Google Sheet Auto Import XLS with Dynamic Filename - google-apps-script

Question

I am trying to find an app script solution to automatically import an Excel file into my Google Sheet each morning. I have found a number of examples on this forum as to how to import an Excel file however I have two challenges that I have not been able find a solution for:
The filename of the Excel sheet I need to import changes daily as it is an inventory report from the night prior and the filename is based on the date and time the report was run.
Only the first 10 of the 14 characters of the filename are predictable. The filename is always "IV" followed by the year, month, day and the time the report ran however the time that the report runs is not consistent. For example IV201907142308.xls means the report ran July 14, 2019 at 11:08pm however the night before the report ran at 11:04pm.
Possible workaround:
Instead of trying to import an Excel file from a specified folder by matching only part of the filename I could have another sheet that runs a script listing all files in a folder and the link to each file and have the import Excel file script refer to that list in order to find the link to the correct Excel file. I can create the list all files script but I am not sure how to have the import Excel file script refer to a link on the sheet in order to upload the correct Excel file.
How do I solve the problem?

Answer 1

Actually, you don't even need your file's name to import it. Since you mention the time can change and doesn't matter, I'm assuming only one file is generated per day.
If it's indeed the case, you can find it by it 'created date' by comparing it to yesterday's date.
function importYesterdayReport() {
var folders = DriveApp.getFoldersByName(/* your folder's name */);
var files = folders.next().getFiles();
//yesterday's date setup
var date = new Date();
date.setDate(date.getDate() - 1)
var yesterday = date.toDateString(); //because time won't be the same
//loop thru files to find yesterday's
while(files.hasNext()){
var file = files.next();
date = file.getDateCreated();
var fileDate = date.toDateString(); //because time won't be the same
if(fileDate === yesterday){
/* your import code */
}
}
}
getDateCreated() method
Date() JS ref
Other option id to search for your file title. Since the search criteria is 'contains' the fact that the hours change is not significant.
So you can replace the 'yesterday's date setup by :
var date = new Date();
var year = date.getFullYear();
var month = ("0"+(date.getMonth()+1)).slice(-2);
var day = date.getUTCDate();
and use this instead for var files : (will need to be after yesterday's date setup)
var searchCrit = 'title contains "IV'+year+month+day+'"'
var files = folders.next().searchFiles(searchCrit);
searchFiles() method