Exponential Backoff, a process by which when something fails you try again a set number of times whilst increasing the delay between each attempt.
Sample Apps Script code for Exponential Backoff
The following Google Apps Script is designed to explore Exponential Backoff – a process by which when something fails you try again a set number of times whilst increasing the delay between each attempt, up to a certain point.
I needed this for a tool I built which adds Guests to a Calendar event from a Google Form submission. Whilst I was using ScriptLock to prevent simultaneous submissions, the code ran so fast that it would infrequently trip the Calendar API with the following error message “API call to calendar.events.patch failed with error: Rate Limit Exceeded”.
By infrequently I mean a reported issue only once in 3,500 submissions over the course of 12 months. Enough however to take the opportunity to learn about Exponential Backoff and to squash that single instance.
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
Google Apps Script offers Document service for basic document tasks and Google Docs API for advanced control, requiring more technical expertise. This report bridges the gap with sample scripts to unlock the API’s potential.
Kanshi Tanaike’s latest blog post, “Unlocking Power: Leverage the Google Docs API Beyond Apps Script’s Document Service,” is a great read for Google Workspace developers. It offers a goldmine of code snippets that will supercharge your Google Docs projects. Tanaike highlights the advantages of using the Google Docs API for more advanced features and flexibility compared to the standard Apps Script DocumentApp Service. Even though the API requires a bit more technical know-how, Tanaike provides clear, practical examples to get you started.
Some of the sample snippets include:
Changing page orientation (portrait to landscape and vice versa)
Kanshi Tanaike’s post serves as a valuable resource for developers looking to expand their Google Docs capabilities. Hopefully with these sample scripts, you can start unlocking new levels of automation and customization in your Google Doc projects.
To delve deeper into the world of Google Docs API, follow the source link post.
Loop through a Google Sheet cell of comma-space separated email addresses and check their format is valid, otherwise display a user popup.
The following Google Apps Script is designed to loop through a Google Sheet cell of email addresses that have been separated by a comma and space. It then uses a regular expression (regex) to confirm the email address meets the correct formatting criteria.
This code was developed as a way of implementing additional checks when asking users to be precise in how exactly they enter multiple email addresses. So if they were to forget the space for instance it could alert them, before the rest of the code risked failing as whatever task it was designed to do.
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
Welcome to the culmination of my Google Apps Script development journey — the Apps Script Engine. This isn’t just another template; it results from countless hours of refinement, driven by the passion to create the ultimate tool for Apps Script developers. Every ounce of my experience, every lesson learned, has been poured into building this robust, opinionated, yet highly configurable template. It’s designed to empower you to confidently and easily tackle even the most complex projects.
Developing Google Apps Script projects can be a pain, especially when dealing with modern JavaScript features like ES6 modules, the need for fast local development, and integrating NPM modules. The Apps Script Engine Template tackles these challenges head-on, offering:
Seamless ES6 Modules Integration: Finally, you can use this missing JavaScript feature with Apps Script.
Blazing Fast Local Development: Mock functions and promisified google.script.run calls make local development a breeze.
Front-End Framework Support: Includes Alpine.js and Tailwind CSS out of the box, with easy TypeScript integration.
NPM Module Support: Integrate NPM modules into front-end and back-end code effortlessly.
Automated Testing: Set up with Jest, so you can ensure your code works as expected.
CI/CD Integration: Easy integration with tools like GitHub Actions and Cloud Build ensures smooth, automated deployments.
Environment Management: Easily manage different environments (DEV, UAT, PROD) with specific configurations.
[Editor] This post from Dmitry Kostyuk introduces the Apps Script Engine, a template designed to streamline Google Apps Script development. It addresses common challenges by providing seamless integration of ES6 modules, fast local development, support for front-end frameworks and NPM modules, automated testing, CI/CD integration, and environment management.
The template simplifies the setup process, allowing developers to quickly create new projects. It offers a well-structured file system, including folders for compiled files, environment management tools, and source code.
Key features include the ability to use NPM modules in both client-side and server-side code, a custom Vite plugin for bundling, and Git hooks for automated formatting and testing. The template also facilitates environment management, making it easy to deploy code to different Google Apps Script projects.
