AppsScriptPulse

Copy macros to other Google Sheets (and how to centrally create/update Apps Script code to Google Workspace editors)

 

Image credit: Google

Manually copying Google Sheets macros from one spreadsheet to another can be time consuming and error-prone. This Google Workspace Add-on automatically copies a script project and attaches it to a user-specified spreadsheet. Though this solution focuses on Sheets macros, you can use it to copy and share any container-bound script.

Are you looking for a way to centralize your codebase but deploy it to container-bound scripts? Here is a tutorial for you from the Apps Script samples on the Google Developers site, highlighted by Steve Webster, which gives an alternative approach to deploying as an add-on or sharing a container-bound template.

In the tutorial, you’ll find code that uses the Apps Script API to perform functions like getting, creating, and updating container-bound scripts. As part of the solution you’ll see how you can get the source project content using the Apps Script API, then opening a target Google Sheet to either create or update the container script.

This solution is not limited to Google Sheets only. You can use the same process to update code in other Google Workspace editors like Docs, Forms, and Slides. Usually, I would recommend maintaining and distributing your code as an add-on, however, in certain scenarios, this alternative approach could work well.

Source: Copy macros to other spreadsheets  |  Apps Script  |  Google for Developers

Master Google Apps Script UIs — Part 6: Acing Client-to-Server Chatter with Promises 🤝

Welcome Back to Mastering Google Apps Script UIs: Client-to-Server Communication Spotlight

Oh, howdy folks! Just like a boomerang, you’ve found your way back to our marvelous series. If you thought the previous episodes were fire, wait till you see what’s cooking today! 🔥

We’re diving headfirst into the world of client-to-server communication. It’s like passing notes in class, but with a lot less paper and a lot more code. 📝➡️💻

Here’s the catch though — we can’t install Google Apps Script locally to run things on our dev server. Yep, that’s right. It’s like trying to install a toaster in a bathtub; it just ain’t happening. 🛁🚫🍞

But fear not, dear coder, for I’ve got a trick or two up my sleeve. We’re gonna finesse our way around this with some snazzy hacks like promises, polyfills, and mocks. Oh my!

Source: Master Google Apps Script UIs — Part 6: Acing Client-to-Server Chatter with Promises 🤝

Management of rich text cell formatting in Google Sheets with Google Apps Script

In order to add and delete a text for the rich text in a cell, it is required to create a script while the current text style is kept. This is actually complicated. In this post, I would like to introduce the enriched management of rich text on Google Spreadsheet using Google Apps Script. In order to enrich the management of Rich Text using Google Apps Script, I created a library RichTextAssistant.

Some very clever work from Kanshi Tanaike which can help with the management of cell text formatting in Google Sheets.  The RichTextAssistant Apps Script library included in the post has some nice methods for both handling and preserving cell text formatting. It’s worth spend a little time checking the various samples provided to see what is possible and how these might enhance one of your own script projects.  If you are curious the source code for the library is also on GitHub and linked from the post.

Source: Enriched Management of Rich Text on Google Spreadsheet using Google Apps Script

Two ways to remove duplicate rows from Google Sheets using Google Apps Script

For many years users had to find a variety of workarounds if they wanted to remove duplicate rows from Google Sheets. This all changed in 2019 when Google announced new features, which included removing duplicates from Google Sheets. Recently I got tagged in a conversation with Andrea Guerri who shared some ‘remove duplicate’ example scripts. This sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole looking at various ‘remove duplicate’ Apps Script solutions and I’ll share two of my favourites.

Source: Two ways to remove duplicate rows from Google Sheet using Google Apps Script

Master Google Apps Script UIs — Part 5: Unit Testing Your Front-End With Jest 🚀

Introduction 📝

Well, well, well! Look who’s back for another session of “Weaving Magic with Code”! 😄 Today, we’re diving head-first into the magical world of unit testing. You might be wondering: “Why the fuss about unit testing?” 🤔

Unit testing, my friends, is the silent hero of software development. Picture it as a mini-pit stop where your code gets a once-over before it hits the road. The automated tests ensure that our code does exactly what we expect it to. The benefits?

