G Suite Developers Blog

Automate Event Management using Apps Script

April 19, 2011

Editor's Note: Guest author Phil Ridout is an independent consultant specialising in Knowledge Management. He is a facilitator for the Knowledge and Innovation Network (KIN) a business to business knowledge sharing network.Google Apps Script

Create an Events page in the MemberSpace Google Site (in a standardised format)

Create a Calender Event in the Network Events Calendar maintained by facilitators

Announce the event on the MemberSpace news (announcements) page

Allow delegate self-registration

Send attendees a customized email confirmation when they register

Send joining instructions emails to all attendees immediately prior to the event

The Solution

So what’s in the script behind this?Simple Mail Merge1. Event Registration EmailSimple Mail MergeonFormSubmitMail Services2. Event Page in SitesSites Services3. Calendar entry in Events Calendar4. Email confirmation / joining instructions5. Event Announcement in SitesherePosted by Phil Ridout, independent consultantWant to weigh in on this topic? Discuss on Buzz

Grading Made Easy using Apps Script

April 1, 2011

Editor’s Note: Guest author Dave Abouav is a Google employee who is a part-time instructor for a night class in physics. He created Flubaroo as a 20% time project at Google based on his own teaching experiences.Google Apps ScriptFlubaroo

I wanted to build a simple application which can be easily integrated with Spreadsheets without the need to compile and deploy code.

I liked its ability to integrate right into the spreadsheet as a menu, easily giving teachers access to all of Flubaroo's features.

Apps Script provided UI Services which allowed me to build UI applications very easily from within a browser. I did not have to install complex tools to create a UI.

Apps Script Services makes it very easy to integrate other Google APIs such as Google Charts API for the grade histogram.

A JavaScript syntax is easy to program and without the need to learn more complex languages like Java and Python.

Apps Script gave me the ability to easily share my grading technique with other teachers through the Apps Script Gallery. It is very easy for anyone to install the Flubaroo script in their Apps Script editor.

Apps Script DocumentationSpreadsheet ServicesUi Services

Triggers

Flubaroo websitePosted by Dave Abouav, GooglerWant to weigh in on this topic? Discuss on Buzz

OAuth 2.0 for Apps APIs

March 24, 2011

announcementGoogle Apps APIscontactscalendardocsPosted by Steve Bazyl, Google Apps Marketplace TeamWant to weigh in on this topic? Discuss on Buzz

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);
}

hereClick hereDito DirectoryGoogle Apps MarketplacePosted by Steve Webster and Vinay Thakker from DitoWant to weigh in on this topic? Discuss on Buzz

Last Call for Google I/O: Google Apps Challenge

March 22, 2011

announcedGoogle Apps ScriptGoogle Code BlogContest SitePosted by Ryan Boyd, Google Apps TeamWant to weigh in on this topic? Discuss on Buzz

Deprecating Tables and Records feeds of the Spreadsheets API

March 17, 2011

LabsTableRecordGoogle Spreadsheets APIListCellListSpreadsheets API forumPosted by Vic Fryzel, Google Spreadsheets API TeamWant to weigh in on this topic? Discuss on Buzz

Requiring SSL when using Google APIs

March 15, 2011

Google Documents List APISpreadsheets APISites APIthis post on the Google Code blog
Although we’re initially requiring SSL for only a few APIs, we strongly recommend that you convert all of your API clients as soon as possible to use SSL in order to help protect your users’ data.

Posted by Adam Feldman, Google Developer Team

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