AppsScriptPulse

Comment, Official News, Solutions, No Code

Introducing AppSheet databases: Build data driven apps for Google Workspace

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Over the past year, we’ve added more functionality to AppSheet, extending how it can maximize the power of Google Workspace through integrations with products such as Gmail, Google Drive and Apps Script. To improve the experience for app creators and users, we’re excited to introduce in public preview AppSheet databases, a built-in database for citizen developers to easily and securely manage their data.

During public preview, access to AppSheet databases will be enabled by default for everyone but it will not affect existing apps. Use of this feature in public preview will be included at no additional cost in your AppSheet subscription plan, but limited to 10K rows per table, 20 tables per database and 20 databases per user. Please note that these limits may change when the feature is generally available.

For people who tuned in to TU3.5: New workflow solutions with Tables and Google Apps Script back in 2020 AppSheet databases will look very familiar. Since that episode the Area 120 team behind the Tables beta moved into Google Cloud and specifically AppSheet.

The big question for me is whether AppSheet databases can find a sweet spot for citizen developers looking for something with more performance than a Google Sheet and easier to setup than a Google Cloud project. In public preview AppSheet databases are limited to 10,000, which interestingly is the same limit as the old paid version of Tables.

Ultimately this may however be less able size and performance but a data solution that the AppSheet team has full control, particularly removing a reliance on features developed by the Google Sheets team.

Source: Introducing AppSheet databases: Build data driven apps for Google Workspace

Official News

How to reach global markets as a Recommended for Google Workspace app

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Today we announced our 2022 Recommended for Google Workspace apps. This program offers a distinct way for third-party developers to better reach Google Workspace users and attract new customers to their apps. So, for those developers who may be interested in it in the future, we wanted to walk through the basics of what the program is and how to apply for it.

Back in June 2021 Google announced they were restarting the “Recommended for Google Workspace” program. Partners who applied to this program were required to demonstrate “the quality of their solution, their strategic investment in Google Workspace integrations, and security and privacy posture”.

The 2022 Recommended for Google Workspace apps have recently been announced. This post from the Google Workspace team provides more information about the Recommended for Google Workspace program and how to apply for the next application window [spoiler: it will be announced via the Google Workspace developers newsletter – subscribe to avoid disappoint].

Source: Reach global markets as a Recommended for Google Workspace app

Official News, Solutions, Chat

Create Spaces and add members with the Google Chat API (and introducing the Google Workspace Developer Preview program)

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Image credit: Google

In Google Chat, Spaces serve as a central place for team collaboration—instead of starting an email chain or scheduling a meeting, teams can move conversations and collaboration into a space, giving everybody the ability to stay connected, reference team or project info and revisit work asynchronously.

We are pleased to announce that you can programmatically create new Spaces and add members on behalf of users, through the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program via the Google Chat API.

Besides the new ability to programmatically create and populate Google Chat spaces outlined in the source post, if you are a member of the Google Cloud Partner Advantage program you may want to apply for the new Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. This program will give you access to this new Chat API functionality and other Google Workspace Developer preview developments.

Not a Cloud Partner Advantage member? You can apply to join

If you are interested in building on the Google Chat platform there is the What’s new in the world of Google Chat apps session at Google I/O (this session will be available on-demand from 12 May 2022).

Source: Now in Developer Preview: Create Spaces and Add Members with the Google Chat API

Official News, Solutions

Getting started is the hardest part: Find inspiration with new Apps Script samples

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Google Apps Script is a hosted JavaScript development environment that makes it easy for anyone to build custom business solutions across several Google products. Figuring out where to begin can be a hurdle for such an expansive tool, so we’ve recently released 10 new inspirational sample solutions to help you get started. These additions bolster the Apps Script documentation, which now hosts more than 30 sample solutions.

Here are a few use cases our newest sample solutions address:

Google recently announced latest figures around Google Workspace reach in 2021:

With 3B people globally using Google Workspace there is an opportunity to grow the Workspace developer community and to help users get started Google have recently published 10 new sample solutions. The samples cover a range of coding skills and even experts should take a look as there are some great examples that can help with developing add-ons, Google Chat apps and more.

