Dear programming Community,
at first I need to state, that I am not quite experienced in VBA and programming in general.
What is my problem? I have created a topic list in google sheets in order to collect topics for our monthly meeting among members in a little dance club. That list has a few columns (A: date of creation of topic; B: topic; C: Name of creator; ...). Since it is hard to force all the people to use the same format for the date (column A; some use the year, others not, ...), I decided to lock the entire column A (read-only) and put a formular there in all cells that looks in the adjacent cell in column B and sets the current date, if someone types in a new topic (=if(B2="";"";Now()). Here the problem is, that google sheets (and excel) does then always update the date, when you open the file a few days later again. I tried to overcome this problem by using a circular reference, but that doesn't work either. So now I am thinking of creating a little function (macro) that gets triggered when the file is closed.
Every cell in Column B (Topic) in the range from row 2 to 1000 (row 1 is headline) shall be checked if someone created a new topic (whether or not its empty). If it is not empty, the Date in the adjacent cell (Column A) shall be copied and reinserted just as the value (to get rid of the formular in that cell). Since it also can happen, that someone has created a topic, but a few days later decides to delete it again, in that case the formular for the date shall be inserted again. I thought to solve this with an If-Then-Else loop (If B is not empty, then copy/paste A, else insert formula in A) in a For loop (checking rows 1 - 1000). This is what I have so far, but unfortunately does not work. Could someone help me out here?
Thanks in advance and best regards,
Harry
function NeuerTest () {
var ss=SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
var s=ss.getSheetByName('Themenspeicher');
var thema = s.getCell(i,2);
var datum = s.getCell(i,1);
for (i=2;i<=100;i++) {
if(thema.isBlank){
}
else {
datum.copyTo(spreadsheet.getActiveRange(), SpreadsheetApp.CopyPasteType.PASTE_VALUES, false);
}}
}
The suggested approach is to limit the calls to the Spreadsheet API, therefore instead of getting every cell, get all the data at once.
// this gets all the data in the Sheet
const allRows = s.getDataRange().getValues()
// here we will store what is written back into the sheet
const output = []
// now go through each row
allRows.forEach( (row, ind) => {
const currentRowNumber = ind+1
// check if column b is empty
if( !row[1] || row[1]= "" ){
// it is, therefore add a row with a formula
output.push( ["=YOUR_FORMULA_HERE"] )
} else {
// keep the existing value
output.push( [row[0]] )
}
})
Basically it could be something like this:
function myFunction() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = ss.getSheetByName('Themenspeicher');
var range = sheet.getRange('A2:B1000');
var data = range.getValues(); // <---- or: range.getDisplayValues();
for (let row in data) {
var formula = '=if(B' + (+row+2) + '="";"";Now())';
if (data[row][1] == '') data[row][0] = formula;
}
range.setValues(data);
}
But actual answer depends on what exactly you have, how your formula looks like, etc. It would be better if you show a sample of your sheet (a couple of screenshots would be enough) 'before the script' and 'after the script'.
I'm trying to create a custom function that I can give a name range as input and have it output a random item from the name range. I have multiple named ranges so it would be convenient to have one function that I could use for all of them. This is what I'm trying to replace =INDEX(named_range,RANDBETWEEN(1,COUNTA(named_range)),1)
This is what I've tried but it doesn't work:
function tfunction(n) {
var randomstuffs = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getRangeByName(n);
var randomstuff = randomstuffs[Math.floor(Math.random()*randomstuffs.length)];
Logger.log(randomstuff);
}
Thanks in advance
You can try this edited script:
function tfunction(n) {
//randomstuffs will only get all cell data that are not empty from a named range
var randomstuffs = [].concat.apply([], SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getRangeByName(n).getValues()).filter(String);
var randomstuff = randomstuffs[Math.floor(Math.random()*randomstuffs.length)];
return randomstuff;
}
Sample Result
Created a sample named range TestRange on Column A with 21 cells of data then tried the custom function =tfunction("TestRange") which returned a random cell value.
