Looking For Solution to Automate Calendar Event Creation from Google Sheets - google-apps-script

Question

Background:
At my (new) job, we have a number of Sales Reps who book gigs for our organization. Until now, they handle all of their sales tasks in our CRM (Pipedrive [PD]). They then use that information to create an "activity" (event) on PD's calendar, which is set up for two-way sync with our general work Calendar (Outlook [OL]).
Problem:
Between the number of different Reps who edit the PD Calendar, the variety in bookings for our org, and just general human error, our Calendar system is a NIGHTMARE. Formatting inconsistencies, typos, lack of necessary information, and even straight up wrong details make my job (creating a program around, and then organizing the talent for each booking) nearly impossible.
"Genius" "Solution":
Even though it's a mess, I hate the type of person who comes into a new position and instantly tries to make changes to a system that has (somehow) worked before their arrival. So instead I sat down with the reps, learned what their needs were for the calendar, as well as their process, and built a system that not only gives me what I need, but also cuts the busy work on their end in half.
Previously, they not only entered into into PD, and then manually created the events, they also created three separate supplementary Word files that documented the details, created a detailed schedule of events, and outlined contractual needs based on the type of event.
So to solve all of this, I created a Spreadsheet (SS) Template that had all the fluff prefilled, was able to fill in all the contact info from an external contact database, and fill in the entire event schedule based on "type" and "start time". So basically they just need to enter in "Where", When", and "What", and the SS would auto populate the rest.
How that benefits me, is I then painstakingly scoured YouTube, Reddit, and Stack overflow for information on how to build Scripts for Google. And managed to make a function that can pull all the information from their new fancy form, and automatically create a 100% accurate and consistent Event for me.
Everybody wins, right?
New Problem:
Due to things well beyond my current knowledge, I am unable to create a dummy proof way for the event to "Trigger". I know it has to do with user permissions, and the limitations of Simple Triggers yada yada, but I'm incredibly annoyed that I managed to eliminate so much busy work, entirely solve my problem in the process, and yet the thing blocking me in the end is that I have to actively go to my Script and hit "Run" for it to properly function.
(For any "Expedition Force" readers out there, this feels a lot like how for so long Skippy could program intricate FTL Jumps across Spacetime, but still needed a "filthy monkey" to push the "jump" button)
Relevant Additional Details:
As I said, we use Office, but we're likely switching to Google down the road (and as someone who works in the arts and has been a poor student/struggling artist for the last two decades, I am much more versed with Google than Microsoft. I've also rarely found anything of value within my needs that one could do that the other couldn't, so I've built this whole system in Google Apps Script. However, if someone finds a potential solution where this will work in Excel with VBA instead, then I'd learn to translate what I've written so far.
Also, the Script works. I can make it work 100% of the time via the Apps Dashboard (where they don't worry as much about permissions), so it's not a problem with the code itself, which is why I haven't posted it here (but I can if anyone has a reason to think it's relevant).
It is a frequent need for our Reps to go in and edit the gig (people get sick, availabilities change, or mistakes were made the first time, etc.), so to combat this, I've actually written two Scripts. The first is a "Create" script which takes all the information, creates an event, and then pulls the EventID # which it pastes in a safe cell on a different tab. The second is an "Edit" script which searches for the previously created event by ID, and then makes the changes as needed.
In addition to PD and Office, we also use Monday.com and have a Zappier account. But I'd rather avoid either of those if possible since they have apparently changed software packages every other year before I got here, and we are in the middle of a search for a new Executive Director, so I'd rather not have this whole thing come crashing down because one minor part of it depended on Zappier, which our next ED cut from the budget, ya know?
Potential Solutions:
I can make the whole thing run via their Installable Triggers. However, I find them limiting:
I can do it by "Open" which creates the event every single time the SS is opened (which is both obnoxious AND useless, since the edits happen AFTER it is opened).
I can do it by "Edit" or by "Change", but again this just creates a whole new Event every time. I even tested it and made three random edits on empty cells in a useless tab, and it made three identical events to match the first (although this could be a solution for my 2nd Script...). I wish they could do onEdit of specific Cell, because THAT would be useful.
I can do it by form submission.. which means I can instead make a form that they fill out that creates the whole doc, and after they submit, it creates the doc AND event, but this limits the idea of having a different SS for every contract.
And lastly, which I really want to avoid, since I don't trust the Reps who manage to spell the same name wrong three different ways in three different places with having to open Scripts and hit "run", I could create a macro that notifies ME whenever changes are made, and then I could go in and manually hit the button. But..... Is that REALLY the best solution?
I know that's a lot, but I'm more looking for creative coding ways to solve a general problem, rather than a specific fix to a single string. Anything that could make what I want happen, without making me do annoying extra steps, or without requiring me to trust others with a keyboard, I am open to suggestions!

Answer 1

You would benefit from more research on triggers gerenally, onEdit in particular. It is broadly true that onEdit is triggered "when anything was edited" but the script can be written so that it evaluates specific rows &/or columns &/or cells &/or sheets &/or values. It can do this by using Event Objects which involve including an argument (often the letter "e", or the word "event"). The Event objects provide a lot of information about the nature of the edit.
For example, if you had a checkbox in sheet "Sheet2", column D, and you wanted to trigger something if the checkbox value was changed to "checked", then an onEdit(e) script might include an IF statement such as:
if(e.range.getSheet().getName() == "Sheet2" && e.range.columnStart == 4 && e.value == true){//do stuff}
In the scenario described, an automated trigger might not be necessary - a user might select a row (or a cell in a row), and click the "Button" in order to execute the script. However, it might be desirable to "check" a checkbox so that there is no doubt about that row has been calendarized or not. The advantage of this is that an event is not calendarized twice.
The following script might be an appropriate example:
function buttonTrigger() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet()
var sheetName = "Sheet1"
var sheet = ss.getSheetByName(sheetName)
// get the row to be calendarized
var row = sheet.getCurrentCell().getRow()
// Logger.log("DEBUG: the cursor is on row is "+row)
// check is this row is already processed
if (sheet.getRange(row,4).getValue == true){
// this row already processed
// insert abend code
return
}
else{
// this row is OK to update
// insert script to calendarize event
// update checkbox to show event is updated
// checkbox is in Column 4
sheet.getRange(row,4).setValue("true")
}
}
Example
Creating a button and assigning a script
There is a good explanation of this process in StackOverflow topic Run script only on click on button instead with open the sheets