Google Apps is a collection of applications, namely, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Forms. You can customize or automate Google Apps using the scripting language JavaScript with Google's defined classes. Google implements Google Apps Script (GAS) based on JavaScript.
Almost all Google Apps provide one or more services. GAS services and APIs provide easy access to automate tasks across Google products and third-party services. You can use these service classes in your GAS code to customize or automate Google Apps.
This book introduces basic things first before moving to advanced concepts step by step with practical code and examples. By reading this book, you'll gather expertise in Google Apps Script. Happy reading!
Chapter 1, Introducing Google Apps Scripts, tells you about Google Apps and gives you an introduction to Apps Scripts, explains how to create a project, and introduces custom formulas.
Chapter 2, Creating Basic Elements, covers many types of dialog and how to create and display them, how to use the Logger class to log values, and how to debug your script.
Chapter 3, Parsing and Sending E-mails, talks about the ContactApp, MailApp, and GmailApp services. Using these services, you'll create many useful real-world applications, including an e-mail merger application.
Chapter 4, Creating Interactive Forms, deals with creating Forms dynamically by script, publishing the script as a web application, creating Forms using HtmlService, creating an e-voting application, and creating a ticket reservation application.
Chapter 5, Creating Google Calendar and Drive Applications, teaches the reader to create Calendar events and sync events from one Calendar to another Calendar. This chapter also teaches how to enable GAS advanced services.
Chapter 6, Creating Feed Reader and Translator Applications, is about learning and creating many useful applications, including RSS/Atom reader and language translator applications.
Chapter 7, Creating Interactive Webpages, tells how to create an RSS feed/publisher, a file uploading application, and a full-blown timesheet application using HtmlService.
Chapter 8, Building a Workflow Application, explains how to create a workflow application and proceeds create a useful real-world order processing application.
Chapter 9, More Tips and Tricks and Creating an Add-on, is all about using external libraries including OAuth2, and Apps Script add-ons.
You will need any modern browser and basic working or theoretical knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
This book is for newbies to Google Apps Script who have less practical experience of web development and curious to gather expertise in customizing Google Apps and developing web apps.
In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "A default myFunction function will be there in the editor."
A block of code is set as follows:
function greeting() {
Browser
}When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:
</head>
<body>
<button onclick="alert('Hello World!');">Click Me</button>
</body>
</html>New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "Go to Add-ons | Chapter 2 | Show Dialog and a modal dialog will pop up."
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