For web apps, the template supports local development with a development server, and it provides a promisified version of google.script.run for cleaner code even allowing the easy mocking of server-side functions for realistic testing. The template also allows you to build scripts for different environments and even supports deploying libraries to NPM.
This is an incredibly impressive piece of work and Dmitry is encouraging contributions: “Your feedback, fresh ideas, and contributions are not just welcome — they’re what will make this tool even better. Let’s push the boundaries of what we can achieve with Google Apps Script together!”
Learn how to convert Google Slides into high-resolution PNG images using Google Apps Script. Choose between the Google Slides API and the Google Drive API based on your requirements.
Here’s a useful snippet from Amit Agarwal exploring two methods exploring how to convert Google Slides to PNG images with Google Apps Script. The first approach uses the Google Slides API to get the thumbnail images of the slides, fetch the blob of the image, and then upload it to Google Drive. However, this method has limitations including predefined fixed widths and requires two URL fetches.
The second approach uses the Google Drive API, which offers advantages like generating images with the same resolution as the original slide and requiring a single URL fetch. For both code snippets follow the source link.
Search through Google Sheet data and correct the format of any date values to your choosing.
The following Google Apps Script is just one way you could search through data within a Google Sheet, pinpoint all date-values (no matter where they are), check their format (e.g. dd/mm/yyyy) and update it to a format of your choosing if necessary.
This function has been useful when American/British date formats have managed to make their way into a Google Sheet.
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
As a Developer Advocate for Google Workspace, I live and breathe productivity tools. But even the most tech-savvy among us can have frustratingly simple oversights. My recurring pain point? Forgetting to turn on my Gmail vacation responder to automatically notify people of my absence before heading out of office.
Google Workspace Developer Advocate, Chanel Greco, has shared a clever solution to automate their Gmail out-of-office notification using Google Apps Script. Faced with the recurring problem of forgetting to set up the out-of-office notification, Chanel crafted a script that does the job based on Google Calendar events marked as ‘outOfOffice’.
Chanel’s project not only solves a personal problem but also demonstrates the benefits of Google Apps Script for task customization and productivity. By harnessing the power of Workspace APIs, you can create innovative solutions to automate routine tasks and streamline workflows.
Following up from last week, we get into how I built the table() method in our ConsolAS class, using test-driven development (TDD). This is a cool way to make sure everything works perfectly by testing each part before we fully build it. We’re aiming to make it work just like the console.table() function in Google Chrome, which is pretty handy.
In this blog we are going to find out who exactly has access to my Google Drive files, be it a Google Sheet, Google Doc, Form and more. To do this we are going to be using the DriveApp and Google Apps Script.
Recently Aryan Irani shared this post which shows how you can get the file permissions on a Google Drive file using DriveApp. This uses the DriveApp methods for .getEditors()and .getViewers(), which left me wondering about commenters???
The answer is file commenters are included in the .getViewers() response and as pointed out by TheMaster you can filter out commenters with .getAccess().
Another approach is to use the Advanced Drive Service:
The advanced Drive service lets you use the Google Drive API in Apps Script. Much like Apps Script’s built-in Drive service, this API allows scripts to create, find, and modify files and folders in Google Drive. In most cases, the built-in service is easier to use, but this advanced service provides a few extra features, including access to custom file properties as well as revisions for files and folders.
Learning about the Advanced Drive Service can be useful as it open up more opportunities to interact with Google Drive content and can also help you get file properties.
In the case of permissions there is a dedicated Permissions Resource that allows access to all the file permissions. For example, if I wanted to see what accounts had access to a file in MyDrive you can use:
Using the Advanced Drive Service does require a step up in understanding how to call the Drive API and the response you get but once you begin understanding it can come with huge benefits with more efficient code.
Search the body of a Google Doc for a specific string/pattern and insert an image in place of it.
In this example the code is designed to sit behind the Google Doc so it is bound to it. There are 4 pieces of information to complete in order to setup the script:
searchText – this is the unique string/pattern in the Doc that you want to replace with an image e.g. “<<keyword>>“
imageURL – this is the direct link to the image in Google Drive that you wish to use in the Doc.
size – a numerical value representing the number of pixels for the image’s width/height.
hyperlinkURL – if you want the image to be clickable then provide a link for it.
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
