AppsScriptPulse

Solutions, Sheets, Web App, V8, Intermediate

How to track link clicks in emails and more with Google Apps Script and Google Sheets

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Learn how to track link clicks using Google Sheets and Apps Script to create a simple, lightweight tracking system

You live and learn! This is a regular occurrence if you are a subscriber to the work of Ben Collins (benlcollins.com). No exception with this recent post highlighting the ping attribute which can be used in <a> HTML links. This attribute has been around for a long time, but I’m sure many people like have never come across it. In the source post from Ben you can learn how to setup an Apps Script web app which will let you record link clicks in a Google Sheet.

A note of caution is whilst ping is valid HTML not all browsers choose to use it or enable it by default, something Mozilla have decided to do in Firefox. You can head over to Mozilla mdn documentation for the browser compatibility table and here is also an interesting post on how Google tracks with the ping-attribute.

Source: How To Track Link Clicks With Apps Script And Google Sheets

Solutions, Chat, V8, Intermediate

Introducing ‘Twitter for Google Chat’ – a Chat app built using Apps Script

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Preview tweets and user data when sharing links, along with the ability to follow a specific user or like a particular tweet.

If you haven’t looked at Google Chat apps or not looked at Chat apps for a while this is a great post from Sourabh Choraria outlining the development process using Google Apps Script. As part of this Sourabh includes an overview and source code for a Twitter powered Chat app recently published and available to try out in your Google Workspace domain. The app showcases slash commands as well as a recent new feature of preview links.

Source: Introducing ‘Twitter for Google Chat’ – a Chat app built using Apps Script

Solutions, Intermediate

Enhanced inline markdown commenting in Google Apps Script functions using JSDoc

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Another useful discovery from Kanshi Tanaike this time highlighting the ability to use markdown in Google Apps Script code comments. For those unfamiliar, JSDoc is the syntax used to automatically generate inline documentation in Google Sheets custom functions, Libraries as well as function references in your script project. As highlighted in the post as well as being able to add @constructor tags, developers can use markdown syntax to provide additional formatting to documentation comments. See the source post for details of supported markdown syntax.

Source: Report: Documentation Comments including JsDoc for Functions of Google Apps Script

Solutions, Calendar, Intermediate

Create an Out Of Office event in Google Calendar with Google Apps Script

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🏝 It’s finally summer break! We all wish we could create Out Of Office events in Calendar using Google Workspace #AppsScript (I know you do). But Calendar API is yet not allowing us to do so.

This post from Dararath BEAUVOIR is a great reminder that in Google Workspace/Apps Script development that you occasionally need to look beyond the built-in services like CalendarApp to the Advance Service equivalents. In this case Calendar.CalendarList.list is used because unlike CalendarApp using the Advanced Service the event response indicated if the eventType is out-of-office. More details are included in the source post.

Source: Create an Out Of Office event in Calendar with Google Apps Script

Add-on, Solutions, Forms, Video Tutorial, Intermediate

GWAOw! 4 – Forms History a Google Forms Add-on by Martin Hawksey

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Forms History is a Google Workspace Add-on that allows you to monitor your version history and store copies in Google Forms

Not just talking the talk, but also walking the walk. Shortly before taking a new role at CTS, the largest dedicated Google Cloud Partner in Europe, I published Forms History an add-on to enable revision history functionality in Google Forms.

Fellow Google Developers Expert, Scott Donald, has picked this up in the latest episode of GWAOw! his dedicated to Google Workspace Add-on review show. You can follow the source link for the YouTube clip and more. As part of the episode Scott rightly highlights the creative work of Alice Keeler, which hasn’t just included artwork but Alice has also provided a huge amount of support in promo and usability.

If you are interested in the inner workings of Forms History there is a related post on Working with the Google Drive API Revisions history: Tips for handling revision merges with Google Apps Script.

Source: GWAOw! 4 – Forms History by Martin Hawksey – Yagisanatode

Gotchas, Solutions, Docs, V8, Advanced

Retrieving Smart Chip dropdown values from Google Docs using Google Apps Script

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This is a sample script for retrieving the values of dropdown list of the smart chips on Google Document using Google Apps Script.

