AppsScriptPulse

Solutions, Drive, Sheets, Beginner

Search Google Drive folders for creation/modified dates using Google Apps Script

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Search one level of Google Drive folders and extract creation, last updated and folder names into a Google Sheet.

Enter the Parent folder ID and search the folders within

Enter the Parent folder ID and search the folders within

The following Google Apps Script is designed to search through one level of Google Drive folders and extract the following information into a Google Sheet:

  • The folder name as a direct clickable link,
  • The folder creation date,
  • The folder last updated date,
  • The folder ID.

Source: The Gift of Script: Search Google Drive folders for creation/modified dates

Official News, Solutions, AppSheet, Beginner

NEW! Calling Google Apps Script from an automation in #AppSheet

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Add custom integrations to your app using Apps Script. … You can use custom logic from within your AppSheet app by calling Apps Script from an AppSheet automation bot.

Examples of custom logic that you can implement include:

  • Create a calendar appointment when a button is clicked
  • Add a slide to a presentation when a new row is added
  • Save photos to Drive and share with specific individuals when uploaded using a form
  • Create an audit log by generating a Google Docs file with data from a table
  • Call an external service for machine learning prediction using data from a newly added row and write back model prediction

If you are not familiar with AppSheet it’s Google Cloud’s no-code platform that allows users to create custom applications that can be deployed across mobile and web, often setup using Google Sheets as a data source. AppSheet can be customised with workflows and automations, and those automations have recently been extended with a new preview integration to Google Apps Script.  The video in the Call Apps Script from an automation page provides a great summary of how the Apps Script integration works.

Source: Call Apps Script from an automation

Solutions, Gmail, Sheets, Video Tutorial, Beginner

Create multiple labels in Gmail with Google Apps Script

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With this reusable script you can create multiple labels in Gmail whenever you need to do so. All you have to do is create the script as shown in the video and then use it to create multiple Gmail labels in one go.

Continuing the Gmail label theme in this latest video tutorial from Chanel Greco you can learn how to batch create Gmail labels from data in a Google Sheet.

Solutions, Gmail, Web App, Intermediate

Creating a ‘full fat’ RSS feed for Google Gmail labels with Google Apps Script

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In this post I want to cover three things. First I want to introduce a little app I’ve developed which allows you to create a RSS feed for any of your Gmail labels (with the option to remove certain links – useful if you don’t want others unsubscribing you from mailing lists). Secondly I explain how it was made and how you can use it yourself. Finally I want to discuss how this could be used in an open course environment, utilising the vast processing power from services like Twitter and reusing their target marketing emails to your benefit with a bit of ‘dark social judo’.

This solution was first published in May 2013 and since then Google Apps Script has evolved deprecating services that originally made this solution possible, in particular, ScriptDB and the original XML service which includes a handy .parseJS() method.

Following a request I’ve recently updated the solution to make it work again. As well as swapping out ScriptDB in favor of using the Properties Service I used the makeRSS method previously highlighted here in Apps Script Pulse.

Source: Creating a ‘full fat’ RSS feed for Google Gmail labels (enabling some dark social judo)

Solutions, Sheets, V8, Intermediate

How to import PayPal transactions into Google Sheets with Google Apps Script – Digital Inspiration

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Learn how to easy import transactions from PayPal into Google Sheets with Google Apps Script. You can import standard transactions, recurring subscriptions and donations.

Even if you aren’t interested in PayPal this post is well worth looking at as the author, Amit Agarwal, is a master when it comes to handling data with Google Apps Script and there is a general patterns of ‘get data from an API, write it to a Google Sheet’ that might be useful for your own projects.

Source: How to Import PayPal Transactions into Google Sheets – Digital Inspiration

Community News, Solutions, Sheets

💩 ShiitCoin: Putting a blockchain on Google Sheets with Google Apps Script

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Some ideas are bad, and then sometimes there are ideas so bad they actually go back around to being genius — we think we’ve come across one of those. Yes! We have an end to end blockchain working entirely off of a google sheet: transaction broadcasting, mining, wallets, gossip — all of it! ShiitCoin is (obviously) a troll project not meant to be rEaL mOnEy 💴 but we’re hoping to farm some internet points there’s some educational value to exploring the barebones of a blockchain which we’ll share here.

