How to get last execution time of a google app script? - google-apps-script

Question

Does Google App Scripts provide an API to determine when a script was executed the last time?
I'm executing a script periodically and I only like to process data which is new since the last execution, thus I'd like to know when my script was executed the last time. But since I execute it not every x min its hard to hardcode this value.
Thanks in advance, I really appreciate your help and expertise.

Answer 1

I believe your goal as follows.
You want to retrieve the last executed time of the functions of Google Apps Script.
You want to achieve this using Google Apps Script.
In this case, I thought that the method of "Method: processes.list" of Google Apps Script API might be able to be used. In order to use this API, please do the following flow.
Usage:
1. Linking Google Cloud Platform Project to Google Apps Script Project.
In this case, at first, it is required to link Google Cloud Platform Project to Google Apps Script Project. For this, you can see the detail flow at this repository
2. Prepare sample script.
Please copy and paste the following script to the script editor of the Google Apps Script project linking to Google Cloud Platform Project.
function myFunction() {
const scriptId = "###"; // Please set the Google Apps Script project.
const url = "https://script.googleapis.com/v1/processes?pageSize=1&userProcessFilter.scriptId=" + scriptId;
const res = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, {headers: {authorization: "Bearer " + ScriptApp.getOAuthToken()}});
const obj = JSON.parse(res.getContentText());
const lastExecutedProcess = obj.processes[0];
console.log(lastExecutedProcess)
}
In this sample script, the last executed process of the specific Google Apps Script project can be retrieved. For example, you can also retrieve the last executed process of the specific function of the the specific Google Apps Script project.
When an error occurs, please check https://github.com/tanaikech/Linking-Google-Cloud-Platform-Project-to-Google-Apps-Script-Project-for-New-IDE#sample-1. You can see the method for avoiding the error using Apps Script API.
Note:
For example, if you want to retrieve the last executed process of all functions of all Google Apps Script project in your Google Drive, you can also use the following script.
function myFunction2() {
const url = "https://script.googleapis.com/v1/processes?pageSize=1";
const res = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, {headers: {authorization: "Bearer " + ScriptApp.getOAuthToken()}});
const obj = JSON.parse(res.getContentText());
const lastExecutedProcess = obj.processes[0];
console.log(lastExecutedProcess)
}
In this API, you can also use from outside of Google. So, you can also achieve above using other languages except for Google Apps Script.
References:
Method: processes.list
Linking Google Cloud Platform Project to Google Apps Script Project for New IDE

Answer 2

I think it is more reliable to use the exact time up to which point you processed your data than the script execution time because there could a small but meaningful difference which may result in either not accounting for some time period or double process some time period.
What you should do instead is to store the exact time up to which you processed the data and store that and then read that value again next time your script runs.
There is an Apps Script service to do that called Properties Service. It is a key/value service to store some basic information in different scopes. What you need is the Script properties so that you can share information between two executions. Something like this:
const propService = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
const lastExecutionTime = propService.getProperty('last_execution');
if (lastExecutionTime) {
// Script was executed before.
} else {
// Script has never been executed.
}
const currentTime = Date.now();
// Do your work
propService.setProperty('last_execution', currentTime);

Answer 3

may 2022
if you're not using Google Cloud Platform, the easiest solution might be to add this line of code to all scripts
SpreadsheetApp.openById('id of a log file').getSheets()[0].appendRow([arguments.callee.name,new Date()])
you will find in the log not only the last execution time, but all the use of the script concerned