a sample script for copying the date object between Google Spreadsheets with the different time zones using Google Apps Script.
As I’ve previously mentioned working with dates, times and time zones can often be a bit of a headache. If you’d like to learn more about some of the challenges of dealing with ‘big balls of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff’ I recommend watching Comptuerphile’s Problem with Time & Timezones.
This post from Kanshi Tanaike highlights a couple of approaches for handling date/time objects in Google Apps Script when you are using Google Sheets.
Today we’ll see how to link a chart title to a cell, so that the chart title automatically reflects whatever value is in the cell
Today’s Pulse snippet comes courtesy of Ben Collins’ excellent Google Sheets Tips Newsletter, Tip 272. It uses a very basic onEdit() trigger to update a chart title based on a cell value. Ben has a great way of highlighting solutions without getting readers lost in complexity. Hopefully this example highlights the how easily you can modify Google Sheet charts using Apps Script.
If you are an Apps Script novice and looking for an easy way to learn what else is possible my own tip is to start the macro recorder, modify an embedded Google Sheets chart and then look at the resulting macro code in the Script Editor.
The common pattern for checking the business logic before executing automation
Here’s a clever little snippet from Max Makhrov which combines Google Apps Script with conditional logic created using Google Sheets functions, the resulting cell value being used for the error message.
/**
* @param {String} rangeName
*
* @returns {Boolean} toStopExecution
*/
function getStopMessageBoxFromNamedRange_(rangeName) {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
var r = ss.getRangeByName(rangeName);
var v = r.getValue();
if (v === '') {
return false;
}
var stopHeader = 'The script was stopped';
Browser.msgBox(stopHeader, v, Browser.Buttons.OK);
return true;
}
If after reading Max’s post you are unsure how this works, here is an example Google Sheet with some test data and logic as well as a ‘My Menu’ open to test the bound script.
Create a reusable settings page in Google Sheets, using Apps Script, where configurations are easily accessible, even to those without a coding background.
I’ve not seen the numbers but would imagine the majority of Google Apps Script projects are script bound to Google Sheets. Google Sheets provide a useful data canvas which is familiar to users, which can also be used to quickly interface your script solutions. You could of course use dialogs and sidebars combined with the Properties Service to collect and store settings, but coding these in HTML/JavaScript can be time consuming.
This post from Dimitris Paxinos includes a nice Apps Script code pattern for getting and setting user settings from a Google Sheets tab. This includes some nice features including in memory storage and methods to use Script Properties. The post includes an accompanying video which explains the code should you need additional help understanding this solution.
Learn how to seamlessly integrate JSON data from an API into Looker Studio using a custom connector built with Google Apps Script.
This post is a useful reminder of that Google Apps Script can be used to make a data connector for Google online visualisation and reporting tool, Looker Studio. The post by Dimitris Paxinos covers all you need to know about integrating a third-party API as a data source, exposing configuration settings and deploying the connector. All the code is on Github and is a great boilerplate if you have other APIs you are interested in integrating.
Check a Google Sheet once per day and if the date is in the past Autofill another row of formulas.
Autofill Google Sheet formulas each day
The following Google Apps Script is designed to check a Google Sheet once per day and if the date is in the past it Autofills another row with the existing formulas used across the columns. This post is a variation of the Autofill Google Sheet Formula one.
I use Google Apps Script to support staff and students in my job. I enjoy dabbling with creating tools to help with automation and I freely share my learning experiences on my blog, where I also have a number of useful Google Add-ons: www.pbainbridge.co.uk