.getRangeByName() method returns a reference to a range, not the values in the range. You need to add .getValues() to it:
var randomstuffs = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getRangeByName(n).getValues();
Also keep in mind that .getValues() method returns a 2D array of values, indexed by row, then by column. So your var randomstuff declaration will need to be change to account for that, depending on how many rows and columns your range has.
i want to compare tow different columns in two different spreadsheets.
My first spreadsheet is named "testtabelle" and the other is named "test" the name of the sheets are both "Tabellenblatt1"
I want to compare column A # testtabelle with column A # test.
If the string are equal, i need the value from colum B # test and copy it into column b # testtabelle of the same row, where my strings matched.
I think i need two loops for every column and a if statement to compare the values.
I'll be glad if someone can help me!
You can use the SpreadsheetApp class to open multiple sheets. Look up openById or openByUrl, either should work. You can then make two spreadsheet objects, get the values of column A and B of each, iterate through to compare, and copy the value of column B if the values of column A match.
One thing to note is you should use getValue and setValue rather than copyTo as I don't think the latter works across separate spreadsheets.
You should end up with something like this:
// gets spreadsheet A and the range of data
ssA = SpreadsheetApp.openById('ID of spreadsheet A');
sheetA = ssA.getSheetByName('name of sheet in ssA');
dataA = sheetA.getRange('A:B').getValues();
// gets spreadsheet B and the range of data
ssB = SpreadsheetApp.openById('ID of spreadsheet B');
sheetB = ssB.getSheetByName('name of sheet in ssB');
dataB = sheetB.getRange('A:B').getValues();
// loops through column A of spreadsheet A & B and compares
for(var i = 0; i > sheetA.getLastRow(); i++){
// checks to see if ith value in 2nd row is the same
if dataA[1][i] == dataB[1][i]{
var value = sheetA.getRange(i+1, 2).getValue();
// used i+1 because index of range is 1, while index of the data array is 0
sheetB.getRange(i+1, 2).setValue(value);
} // end if
} // end i
There's also a similar question answered here.
I'm working with a Google Sheets form which also accepts answers via text message. I'm trying to work out a method using Google Apps Scripts to split the body of the text message using a comma as a delimiter.
The problem I'm running into is overwriting information submitted by the form and not by text message.
My current script is:
function splitCells() {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheets()[0];
var colC = sheet.getRange("C2:C").getValues();
var colD = sheet.getRange("D2:D").getFormulas();
//Logger.log(colC);
for(var i in colC){
if(typeof(colC[i][0]) =='string'){
colD = '=if(istext(C2:C),split(C2:C,",",true))';
} else {
colD = 'D2:D';
}
}
sheet.getRange("D2:D").setFormula(colD);
}
The function is working correctly, splitting the contents of column C (the SMS body) into D, E, and F as expected. But, it's overwriting data in column D because the else condition isn't being met (colC is blank in those places).
How do I get the script to move over blank cells without replacing the contents of the cell?
It's sort of confusing to explain, so here's a sample document you can check out. A custom menu should install when you open it and you can run the script from there (or from the editor).
Thanks for the help.
There are a few simple mistakes to start.
A spreadsheet cell can contain a value or a formula, not both.
If you use setFormula/s(), any value in a cell will be replaced by the result of the formula, even if the formula is blank.
Since you want to have a mix of values and formulas, you should set formulas only in the specific cells that match the criteria:
// If we received a SMS response, set a formula to parse it
sheet.getRange(2+i,4).setValue('=if(istext(C2:C),split(C2:C,",",true),"")')
The criteria test isn't sufficient. A blank cell is still of type string, but it's a blank string. So this evaluates true for both form entries and SMS entries:
if(typeof(colC[i][0]) =='string'){ ...
A more effective test checks for a non-blank response:
if(colC[i][0] != ''){ ...
An even better one would ensure that the value in column C meets the required format requirements.
You are looping over an array using the for .. in loop, which is meant for going over object properties. This works, but the loop value i will be a string, which can cause problems when doing math. Better to get in the habit of looping over the numeric index. (See.)
