AppsScriptPulse

Official News

Google Workspace Developer News: Google Chat enhancements and more!

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The latest Google Workspace Developer News brings exciting updates, particularly for Google Chat. If you are in the Developer Preview Program there are a number of updates including the ability to build Google Workspace Add-ons that include Google Chat apps, simplifying app creation and reducing the need for separate Chat apps. This will hopefully simplify the installation process for admins and end-users, providing a more seamless experience.

Another helpful update allows the creation of group chats in import mode when migrating to Google Chat from other platforms, facilitating a smoother transition. Additionally, developers can now get or update users’ Google Chat space notification settings and list custom emojis through the Chat API, offering greater control and customisation.

The Calendar API has been enhanced, now providing access to birthday and other special events and enabling the differentiation of regular events from other types using the Apps Script Calendar service.

For detailed information and links to relevant documentation, be sure to check the video description on YouTube.

Source: Update to Calendar API, Google Workspace Add ons that extend Google Chat, and more!

Official News

Google Workspace Developer News: Google Sheets supports smart chips for link previews, Update to Chat API, and more

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Chanel Greco is back with Episode 12 of the Google Workspace Developer News. An exciting update is that Google Sheets now supports smart chips for link previews to third-party resources. This now allows developers to create Google Workspace Add-ons that can pull information from their app directly into Sheets.

Other updates include:

  • The Chat API can now create announcement spaces and read/update space permissions.
  • New widgets for card-based Chat app interfaces are generally available.
  • Chat API Space & Membership management with App Authentication is available for Developer Preview Program members.
  • The Chat API can manage custom emoji when enabled for a Workspace organization.
  • The Meet Add-ons SDK can now retrieve the meetingCode property of an ongoing meeting.

More details including links to the documentation are included in the YouTube description.

Source: Google Sheets supports smart chips for link previews, Update to Chat API, and more!

Community News, Official News

Attention Google Workspace Admins and Developers: New Google Workspace Admin Console API (Policy API) and GAM access

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Google recently announced an open beta of the new Policy API. This new API now means developers can read a number of Google Workspace Admin settings programmatically, including those applied at an OU and group level.

This API provides access to the settings that are part of the recommendations published in CISA’s Google Workspace secure configuration baseline, with plans to increase the coverage and functionality of the API.

Additionally, GAM7, the recent merge of GAM and GAM-ADV, has been updated with the ability to read policy data, further streamlining policy management tasks.

You can read more about Audit security settings using the Policy API, now available in open beta and Announcing new policy commands in GAM 7.00.27

Community News, Official News

Calling all Google Workspace Developers! Your feedback is needed

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Steven Bazyl, Head of Google Workspace Developer Relations, recently distributed a survey aimed at getting feedback on the Google Workspace platform. This is your chance to influence the future of the platform.

The survey is short and focuses on key areas like:

  • Overall satisfaction with Workspace Platform as a development environment
  • Your experiences with specific Workspace components (Meet, Chat, Gmail, Drive, Editors)
  • The biggest challenges you face in Workspace development
  • Your suggestions for improvements

By sharing your insights you have an opportunity to help shape the platform to better meet your needs and make your development workflows more efficient. I would encourage you to complete the survey (it only takes a few minutes) and share with other Google Workspace developers.

Don’t miss this opportunity to make your voice heard as this is the final week that the survey is open!

Survey link: Complete the Workspace Platform Developer Survey
LinkedIn post: Google Workspace user group post

Official News

Google Workspace Developer News: Create and organize Docs with the new ‘tabs’ API methods and more

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A slightly shorter Google Workspace Developer News episode this month from Chanel Greco (Google Workspace, DevRel). New features for developers include using the Google Docs API or Apps Script to create and organize documents with tabs. Google Meet Add-ons now have the ability to end collaborations programmatically. Google Chat apps have expanded card interface features, such as Material Design buttons and ChipList widgets.

Lastly, developers are encouraged to use Cloud Client Libraries when calling Chat API for improved efficiency. You can find out more about all these updates by following the source link.

Source: Create and organize Docs with tabs, more card interface features for Google Chat, and more!

Official News, Chat, Intermediate

Google Workspace Developer Preview Program: New Card UI in Chat

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You can apply to join the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program to get early access to certain features. Features in developer preview have already completed early development phases, so they’re ready for implementation. This program gives you the chance to shape the final stages of feature development with feedback, get pre-release support, and have your integration ready for public use on launch day.

The Google Workspace Developer Preview Program (DPP) gives you early access to new features. If you are developing Google Workspace products and solutions, it’s a great way to stay ahead of the curve and provide feedback before feature release. Anyone can apply to join the DPP, just follow the source link, but note that you can’t enroll with a gmail.com account.

New Google Chart Card UI has just been added for buttons, chips, collapsible sections, and overflow menus. These additions extend the capability of Google Chat, allowing the possibility for users to interact with external tools and services without leaving the chat and continually having to context switch.