At August 23, 2021, 3 Classes for retrieving the smart chips have been added to Google Apps Script. But, in the current stage, unfortunately, all values of the smart chips cannot be retrieved by the Classes. For example, the dropdown list of the smart chips cannot be retrieved

Incredibly useful report and workaround from Kanshi Tanaike for Google Workspace Devs needing to get some ‘smart chips’ values from Google Docs. Hopefully classes/methods will be added to Apps Script and the Google Docs API (here is a related feature request you can star in the issue tracker), particularly as the current solution is to convert the Google Doc to .docx and then back to Google Doc.

Source: Retrieving Values of Dropdown List of Smart Chips on Google Document using Google Apps Script

Snippet, Beginner, Sheets

Move column positions in Google Sheets with Google Apps Script

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Move columns in a Google Sheet

Move columns in a Google Sheet

The following Google Apps Script is designed to reposition 2 columns within a Google Sheet. It is a small and simple bit of code but it was something new to me when I was collating lots of files together and appending columns at the end – which then needed to be moved.

In this example I am moving columns ‘collegename’ (E) and ‘shoesize’ (F) to the left of ‘postcode’ (D). So that ‘postcode’ will be the final column (F).

Source: The Gift of Script: Move Column Positions

Official News, Solutions, Drive, Intermediate

Programmatically manage and apply Drive Labels using new API functionality

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Many of our customers already take advantage of the Drive Labels capabilities to classify content and implement policies on their Drive files for governance and Data Loss Prevention.

Today, we’re happy to announce a highly requested update that will enable you to programmatically manage labels at scale via Drive APIs.

Google Workspace devs might be interested in this update to the Drive Labels API which enables additional functionality. As noted in the source post:

The new Drive Labels API supports reading Drive Label taxonomies. New functionality in the Drive API can be used to apply labels, set fields on files, and find files by label metadata. As a whole, these new API features enable numerous use cases including, bulk-classification, Apps Script driven workflows, third-party integrations, and other organizing and finding needs.

The post includes links to a number of useful resources including reference documentation.

Source: Programmatically manage and apply Drive Labels using new API functionality

Solutions, Intermediate

Benchmark: Process cost for Parsing XML data using Google Apps Script

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Note: Process time has been graphed on a log scale

In order to retrieve the values from XML data, when XML data is parsed using Google Apps Script, there are several methods for parsing the data. … For example, Class XmlService cannot only parse and read XML data but also update XML data and create new XML data. In the current stage, the process cost of Class XmlService is much higher than those of “cheerio” and the simple script using regex.

In Pulse we’ve previously highlighted the cheerio JavaScript library for parsing/extracting content from XML data. The cheerio library can easily be added to Google Apps Script projects as a library (see the GitHub repo for installation). Google Apps Script also has the XML Service, which can also be used to work with XML data. In this latest benchmark report from Kanshi Tanaike they look at the process cost for reading XML data using XML Service, cheerio and using RegEx. The results highlight a higher process cost for using XML Service particularly if you are handling reading 1,000 or more XML elements. The source post contains further details of the test and a summary of the results.

Source: Benchmark: Process cost for Parsing XML data using Google Apps Script

Solutions, Sheets, V8, Intermediate

Dependent dropdown lists for Google Sheets (and lots of other Google Apps Script goodies)

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Updated the script for dependent lists, and now it supports new options. New for 2022:

Dependent drop-down lists can be used to create a dynamic list of choices in Google Sheets. When the user makes a selection from the first drop-down list, the choices in the second drop-down list will be updated based on the selection. This can be used to create a cascading list of choices.

If you are looking for a nice solution to build dependent drop-down lists in Google Sheets this is a great solution from Max Makhrov. For more experienced Google Apps Script developers the solution incorporates some clever snippets both from Max and a number of other members of the community. Some highlights include: converting a column index into corresponding column letter; a tasker to batch apply updates to a Google Sheet; ChuckyCache for objects above 100Kb; and a reference to a zip compression solution. All these are referenced in the source code provided in the post.

Source: Dependent Drop-Down Lists For Google Sheets v2022