The full-column range expression C2:C is elegant, however you end up with an array that contains all rows in the spreadsheet, more than a thousand in your example. Since we're going to loop over all rows, it's best to limit that range:
var colC = sheet.getRange(2, 3, sheet.getLastRow()).getValues(); // C2:C, only non-blank rows
Adjusting for those problems, we have:
function splitCells2() {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheets()[0];
var colC = sheet.getRange(2, 3, sheet.getLastRow()).getValues(); // C2:C, only non-blank rows
//Logger.log(colC);
for(var i=0; i< colC.length; i++){
if(colC[i][0] != ''){
// If we received a SMS response, set a formula to parse it
sheet.getRange(2+i,4).setValue('=if(istext(C2:C),split(C2:C,",",true),"")')
}
}
}
In a Google Docs spreadsheet, I'm looking for something like =EVAL(A1) where A1 is set to "=1+2".
I found out that in MS Excel there is an EVALUATE() function (which seems a bit tricky to use properly). But I could not find anything similar in Google Docs.
I also searched through the function list, but could not find anything helpful...
No, there's no equivalent to Excel's EVALUATE() in Google Sheets.
There's long history behind this one, see this old post for instance.
If you're just interested in simple math (as shown in your question), that can be done easily with a custom function.
function doMath( formula ) {
// Strip leading "=" if there
if (formula.charAt(0) === '=') formula = formula.substring(1);
return eval(formula)
}
For example, with your A1, put =doMath(A1) in another cell, and it will be 3.
I know this an old post. I'm just wondering, why nobody suggested:
myCell.getValue();
This will give you the result of the formula in myCell (3 in your example).
If you want to write the result to the cell (instead of the formula), you could use:
function fixFormula(myCell) {
myCell.setValue(myCell.getValue());
}
Short answer
As was mentioned previously, Google Sheets doesn't have a built-in EVALUATE function, but Google Sheets could be extended to add this function. Fortunately some SocialCalc files could be used to make this easier.
Script
On Google spreadsheet I'm sharing my progress. At this time I added the SocialCalc files that I think that are required and a couple of functions, and several test cases.
NOTES:
Google Sheets specific functions like FILTER, UNIQUE, among others are not available in SocialCalc as well as other functions like SIGN.
I think that the SocialCalc file should be replaced by those on https://github.com/marcelklehr/socialcalc as it looks to be updated recently. H/T to eddyparkinson (see https://stackoverflow.com/a/16329364/1595451)
Uses
The EVALUATE function on the linked file could be used as a custom function.
Example 1
A1: '=1+2 (please note the use of an apostrophe to make the formula be treated by Google Sheets as a string.
B1 formula:
=EVALUATE(A1)
B1 display value:
3
Example 2
To "EVALUATE" a formula like =VLOOKUP(2,A1:B3,2), at this time we need to use the "advanced" parameters. See the following example:
B1: '=VLOOKUP(2,A1:B3,2)
C1 formula:
=EVALUATE(B1,"data","A1:B3")
C1 display value:
B
Code.gs
/**
*
* Evaluates a string formula
*
* #param {"=1+1"} formula Formula string
* #param {"Tests"} sheetName Target sheet.
* #param {"A1"} coord Target cell.
