Exception: Failed to retrieve form data. Please wait and try again - google-apps-script

Question

I have been getting this error a lot lately due to which my customer thinks this is a bug from my end but it issue from Google's end.
const respondentEmail = e.response.getRespondentEmail();, is where it is giving me an error, can someone help me solve this issue as I'm not able to find any on internet
async function onFormSubmit(e) {
Logger.log("Inside On Form Submit");
const form = FormApp.getActiveForm();
let latestFormResponse;
const formResponses = form.getResponses();
const respondentEmail = e.response.getRespondentEmail();
if (respondentEmail === "") return false
///.. other code
}
can anyone please help me out? I'm loosing customers due to this bug :(

Answer 1

Assuming that the issue is intermittent, you could retry the problematic call with exponential backoff. Replace this line:
const respondentEmail = e.response.getRespondentEmail();
...with:
let respondentEmail;
try {
respondentEmail = exponentialBackoff_(() => e.response.getRespondentEmail());
} catch (error) {
console.log(error.message);
respondentEmail = '';
}
Here's a simple exponentialBackoff_() implementation:
/**
* Calls a closure, retries on failure, and returns the value it gives.
*
* Usage:
* exponentialBackoff_(myFunction);
* // ...or:
* exponentialBackoff_(() => myFunction(param1, param2));
* // ...or:
* const result = exponentialBackoff_(() => myFunction(param1, param2));
* // ...or:
* const respondentEmail = exponentialBackoff_(() => e.response.getRespondentEmail());
*
* #see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_backoff
* #param {Function} action The closure to call.
* #param {Number} maxNumTries Optional. The number of times to retry. Defaults to 5.
* #return {Object} The closure return value.
*/
function exponentialBackoff_(action, maxNumTries = 5) {
// version 1.0, written by --Hyde, 29 December 2022
// - see https://stackoverflow.com/a/74952372/13045193
for (let tryNumber = 1; tryNumber <= maxNumTries; tryNumber++) {
try {
return action();
} catch (error) {
if (tryNumber >= maxNumTries) {
throw error;
}
Utilities.sleep(2 ** (tryNumber - 1) * 1000);
}
}
}

Answer 2

In my opinion, this issue occurs from google and we don’t have much control over it, try delaying the call using Sleep method.