G Suite Developers Blog: Contact Sharing using Google Apps Script

Contact Sharing using Google Apps Script

March 23, 2011

Editor's Note:This article is written by Steve Webster and Vinay Thakker who work at Dito. Dito has developed applications such as Dito Directory which is available in the Google Apps Marketplace.How does it work?

Step 1 lists all the current contact groups in user’s account. The user can select the group he/she wants to share.

Step 2 allows user to select the colleagues with whom the user wants to share his/her personal contact group with.

Step 3 lets the user submit the sharing request.

Designing using Apps Script Services1. Security (guide)2. Spreadsheet ServiceSpreadsheet Service

// grab the group titled "Sales Department"
var group = ContactsApp.getContactGroup("Sales Department");
// from that group, get all of the contacts
var contacts = group.getContacts();
// get the sheet that we want to write to
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = ss.getSheetByName("Contact Data");
// iterate through contacts
for (var i in contacts) {
//save each of the values into their own columns
sheet.getRange(i, 1, 1, 1).setValue(contacts[i].getGivenName());
sheet.getRange(i, 2, 1, 1).setValue(contacts[i].getFamilyName());
...
sheet.getRange(i, 13, 1, 1).setValue(contacts[i].getWorkFax());
sheet.getRange(i, 14, 1, 1).setValue(contacts[i].getPager());
sheet.getRange(i, 15, 1, 1).setValue(contacts[i].getNotes());
}

3. Ui ServiceUi Services

// create app container, chaining methods to set properties inline.
var app = UiApp.createApplication().setWidth(600).setTitle('Share The Group');
// create all of the structural containers
var tabPanel = app.createTabPanel();
var overviewContent = app.createFlowPanel();
var step1Content = app.createFlowPanel();
var step2Content = app.createFlowPanel();
var step3Content = app.createFlowPanel();
// create u/i widgets
var selectLabel = app.createLabel("Select one of your Contact Groups you want to share with others.");
var contactGroupDropdown = app.createListBox().setName('groupChooser');
// add all children to their parents
overviewContent.add(selectLabel);
overviewContent.add(contactGroupDropdown);
tabPanel.add(overviewContent,"Overview");
tabPanel.add(step1Content,"Step 1");
tabPanel.add(step2Content,"Step 2");
tabPanel.add(step3Content,"Step 3");
app.add(tabPanel);
// tell the spreadsheet to display the app we've created.
SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().show(app);

// create a function to execute when the event occurs. the
// callback element is passed in with the event.
function changeEventForDrowdown(el) {
Browser.msgBox("The dropdown has changed!");
}
// create event handler object, indicating the name of the function to run
var dropdownHandler = app.createServerChangeHandler('changeEventForDrowdown');
// set the callback element for the handler object.
dropdownHandler.addCallbackElement(tabPanel);
// add the handler to the "on change" event of the dropdown box
contactGroupDropdown.addChangeHandler(dropdownHandler);

4. Contacts ServiceContacts Service

var group = ContactsApp.createContactGroup(myGroupName);
for (var i = 0; i < sheet.getLastRow(); i++) {
var firstName = sheet.getRange(i, 1, 1, 1).getValue();
var lastName = sheet.getRange(i, 2, 1, 1).getValue();
var email = sheet.getRange(i, 3, 1, 1).getValue();
var myContact = ContactsApp.createContact(firstName, lastName, email);
// ...
// set other contact details
// ...
myContact.addToGroup(group);
}