  • Makes us ponder deeply about our app’s architecture, like a philosopher musing about the meaning of life 🧐
  • Forces us to clarify our expectations from functions and classes.
  • Ensures that as we revamp and update our code, we aren’t unknowingly playing host to bugs, much like a surprise party you didn’t want 🐛

Source: Master Google Apps Script UIs — Part 5: Unit Testing Your Front-End With Jest 🚀

Create a Google Doc for a single row of Google Sheet data with Google Apps Script

Use a row of data in a Google Sheet to pass to a Google Doc via Apps Script

Use a row of data in a Google Sheet to pass to a Google Doc via Apps Script

Create a Google Doc containing the information from a selected row of Sheet data.

The following Google Apps Script is designed to create a Google Doc for the selected row of data in a Google Sheet and to include some of that data within the new Doc. it also creates a link to the new Doc back in the Sheet on the relevant row.

Source: The Gift of Script: Create a Google Doc for a single row of Sheet data

How to monitor your MongoDB with Google Sheets and Apps Script 

Conduct app monitoring, data backup, and data analysis for your MongoDB … This article shares a simple way to achieve this using Google Sheets and Apps Script. In this article, you will learn how to:

  1. Populate MongoDB data in Google Sheets for analysis
  2. Receive daily reports of your app’s growth metrics via email

Often the hardest part of interacting with other services using Google Apps Script is working out the payload you need to send with UrlFetchApp. Despite having almost 1,000 posts in AppScriptPulse, this is the first post featuring MongoDB. The source post has all the code and setup instructions to start collecting MongoDB data into Google Sheets as well as sending a daily email report of selected metrics.

Source: How to Track Your App’s Growth Using Google Sheets and Apps Script

Automating Blog Summarisation with Google Apps Script, ChatGPT, and Open AI API

Are you someone who loves reading blogs but finds it difficult to make time for them? Or, are you a blogger looking to make your content more accessible to readers? You’re in luck! I discovered an incredible combination of tools that can help automate the summarisation of blog posts.

Learn how to automate blog summarisation with Google Apps Script, ChatGPT, and OpenAI API. This blog post by Aryan Irani guides you through the process, enabling you to enhance your content creation efficiency. Simplify summarisation and maximize productivity in just a few steps.

Source: Automating Blog Summarisation with Google Apps Script, ChatGPT, and Open AI API

Master Google Apps Script UIs — Part 4: Spice Up Your Project with Dev Dependencies! 🔧

Introduction

Welcome back, code wranglers! Today, we’re diving into the world of developer dependencies that make developing projects more efficient than a coffee-fueled coder on a deadline. 🚀 You can find the complete source code in the part-04 branch of the Github repository. Also, feel free to mess around with this demo spreadsheet and play with Emojibar. I’ll be updating it with every new blog post!

What Are Dev Dependencies?

Dev dependencies are like your car’s GPS: they’re not necessary for the car to run, but they sure make getting to your destination a lot easier! 🗺️ They’re modules necessary for the development and testing processes of a project, but not for its production runtime environment. They’re not bundled with the source code and help automate tasks that would otherwise make you pull your hair out.

Source: Master Google Apps Script UIs — Part 4: Spice Up Your Project with Dev Dependencies! 🔧

Building a YouTube comments dataset with Google Apps Script

The first step in conducting research involves acquiring an appropriate dataset. .. Apps Script is a scripting platform developed by Google, that provides a user-friendly interface that enables easy automation and interaction with various Google services, including YouTube’s API.

For many years I was custodian of TAGS, a Google Sheets solution to archive Twitter searches. This came to an abrupt end when Twitter put a hefty paywall on API access. I’m sure there were ‘bad actors’ using TAGS, but I was also aware there were a number of academics and students using this solution to help make the world a little better. As noted in this source post “Dataset plays a crucial role in ensuring the accuracy and dependability of the results we obtain”.

For social scientists looking for new datasets this post from Randie Pathirage highlights how you can use Google Apps Script to get comments on YouTube videos using the YouTube Data API.

Source: YouTube Comment Scraping Made Easy with Apps Script