The public documentation page includes a list of all active developer previews. While these pages don’t offer visuals of the features, existing DPP members received a nice set of visuals in the email update. This example includes chips and a customizable control button for a collapsible section:

I’d highly recommend registering for the DPP so you can see what is coming in Google Workspace.

Source: Developer Preview Program  |  Google Workspace  |  Google for Developers

Official News

Google Workspace Developer News: Updates to Tasks API, Chat API, new allowlist feature for Apps Scripts, and more

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I’m continually blown away by how much information Google Developer Advocate Chanel Greco squeezes into the Google Workspace Developer News video updates. It’s also great to see the continued development of features and services Workspace developers can use. This video covers a number of updates including:

  • Using the Tasks API to manage tasks assigned from Google Docs or Chat spaces.
  • The general availability of multiselect menus and columns for Google Workspace Add-ons.
  • Using the Chat API to make a Google Chat space discoverable to specific users within an organization by creating target audiences.
  • Authenticating Chat app requests using Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, or an App URL ID Token.
  • Importing spaces from other messaging platforms and allowing external users to join them.
  • The Google Drive API now supports the drive.meet.readonly scope.
  • Google Workspace admins can restrict which URLs Apps Scripts and Sheets can source external content from.

The video description includes all the related documentation links to find out more.

Source: Updates to Tasks API, Chat API, new allowlist feature for Apps Scripts, and more

Official News

Join the Google Developer Program: Accessing free credits and services as part of your developer journey

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The Google Developer Program gives developers access to a range of new tools and benefits, to allow them to discover and explore all the Google sponsored communities we already offer.

Google recently announced an expansion of the Google Developers Program:

“The program will give developers access to a range of new tools and benefits such as technical assistance from Gemini and allow them to discover and explore all the Google sponsored communities we already offer. Joining is free and open to any developer worldwide.”

One of the headline benefits is when you also join the Google Cloud Innovators program through your Developer Profile, you will get free credits for the Google Cloud Skills Boost learning platform. Your credits will automatically replenish every month, so if you run out you just need to wait a little to continue your learning.

A note for Google Workspace account holders is you may find that your Workspace Admin has disabled the ‘Developer Profile’ service for your domain. If so a friendly email to your support desk might be required, however, given you can collect badges for your Developer Profile you may prefer to create an account with a personal consumer Gmail account.

Follow the source link to find out more…

Source: Introducing the Google Developer Program: Unlock New Opportunities

Add-on, Official News, Solutions, Advanced

Google Classroom add-ons now generally available to Google Workspace developers

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In 2022, we made it easy to seamlessly access popular Education Technology tools directly in Google Classroom. We partnered with 20+ EdTech companies, including Kahoot!, Pear Deck, IXL, ReadWorks, and Nearpod, to build Google Classroom add-ons. These new integrations let educators and students easily find, use, and grade great content in their favorite EdTech tools without having to navigate to external websites and apps.

Today, we’re excited to make Classroom add-ons generally available to all developers.

Given the number of Apps Script users in EDU today’s announcement the Google Classroom add-ons now generally available for anyone to publish is probably welcome news. Whilst Google Classroom add-ons have been around for a couple of years they have historically only been created by a select few of Google partners.

Before jumping in something key to keep in mind is that while Apps Script offers a low-entry approach for most Workspace add-ons, Classroom add-ons require more technical expertise. They involve building a web application and integrating it with Classroom’s functionalities using the Google Workspace Marketplace SDK. Proficiency in web development languages like Python, Java, or Node.js is recommended and Google have published some example implementations for Python, Java and Node.js.

Whilst there are differences there are overlaps. For example like Workspace and Editor Add-ons you will need to create a Google Cloud project to publish to the Google Workspace Marketplace. As part of this you’ll have to also provide key information such as terms and conditions as well as going through the OAuth verification process.

The Google Developer documentation and other resources are linked from the source announcement.

Source: Google Classroom add-ons now generally available to Google Workspace developers

Official News

Register for Google Workspace Developer Summits in Boston and Berlin, September 2024

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The Google Workspace Developer Summit is a full day event led by the Google Workspace Developer Relations team. Together, we will explore both the opportunity and the technologies that make up the Google Workspace platform, with a focus on what’s new and emerging in the types of solutions you and your teams can build.

The Google Workspace Developer Summit are returning! These are excellent opportunities for Workspace user and developers of all experience levels to learn about creating unique solutions for their businesses or the world. The full-day events, led by the Google Workspace Developer Relations team, will allow you to explore both the potential and technologies of the Google Workspace platform.

The events also include sessions from community members and I will be doing a short session at the Berlin event on Empowering Google Workspace Developers with Gemini Function Calling and more!

You can register to attend following these links:

If you can’t join in-person for the summits but still would like to watch some of the sessions both registration pages include a Google Form to note interest.

Source: Google Workspace Developer Summit – Boston & Google Workspace Developer Summit – Berlin