Source: Getting started is the hardest part: Find inspiration with Apps Script samples

Official News, AppSheet, No Code

Announcing the Apps Script connector for AppSheet: Automate workflows for Google Workspace

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This week, we launched the Apps Script connector for AppSheet, which now makes it possible to call Apps Script code functions from a no-code AppSheet app. This greatly extends the abilities of AppSheet apps by letting them access the power that Apps Script provides. For example, an AppSheet app can now use Apps Script to automate workflows with Google Workspace using the Workspace APIs for Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Admin SDK, and more – as well as other Google services like YouTube, Google Analytics, and BigQuery.

We’ve previously highlighted the Calling Google Apps Script from an automation in #AppSheet, which at the time of writing was a preview feature. This feature has now been announced as being generally available to AppSheet users.

If you are already familiar with this new feature you may find it useful to read the full announcement as it contextualises this feature within the ‘no-code’ / low-code marketplace and the benefits of integration with Google Workplace, Workplace APIs and other opportunities through Google Apps Script.

Source: Announcing the Apps Script connector for AppSheet: Automate workflows for Google Workspace

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

Official News, Solutions

Year in review: the Google Workspace Platform 2021

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Image credit: Google

2021 was also a year for Platform milestones, Google Workspace grew to more than 3 billion users globally, we reached more than 5,300 public apps in the Google Workspace Marketplace, and we crossed over 4.8 billion apps installed (up from 1 billion in 2020)! We were also busy bringing Platform innovations and improving our developer experience to help building for Google Workspace easier and faster. Here’s a look at some of the key enhancements the Google Workspace Platform brought to the developer community.

There were a number of announcements for Google Workspace developers in 2021 and in this post Charles Maxson provides a summary of the key points.

Source: Year in review: the Google Workspace Platform 2021

Official News

Promote your Google Workspace Marketplace apps with the new badge for developers

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Continuing with updates to further improve the developer experience, we are excited to announce Google Workspace Marketplace badges. The new badges will allow developers to promote their published Google Workspace Marketplace applications on their own websites. Users will be taken directly to the Marketplace application listing, where they can review application details, privacy policy, terms of service, and more. These users will then be able to securely install applications directly from the Google Workspace Marketplace.

The post from Google contains more information about the benefits of using a promotional badge and how to get on for your Google Workspace Marketplace add-ons.

Source: Promote your Google Workspace Marketplace apps with the new badge for developers

Official News, Solutions, Forms, Intermediate

Announcing the Google Forms API

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Google is proud to announce the Google Forms API! The Forms API is currently available in Restricted Beta, with Open Beta expected to follow in Q4. … The new Google Forms API provides programmatic access for managing forms and acting on responses, empowering developers to build powerful integrations on top of Forms.

The Forms API is currently in Restricted Beta. We encourage you to apply here to be an early adopter to get started with the API today! We’ll also send you important updates about Open Beta and improvements to the API. To keep up to date with all the APIs of your favorite Google Apps, please subscribe to the Google Workspace Developer Newsletter.

On Totally Unscripted we were delighted to have Christian Schalk (Developer Advocate, Google) and Hannah Pho (Software Engineer, Google) as well as early Forms API partners Charles Kemp (Strategic Alliances Manager, Zapier) and Charles Wiles (CEO, Zzish), talk about the new Forms API. A recording of the show is on YouTube and show notes will soon be added to the Totally Unscripted website.

Source: Announcing the Google Forms API

Community News

What is Google’s Dev Library––a new open-source platform for developers

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Image credit: Google

Developers worldwide are creating open-source tools and tutorials; however, they have difficulty getting them discovered. The content published often spanned on many different sites—from GitHub to Medium. Therefore Google decided to create a space where the best projects related to Google technologies can be highlighted in one place—introducing the Dev Library, a curated archive of projects and articles built specifically using Google technologies.

For Google Apps Script community contributors here’s an opportunity to submit some of your work to be showcased in Google’s new Dev Library:

Not all the articles or projects submitted by you, get on the site! A team of Google experts look for accuracy and relevancy in each featured piece, so you know when you view the content on the site, it has the stamp of approval from Google.

Source: What is Google’s Dev Library––a new open-source platform for developers