Tag Archives: apis

Introducing the Google Sheets API v4: Transferring data from a SQL database to a Sheet

Posted by Wesley Chun (@wescpy), Developer Advocate, Google Apps

At Google I/O 2016, we launched a new Google Sheets API—click hereto watch the entire announcement. The updated API includes many new features that weren’t available in previous versions, including access to functionality found in the Sheets desktop and mobile user interfaces. My latest DevBytevideo shows developers how to get data into and out of a Google Sheet programmatically, walking through a simple script that reads rows out of a relational database and transferring the data to a brand new Google Sheet.

Let’s take a sneak peek of the code covered in the video. Assuming that SHEETS has been established as the API service endpoint, SHEET_ID is the ID of the Sheet to write to, and datais an array with all the database rows, this is the only call developers need to make to write that raw data into the Sheet:


SHEETS.spreadsheets().values().update(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID,
    range='A1', body=data, valueInputOption='RAW').execute()
Reading rows out of a Sheet is even easier. With SHEETS and SHEET_ID again, this is all you need to read and display those rows: 
rows = SHEETS.spreadsheets().values().get(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID,
    range='Sheet1').execute().get('values', [])
for row in rows:
    print(row)

If you’re ready to get started, take a look at the Python or other quickstarts in a variety of languages before checking out the DevByte. If you want a deeper dive into the code covered in the video, check out the post at my Python blog. Once you get going with the API, one of the challenges developers face is in constructing the JSON payload to send in API calls—the common operations samples can really help you with this. Finally, if you’re ready to get going with a meatier example, check out our JavaScript codelab where you’ll write a sample Node.js app that manages customer orders for a toy company, the database of which is used in this DevByte, preparing you for the codelab.

We hope all these resources help developers create amazing applications and awesome tools with the new Google Sheets API! Please subscribe to our channel, give us your feedback below, and tell us what topics you would like to see in future episodes!

Introducing the Google Sheets API v4: Transferring data from a SQL database to a Sheet

Posted by Wesley Chun (@wescpy), Developer Advocate, Google Apps

At Google I/O 2016, we launched a new Google Sheets API—click hereto watch the entire announcement. The updated API includes many new features that weren’t available in previous versions, including access to functionality found in the Sheets desktop and mobile user interfaces. My latest DevBytevideo shows developers how to get data into and out of a Google Sheet programmatically, walking through a simple script that reads rows out of a relational database and transferring the data to a brand new Google Sheet.

Let’s take a sneak peek of the code covered in the video. Assuming that SHEETS has been established as the API service endpoint, SHEET_ID is the ID of the Sheet to write to, and datais an array with all the database rows, this is the only call developers need to make to write that raw data into the Sheet:


SHEETS.spreadsheets().values().update(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID,
    range='A1', body=data, valueInputOption='RAW').execute()
Reading rows out of a Sheet is even easier. With SHEETS and SHEET_ID again, this is all you need to read and display those rows: 
rows = SHEETS.spreadsheets().values().get(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID,
    range='Sheet1').execute().get('values', [])
for row in rows:
    print(row)

If you’re ready to get started, take a look at the Python or other quickstarts in a variety of languages before checking out the DevByte. If you want a deeper dive into the code covered in the video, check out the post at my Python blog. Once you get going with the API, one of the challenges developers face is in constructing the JSON payload to send in API calls—the common operations samples can really help you with this. Finally, if you’re ready to get going with a meatier example, check out our JavaScript codelab where you’ll write a sample Node.js app that manages customer orders for a toy company, the database of which is used in this DevByte, preparing you for the codelab.

We hope all these resources help developers create amazing applications and awesome tools with the new Google Sheets API! Please subscribe to our channel, give us your feedback below, and tell us what topics you would like to see in future episodes!

Introducing the Google API Console

Posted by Israel Shalom, Product Manager

Every day, hundreds of thousands of developers send millions of requests to Google APIs, from Maps to YouTube. Thousands of developers visit the console for credentials, quota, and more -- and we want to give them a better and more streamlined experience.

Starting today, we’ll gradually roll out the API Console at console.developers.google.com focusing entirely on your Google API experience. There, you’ll find a significantly cleaner, simpler interface: instead of 20+ sections in the navigation bar, you’ll see API Manager, Billing and Permissions only:

Figure 1: API Console home page

Figure 2: Navigation section for API Console

console.cloud.google.com will remain unchanged. It’ll point to Cloud console, which includes the entire suite of Google Cloud Platform services, just like before. And while the two are different destinations, your underlying resources remain the same: projects created on Cloud Console will still be accessible on API Console, and vice versa.

The purpose of the new API Console is to let you complete common API-related tasks quickly. For instance, we know that once you enable an API in a new project, the next step is usually to create credentials. That’s why we’ve built the credentials wizard: a quick and convenient way for you to figure out what kind of credentials you need, and add them right after enabling an API:

Figure 3: After enabling an API, you’re prompted to go to Credentials

Figure 4: Credentials wizard

Over time, we will continue to tailor the API Console experience for the many developers out there who use Google’s APIs. So if you’re one of these users, we encourage you to try out API Console and use the feedback button to let us know what you think!

Run Apps Script code from anywhere using the Execution API

Originally posted to the Google Apps Developer blog

Posted by Edward Jones, Software Engineer, Google Apps Script and Wesley Chun, Developer Advocate, Google Apps

Have you ever wanted a server API that modifies cells in a Google Sheet, to execute a Google Apps Script app from outside of Google Apps, or a way to use Apps Script as an API platform? Today, we’re excited to announce you can do all that and more with the Google Apps Script Execution API.

The Execution API allows developers to execute scripts from any client (browser, server, mobile, or any device). You provide the authorization, and the Execution API will run your script. If you’re new to Apps Script, it’s simply JavaScript code hosted in the cloud that can access authorized Google Apps data using the same technology that powers add-ons. The Execution API extends the ability to execute Apps Script code and unlocks the power of Docs, Sheets, Forms, and other supported services for developers.

One of our launch partners, Pear Deck, used the new API to create an interactive presentation tool that connects students to teachers by converting slide decks into interactive experiences. Their app calls the Execution API to automatically generate a Google Doc customized for each student, so everyone gets a personalized set of notes from the presentation. Without the use of Apps Script, their app would be limited to using PDFs and other static file types. Check out the video below to see how it works.

Bruce McPherson, a Google Developer Expert (GDE) for Google Apps, says: “The Execution API is a great tool for enabling what I call ‘incremental transition’ from Microsoft Office (and VBA) to Apps (and Apps Script). A mature Office workflow may involve a number of processes currently orchestrated by VBA, with data in various formats and locations. It can be a challenge to move an entire workload in one step, especially an automated process with many moving parts. This new capability enables the migration of data and process in manageable chunks.” You can find some of Bruce’s sample migration code using the Execution API here.

The Google Apps Script Execution API is live and ready for you to use today. To get started, check out the developer documentation and quickstarts. We invite you to show us what you build with the Execution API!