*
* #customfunction
*
*/
function EVALUATE(formula,sheetName,coord){
// SocialCalc Sheet object
var scSheet = new SocialCalc.Sheet();
if(sheetName && coord){
// Pass values from a Google sheet to a SocialCalc sheet
GS_TO_SC(scSheet,coord,sheetName);
}
var parseinfo = SocialCalc.Formula.ParseFormulaIntoTokens(formula.substring(1));
var value = SocialCalc.Formula.evaluate_parsed_formula(parseinfo,scSheet,1); // parse formula, allowing range return
if(value.type != 'e'){
return value.value;
} else {
return value.error;
}
}
/**
*
* Pass the Google spreadsheet values of the specified range
* to a SocialCalc sheet
*
* See Cell Class on socialcalc-3 for details
*
*/
function GS_TO_SC(scSheet,coord,sheetName){
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
if(sheetName){
var sheet = ss.getSheetByName(sheetName);
var range = sheet.getRange(coord);
} else {
var range = ss.getRange(coord);
}
var rows = range.getNumRows();
var columns = range.getNumColumns();
var cell,A1Notation,dtype,value,vtype;
// Double loop to pass cells in range to SocialCalc sheet
for(var row = 1; row <= rows; row++){
for(var column = 1; column <= columns; column++){
cell = range.getCell(row,column);
A1Notation = cell.getA1Notation();
value = cell.getValue();
if(cell.isBlank()){
dtype = 'b';
vtype = 'b';
} else {
switch(typeof value){
case 'string':
dtype = 't';
vtype = 't';
break;
case 'date':
case 'number':
dtype = 'v'
vtype = 'n';
break;
}
}
scSheet.cells[A1Notation] = {
datavalue: value,
datatype: dtype,
valuetype: vtype
}
}
}
}
formula1.gs
https://github.com/DanBricklin/socialcalc/blob/master/formula1.js
socialcalcconstants.gs
https://github.com/DanBricklin/socialcalc/blob/master/socialcalcconstants.js
socialcalc-3.gs
https://github.com/DanBricklin/socialcalc/blob/master/socialcalc-3.js
If you want to evaluate simple math(like A1: "(1+2)*9/3"), you can use query:
=query(,"Select "&A1&" label "&A1&" ''",0)
Basic math sent to query's select is evaluated by query.
Copy and paste the formulas:
Maybe you can copy and paste the formulas you need from "jQuery.sheet". Moved to:
https://github.com/Spreadsheets/WickedGrid
Looks to be all "open source"
Wont fix the issue
Also: The issue "Enable scripts to use standard spreadsheet functions" is marked as "Wont fix", see https://code.google.com/p/google-apps-script-issues/issues/detail?id=26
Ethercalc
there is a google like opensource spreadsheet called Ethercalc
GUI Code:
https://github.com/audreyt/ethercalc
Formulas: https://github.com/marcelklehr/socialcalc
Demo - on sandstorm:
https://apps.sandstorm.io/app/a0n6hwm32zjsrzes8gnjg734dh6jwt7x83xdgytspe761pe2asw0
In the case of evaluating a function like
"=GoogleFinance("usdeur","price",date(2013,12,1),date(2013,12,16))"
This can be done this without evaluate by directly referring to other cells like this:
=GoogleFinance(A10,"price",E3,E6)
Simple hack to evaluate formulas in google spreadsheet:
select cells or columns with formulas
go Edit -> Find and replace...
check "Also search in formulas"
replace "=" to "=="
replace back "==" to "="
in the same "Find and replace" window uncheck "Also search in formulas"
formulas will evaluate! :)
Thank you for user3626588's workaround here and it does indeed work. Based off your instructions it looks like it can be simplified even further.
In Cell B1 Enter the following:="=sum(A1:A5)"
In Cell C1 Set a data validation and select B1 with dropdown option.
Now select C1 and select the formula from the dropdown, it will sum any values between A1 through A5 automatically.
I have a sheet where I was creating a complicated formula for multiple values and this process worked!
Thank you once again as I was trying to avoid a script since I have data that is being pulled by another program on my worksheet. Script function do not always run automatically in those situations.
Here is the trick. Insert formula in the required cell, then get retrieve that cell value and replace the already inserted formula with this new value.
function calculateFormula(row, col){
var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
var sheet = spreadsheet.getSheetByName("Sheet Name");
sheet.getRange(row,col).setValue("=sum(D6,C12:C14)");
sheetData = sheet.getDataRange().getValues();
var newValue = sheetData[row-1][col-1];
sheet.getRange(row,col).setValue(newValue);
}
How about just converting a column of expressions which are not preceded by a "+"?
92/120
67/85
etc.
