AppsScriptPulse

Add-on, Official News

Google Workspace Add-ons now generally available in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

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Google Workplace Add-ons are now available for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Google Workspace Add-ons are already available for Calendar, Gmail, and Google Drive.

There have been Editor Add-ons for a number of years, with Google Workspace Add-ons developers can tap into a new integrated user experience. One of the main differences with Workspace Add-ons is the use of the Card service rather than custom HTML (HTMLService). The benefit of switching to a Card service is cross platform support including integration into Google’s Workspace mobile apps.

Follow the link to the source post for links to all the relevant developer documentation.

Source: Google Workspace Add-ons now generally available in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Official News

When to use AppSheet or Apps Script in Google Workspace | Google Cloud Blog

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AppSheet and Apps Script bring together a lot of powerful customization and functionality to Google Workspace, but you may be wondering when to use which platform. Here’s the answer.

This post covers various scenarios where you might want to use “AppSheet, Google Cloud’s no-code development platform, and Apps Script, Google Workspace’s integrated low-code development platform”.

It was the last line in the post that particularly caught my eye:

We plan to continue to integrate AppSheet and Apps Script in interesting ways, and to make it even easier for you to build powerful solutions. We’re eager to see what you create.

Source: When to use AppSheet or Apps Script in Google Workspace | Google Cloud Blog

Official News

Google Developers Blog: Building solutions using the G Suite developer platform

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Millions of users know G Suite as a collection of communication and productivity apps that enables teams to easily create, communicate, collaborate, and discover content to supercharge teamwork. Beneath the surface of this well-serving collection of apps is also an extensible platform that enables developers to build targeted custom experiences and integrations utilizing these apps, allowing G Suite’s vast user base to get even more value out of the platform. At first glance, it may not be natural to think of the tools you use for day-to-day productivity and collaboration as a developer platform. But consider what makes up a developer platform; Languages, APIs, runtimes, frameworks, IDEs, ecosystem, etc; G Suite offers developers all of these things and more. Let’s take a closer look at what makes up the G Suite developer platform and how you can use it.

Nice overview of the G Suite developer platform from Charles Maxson. I always find it useful to see how others pitch the platform and from this piece useful to see how Apps Script is put in context with other G Suite development options.

Source: Google Developers Blog: Building solutions using the G Suite developer platform

Official News, Solutions, Sheets, Video Tutorial

How to send text messages using Google Sheets and Twilio – Sheets to Apps

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Did you know that you can send text messages via Google Sheets? In this episode of Sheets to Apps, we show you how to easily send text messages with Google Sheets via Twilio – an online communications provider.

Back in January Sourabh Choraria highlighted a Medium post from AVG showing how to Send SMS event updates or discount codes using Twilio from a Google Sheet. AVG has now created a short explanatory video covering this solution. You can view the video description for all the code and resources you need to try out this solution.

Official News, Solutions, Sheets, Video Tutorial

Create personalized functions in sheets – Sheets to Apps

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In this episode of Sheets to Apps, learn how to create a personalized formula using JavaScript to auto-calculate rooms needed for an event.

Add-on, Official News, Solutions

Google Developers Blog: Building G Suite Add-ons with your favorite tech stack

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Let’s talk about the basics of G Suite Add-ons. G Suite Add-ons simplify how users get things done in G Suite by bringing in functionality from other applications where you need them. They provide a persistent sidebar for quick access, and they are context-aware — meaning they can react to what you’re doing in context. … Up until recently, G Suite Add-ons leaned on Apps Script to build Add-ons, but choice is always a good thing, and in some cases you may want to use another scripting language.. So let’s talk about how to build Add-ons using additional runtimes.

Google recently announced the ability to develop G Suite Add-ons using other frameworks other than Google Apps Script. This post on the Google Developers Blog introduces how you can develop G Suite Add-ons with something other than Google Apps Script.

Source: Google Developers Blog: Building G Suite Add-ons with your favorite tech stack

Add-on, Official News, Sheets

Build Apps Powered by Language with Semantic ML with the new Semantic Reactor Google Sheets Add-on

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In this post, I’ll show you how to use beginner-friendly ML tools–Semantic Reactor and TensorFlow.js–to build an app that’s powered by natural language.

NEW: Semantic Reactor has been officially released! Add it to Google Sheets here.

We’ve previously highlighted how TensorFlow.js can be used in Google Apps Script. In this latest example the new Semantic Reactor Google Sheets Add-on published by Google Research is highlighted. Semantic Reactor is designed to make it easier to start exploring Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and with this tutorial you can learn how you can deploy your model to code.

Source: Build Apps Powered by Language with Semantic ML

Official News, Solutions, Google Analytics, Sheets

How to build a Google Analytics Dashboard with Apps Script and Google Sites – Sheets to Apps

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Using Google Analytics and looking for a new way to aggregate, store, and efficiently organize the data from your website in a Google Sheet? In this episode of Sheets to Apps, we show you how to combine the Google Analytics add-on with Apps Script, resulting in the automation of cohesive data summaries that are compatible with Google Sites.

In this latest episode Alexandrina Garcia-Verdin demonstrates how the Google Analytics Add-on can be combined with macros to automate regular reporting. The video description has links to all the resources you need to set this up.

Whilst ‘Sheets to Apps’ videos are targeted at low/no coders as an Apps Script Developer I always find it useful to have a look at the code to see how it is done, as more often than not there will be a technique or method I’ve not come across. In the case of this example my new discovery was the .autoFill() and after browsing the documentation, .autoFillToNeighbor() methods in SpreadsheetApp. These methods allow you to replicate the auto-fill functionality users have in Google Sheets.

Another discovery was the various .setOption() calls when building the charts. I’ve used .setOption() in projects in the past and the issue I’ve had is navigating the long list of options you can use for various chart types. Using the macro recorder seems like a great way to capture all the options you want to add to your script project.

Official News

First look at the new Google Apps Script Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Script Editor – MASHe

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As part of Next OnAir week 2 the focus was on ‘Productivity and Collaboration’ Charles Maxson from the G Suite DevRel team not only provided some highlights from the week, but he also premiered the new Google Apps Script IDE.

This post includes a recording to a live demo of the new Google Apps Script editor. No news on when the new Script Editor will be generally available, but from the demo it looks like Google have focused on making it easier for developers to code and debug scripts.

Source: First look at the new Google Apps Script Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Script Editor – MASHe

Official News, Solutions, Sheets

How macros can be used to build Apps Scripts for cleaning data – Sheets to Apps

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Cleaning up data from downloaded accounting reports or from other systems can take up valuable time and resources. In this episode of Sheets to Apps, we’ll walk you through adding automation to your monthly Excel accounting data that records your steps into a script that you can run repeatedly with Google Sheets macro recorder.

From the video description you’ll find all the links you need to the example Google Sheet, instructions and more