Month: February 2019

Google Apps Script – Why isn’t my add-on showing up in the add-on menu when I test it? (Updated Feb 2022)

Google Apps Script – AuthMode

I mean, when I run it normally, it works just fine!

This is an interesting problem I came across recently when reviewing one of my Google add-ons.

The Problem

The issue was that when I ran my Google Apps Script add-on code normally – in my case, connected to a Google Sheet – the add-on would appear just fine in my add-on menu. However, when I tested the script as an add-on ( run >>> Test as add-on…), as installed for current user but not enabled, my app would not appear in the add-on menu.

If I were to publish this app in this condition (and I may have…eep!), the user would be able to see my add-on in the add-on menu but not be able to access the link to run the app’s function without going into Add-ons >>> Manage add-ons… then click on Manage >>> Use this add-on. The user would have to do this each time they want to apply my add-on to a new Google doc for the first time. Not a good user experience.

The reason is that the first time the app is run in a new document, the Authorization Mode is set to none:

AuthMode.NONE

When the user opens the document for the first time, the onOpen(e) trigger function is loaded along with any global variables that are in the script.

This is what Google Apps Script has to say about this:

Google Apps Script onOpen AuthMode None
Source: Add-on Authorization.

So the problem was that one of my Global Variables did not abide by the scope of AuthMode.NONE.

How about we look at some example code to see how to identify the problem and work towards a solution.

Continue reading “Google Apps Script – Why isn’t my add-on showing up in the add-on menu when I test it? (Updated Feb 2022)”

How do I Forward and send Emails for my Website Email in my Personal Gmail account?

Gmail, cPanel, web host like GreenGeeks or HostGator

One of the most frustrating things about using a domain email like imbatman@yagisanatode.com is that every time you want to check your email you need to log into your websites cPanel, navigate to the Email section, click ‘Email Accounts’ find the Access a Webmail provider like Roundcube and then wade through the clumsy interface to read and answer your website emails.

Groan!

Maybe you found that email forwarding link in the cPanel and forwarded your emails to your Gmail account on your own. Nice one! Have you ever replied with your personal email by mistake? Or do you dread having to go to back into cPanel to reply?

ugh!

What if I told you that I could make this sick, chore-ladened nightmare go away? What if I could tell you that you can receive and send your website emails from the womblike comfort of Gmail?

OMG, Yagi! Tell me more you sweet goat!

…um… okay, a bit creepy but sure.

Setup is pretty easy, but if you search for it on the interwebs, the instructions even from Google are a little disjointed and incomplete.

This tutorial is a two-parter:

  1. Setup my website email forwarding from my web host’s cPanel to my personal Gmail account.
  2. Setup the ability to send or reply to emails using your website email from your personal Gmail account. Teleport to this bit!

Let’s get started…

Continue reading “How do I Forward and send Emails for my Website Email in my Personal Gmail account?”

Google Apps Script – When I add a value to a cell in a selected column, I want it to move to another Google Sheet [update Feb 2022]

Google Apps Script: onEdit, Google Sheets

Sometimes you want to be able to automatically move a row from one sheet to another based on the value of a certain cell.

The Example

One of the first things that come to mind, and I am sure it does for you dear reader, is when I took advantage of the Great Chicken Transformation back in, oh, 2019, I believe.

Folk kept turning into chickens, while other folk were wanting eggs. It just so happened that I had the farm to make it all happen.

First, though, I needed to keep a tab of every person I knew and if they turned into a chicken. If they did, then they were destined for the pen.

…Note to self: it may be late at night, but dam Yagi, your analogies are tight!

Google Sheets and Google Apps Script to the rescue.

So first off I set up a sheet named: Plague. Here I put all the people I knew, so I could watch em good and propper.

Next, I set up a sheet named Farm. These are for the people who turned into chickens. No harm in profiting from a few newly formed egg layers, right?

Whenever a new transformation occurs, I find the person on the Plague sheet and then select “Yes”  to say that they have turned into a chicken and will now be spending their days on the farm. Upon editing (onEdit) this cell to “Yes”, the row is copied and pasted to the Farm sheet.

Just like this:

move to another sheet onEdit Google Apps Script

Continue reading “Google Apps Script – When I add a value to a cell in a selected column, I want it to move to another Google Sheet [update Feb 2022]”

Google Apps Script – Create Custom Unique IDs in Google Sheets [Update December 2021]

Google Apps Script, Google Sheet – Recent updates can be found in the changelog.

Sometimes something on the surface that sounds downright easy turns out to be quite a complex procedure. My recent experience in creating a Custom Unique ID in Google Sheets using Google Apps Script was a case in point.

In a previous version, I created a simple unique ID generator by taking advantage of JavaScript’s Date object.  It was a mere 41 lines of code. You can take a look at it here:

Google Apps Script – Adding a Unique ID in a Cell on Edit of an Adjacent Cell Using Time

Then curiosity got the better of me, and I wanted to know how to create a custom ID generator. My requirements were simple:

  • It needs to be able to take any size number format. For example, from 1003 to 100000000000003.
  • It needs to handle leading zeroes. For example 0000653.
  • It needs to be able to take optional leading and trailing letters. For example, AR1340203, 3000484030BSTN, ENT900848933IRE.
  • It needs to generate a unique ID based on the pattern provided by at least one ID in the ID Column of the Sheet.
  • It needs to be able to look through all the unsorted IDs in the ID column and find the next largest number that will become the new ID.
  • It needs to be able to create IDs on multiple sheets.
  • It needs to be customisable and easily reusable in other projects.

For this project, the code would not handle the following:

  • It won’t handle letters between numbers. For example, ERC1299374ER3900TT.
  • It won’t handle non-alphanumeric characters. For example, 13948%$&)
  • ID’s must be of the same length and the newly created ID must have the same length of characters as the previous ones. For example, A99C >>  A100C.

The Results

After an afternoon tinkering, the results turned out pretty good. Take a look at the demo below:

Custom Unique ID Google Sheets

The  Code

Continue reading “Google Apps Script – Create Custom Unique IDs in Google Sheets [Update December 2021]”