In pre-pandemic times I used to give a talk entitled ‘..you can do that with Apps Script’, which includes some more of the extreme examples of projects people tackle with Google Apps Script. This project by nalinbhardwaj (Nalin Bhardwaj) and Adhyyan1252 (Adhyyan Sekhsaria) definitely falls into the fun/interesting category and who knows you may find some interesting code snippets in the associated Github repo that might be useful … but no guarantees.   

Via Andrew Roberts

Source: ShiitCoin: Putting a blockchain on Google Sheets

Solutions, V8, Intermediate

How to Build an API Wrapper in Google Apps Script

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No Google Apps Script SDK for your favorite API? No problem!

I’ve never seen a Google Apps Script SDK made available as part of an API, as, surprise surprise, it’s not the most popular choice for professional development. It’s time to start changing that, so we will learn to build our own!

[Editor note: Really impressive work from Dmitry providing a framework you can use to develop your own service for interacting with 3rd party APIs. The post includes lots of clear instructions and guidance to help you understand and learn about approaches for structuring your Google Apps Script code projects]

Source: How to Build an API Wrapper in Google Apps Script

Library, Solutions, Sheets, V8, Intermediate

SheetQuery: An ORM-Like Query Builder for Google Sheets and Google Apps Script

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Image credit: Vance Lucas

A simple and small Google Apps Script library for quickly and easily finding and updating records in Google Sheets with a familiar ORM-like syntax

Following our previous post on Converting Google Sheets cell values to an object array, Vance Lucas (@vlucas) got in touch to highlight the SheetQuery library he has created which as well as being able to get Google Sheet data as an object array has some additional nice features for updating cell values. As Vance highlights:

sometimes working with spreadsheets to find and update specific rows of data can be awkward and tedious. There is no direct built-in way to search for specific values in rows by headings. To do this with the Google-supplied APIs, you have to keep track of row index numbers, column index numbers, and arrays of row data while planning your updates. It’s not fun code to write, and it’s relatively error-prone, especially if you are deleting rows, which causes the row index numbers to shift dynamically.

The library includes a .where method which can be used to apply a filtering function to select the rows of a spreadsheet to be read and/or updated. If you are regularly developing scripts that interact with Google Sheets data this can be a great library to keep in mind.

Source: SheetQuery: An ORM-Like Query Builder for Google Sheets and Google Apps Script

Solutions, Sheets, V8, Intermediate

Converting Google Sheets cell values to an object array with heading keys using Google Apps Script

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This is a sample script for converting the values of Google Spreadsheet to an object using Google Apps Script.

I have a minor obsession with methods for converting Google Sheets data to an object array. Over the years I’ve documented various approaches I’ve developed on my personal site, like this one, but this solution from Kanshi Tanaike has to be my new favourite:

function myFunction() {
  const sheetName = "Sheet1";
  const [headers, ...rows] = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet()
    .getSheetByName(sheetName)
    .getDataRange()
    .getValues();
  const res = rows.map((r) =>
    headers.reduce((o, h, j) => Object.assign(o, { [h]: r[j] }), {})
  );
  console.log(res);
}

Source: Converting Values of Google Spreadsheet to Object using Google Apps Script

Official News, Forms

Introducing the Google Forms API – Use cases and example applications

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Image credit: Google

For the first time, Google Forms has an API and we are going to show you how you can use it and what’s in it. The new Google Forms API joins the large family of APIs available to developers under the Google Workspace Platform. The Forms API provides programmatic access for managing forms, acting on responses, and empowering developers to build powerful integrations on top of Forms.

Some additional resources to support the general availability of the Google Forms API have been published. This post includes information on the key use cases which are supported by the API:

Automated form creation and editing: Enables automated form creation and editing. Enables rapid form generation from large volume question banks or other data backends.

Reaction to Form responses: The API also enables developers to build automations for acting on incoming responses. Examples include developing real-time dashboards or visualizations and triggering business workflows based on response data.

Given the existing widespread use of Google Forms in education it was nice for this to be acknowledged and also to see Automagical Forms getting mentioned.

Source: Introducing the Google Forms API