Google Sheets Programming With Google Apps Script (2015 Revision Complete)

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Google Sheets Programming With Google Apps Script (2015 Revision Complete)

Your Guide To Building Spreadsheet Applications In The Cloud

About the Book

All those who buy this version and those who have bought it already will get future updates and additions for free (2015 revision is complete).

Google Spreadsheets and Google Apps Scripts (GAS) are both evolving rapidly so I want to ensure that the material presented here remains up-to-date and continues to improve.  Please email me details of any errors you find or with any suggestions you have for new material.

This book provides a resource for all those wishing to develop spreadsheet applications in Google Spreadsheets. The book grew out of a blog that I have been writing since early 2011 see blog site. However, it aims to be much more comprehensive than the blog. The blog gave me a good idea of what material is of most interest to readers, thereby allowing me to concentrate on these topics. It covers the Google Apps Script sub-set of JavaScript as it applies to Google Spreadsheets. As the reader progresses through the book, they will learn how to:

  • Write user-defined spreadsheet functions.
  • Manipulate the key Google API objects.
  • Build user interfaces.
  • Interact with other Google applications and services.
  • Use a MySQL database running in the Cloud as a back-end data store.

Throughout there is an emphasis on practical applications.

It provides well documented code examples that can be cut-and-pasted and then modified to suit the reader's needs.

There is also an appendix for experienced Excel VBA users that shows common spreadsheet coding techniques in both VBA and Google Apps Script.

All the example code in this book is available for download as a single file at https://github.com/Rotifer/GoogleSpreadsheetProgramming_2015

Please send any feedback/queries/correction/requests for clarification to:

mick@javascript-spreadsheet-programming.com

About the Author

Michael Maguire
Michael Maguire

I am a data manager. I used Excel VBA extensively in the past and wrote this book after learning how to program Google Spreadsheets with Google Apps Script.

Table of Contents

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
    • 1.1 Google Sheets
    • 1.2 Google Apps Script (GAS)
    • 1.3 JavaScript or Google Apps Script?
    • 1.4 Summary Of Topics Covered
    • 1.5 Software Requirements For This Book
    • 1.6 Intended Readership
    • 1.7 Book Code Available On GitHub
    • 1.8 My Blog On Google Spreadsheet Programming
    • 1.8 Guideline On Using This Book
    • 1.9 2015 Update Notes
  • Chapter 2: Getting Started
    • 2.1 Introduction
    • 2.2 Google Apps Script Examples
    • 2.2 Executing Code – One Function At A Time
    • 2.3 Summary
  • Chapter 3: User-Defined Functions
    • 3.1 Introduction
    • 3.2 Built-in Versus User-Defined Functions
    • 3.3 Why Write User-Defined Functions
    • 3.4 What User-Defined Functions Cannot Do
    • 3.5 Introducing JavaScript Functions
    • 3.6 User-Defined Functions Versus JavaScript Functions
    • 3.7 Using JSDoc To Document Functions
    • 3.8 Checking Input And Throwing Errors
    • 3.9 Encapsulating A Complex Calculation
    • 3.10 Numeric Calculations
    • 3.11 Date Functions
    • 3.12 Text Functions
    • 3.13 Using JavaScript Built-In Object Methods
    • 3.14 Using A Function Callback
    • 3.15 Extracting Useful Information About The Spreadsheet
    • 3.16 Using Google Services
    • 3.18 Summary
  • Chapter 4: Spreadsheets and Sheets
    • 4.1 A Note On Nomenclature
    • 4.2 Native And Host Objects
    • 4.3 A Note On Method Overloading In Google Apps Script
    • 4.5 Object Hierarchies
    • 4.6 SpreadsheetApp
    • 4.7 The Spreadsheet Object
    • 4.8 The Sheet Object
    • 4.9 Practical Examples Using Spreadsheet And Sheet Objects
    • 4.10 Summary
  • Chapter 5: The Range Object
    • 5.1 Introduction
    • 5.2 Range Objects Are Complex
    • 5.3 Creating A Range Object
    • 5.4 Getting And Setting Range Properties
    • 5.5 The Range offset() Method
    • 5.6 The Sheet Data Range
    • 5.7 Transferring Values Between JavaScript Arrays And Ranges
    • 5.8 Named Ranges
    • 5.9 Practical Examples
    • 5.11 Concluding Remarks
    • 5.12 Summary
  • Chapter 6: MySQL And JDBC
    • 6.1 Introduction
    • 6.2 What Is JDBC?
    • 6.3 MySQL Preliminaries
    • 6.4 Connecting to a Cloud MySQL Database from the mysql Client
    • 6.5 An Overview of JDBC
    • 6.6 Note on Code Examples
    • 6.7 Connecting to the Database
    • 6.8 Create, Load, Query, Update and Delete a Database Table
    • 6.9 Prepared Statements
    • 6.10 Transactions
    • 6.11 Database Metadata
    • 6.12 A Practical GAS Example
    • 6.13 Summary
  • Chapter 7: User Interfaces - Menus and Forms
    • 7.1 Introduction
    • 7.2 Adding A Menu
    • 7.3 Building Forms With HtmlService
    • 7.3.3 Defining Form Layout in CSS
    • 7.4 Transferring Data from Google Sheets To an HtmlService Web Application
    • 7.5 Create Professional-looking Forms the Easy Way - Use Bootstrap
    • 7.6 Summary
  • Chapter 8: Google Drive, Folders, Files, And Permissions
    • 8.1 Introduction
    • 8.2 List Google Drive File And Folder Names
    • 8.3 Creating And Removing Files And Folders
    • 8.4 Adding Files To And Removing Files From Folders
    • 8.5 File And Folder Permissions
    • 8.6 Practical Examples
    • 8.7 Summary
  • Chapter 9: Email and Calendars
    • 9.1 Introduction
    • 9.2 Sending An Email Using MailApp
    • 9.3 Sending An Email With An Attachment Using MailApp
    • 9.4 GmailApp
    • 9.5 Calendars
    • 9.6 Summary
  • Appendix A: Excel VBA And Google Apps Script Comparison
    • Introduction
    • Spreadsheets and Sheets
    • Ranges
  • Appendix B: Final Notes
    • Additional Resources
    • JSLint
    • Getting Source code For This Book From Github
    • Blog Updates

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