It's a bit of a hack, but this works
get the formula from the cell;
set the formula back again; then
get the value from the cell.
var cell = sheet.getRange("A1");
var formula = cell.getFormula();
cell.setFormula(formula);
var fileCell = cell.getValue();
Awesome work around for google not having evaluate(). I have looked all around and besides script have found no other way to have a formula as a string on one sheet then use that formula on another. In fact everything I've seen says you can't. Would be helpfull if anyone reading this could repost around if they come to an appropriate question since I must have read a half dozen posts saying it wasn't possible before I just rolled up my sleaves and done done it. :) It still has a little clunkyness since you need two cells in the spreadsheet you want the formula to execute, but here goes.
Ok, some set up. We'll call the spreadsheet with the formula as string SpreadsheetA, call the tab the formula is on TabAA, the Spreadsheet you want to call and execute said formula SpreadsheetB. I'll use a multi-tab example, so say you want the sum of A1:A5 on SpreadsheetB tab: TabBA to be calculated on SpreadsheetB tab: TabBB cell A1. Also call the URL of spreadsheet A: URLA
So, in Spreadsheet A Tab: TabAA cell A1 put ="=sum(TabBB!A1:A5)", therefore the cell will display: =sum(A1:A5). Note: you don't need any $ in formula. Then in Spreadsheet B, Tab: TabBB, cell A2 put: =Query(Importrange("URLA","TabAA!A1"),"select Col1 where Col1 <> ''"). That cell will now display =sum(TabBA!A1:A5). Next to that, cell A1 of Spreadsheet B tab: TabBB, create a dropdown of the cell with the formula in B2 (right click cell A1, select data validation, for Criteria select: List from range, enter B2 in box to right). That cell should now be summing SpreadsheetB, TabBA, range A1:A5
Hope that was clear, I'm rather novice at this. Also important, obviously you would only do this in cases where you wanted to choose from multiple formulas on spreadsheetA, instead of TabAA!A1 say you had another formula in A2 also so your query would be =Query(Importrange("URLA","TabAA!A1:A2"). I understand in the simplistic case given you would simply put the formula where you needed the sum.
Edit: Something I noticed, was when I wanted to use a formula with double quotes the above scenario didn't work because when you wrapped the formula with double quotes in double quotes you get an error since you need single quotes inside double quotes. The example I was trying: if(counta(iferror(query(B15:C,"select C where C = 'Rapid Shot' and B = true")))>0,Core!$C$18+$C$10&" / ",)&Core!$C$18+$C$10&if(Core!$C$18>5," / "&Core!$C$18-5+$C$10,)&if(Core!$C$18>10," / "&Core!$C$18-10+$C$10,)&if(Core!$C$18>15," / "&Core!$C$18-15+$C$10,)
In that case I put another formula into Spreadsheet A TabAA cell A2 that read ="="&A1. Then, ajusted the importrange referance in spreadsheet B to reference that cell instead.
BTW, this absolutly works so if you can't get it let me know where your having problems, I don't do a lot of colaboration so maybe I'm not saying something clear or using the right / best terminollagy but again I've seen many posts saying this was impossible and no one saying they had found another way.
Thanx ~ K to the D zizzle.
Here is the working trick to evaluate the concatenated formula string. Use the formula cell as a data validation source for the target cell. Maybe it is not a fully automated solution. But evaluating refreshed formulas has been stripped down to just one click. You just need to reselect the value from the validation box when it is necessary. Many thanks to #Aurielle Perlmann and #user3626588 for the idea.
As an example, when you have set up dynamic multiple concatenations of such below formula in another sheet, this will work well with selecting validation option.
In my case, pressing enter twice is not userfriendly.
=({FILTER(IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/edit"; "EXPENSES!A2:P"); INDEX(IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/edit"; "EXPENSES!A2:P"); 0; 1) <> ""); FILTER(IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb/edit"; "EXPENSES!A2:P"); INDEX(IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb/edit"; "EXPENSES!A2:P"); 0; 1) <> ""); FILTER(IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc/edit"; "EXPENSES!A2:P"); INDEX(IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc/edit"; "EXPENSES!A2:P"); 0; 1) <> "")})
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