Use string variables in getRange method - google-apps-script

Question

I'm trying to invoke the following:
var range5 = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange(range1:range3);
where range1 = "C590" (string value) and range3 = "O594"
(string value) (found previously in the script)
But I get the error:
Missing ) after argument list
for the range5 line. Is there a way to pass the two strings as the range?

Answer 1

The questioner has a problem with this line of code
var range5 = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange(range1:range3);
This line of code would have worked:
var range5 = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange(range1+":"+range3);
The main thing here is how the variables are added/assigned to the command, and how the separator is added between the variables.
There are at least four variations for getRange but the most basic is "getRange ('cell/range address')". As shown above, it IS possible to join the variables and a separator to create a valid range.
But there are other options. In this scenario, the most obvious is getRange(row, column, numRows, numColumns). This expects integer parameters but getRow and getColumn can be used to break down each of the strings.
The code below is an example of managing the ranges as strings.
Each string is used separately to create the parameters of the specific range.
Step#1 - The string for range1 is used in getRange. This permits...
Step#2 and #3 - get the row and column integers for the range.
Step#4 - Repeat for range3
Step#5 - Now we can get range5 using "getRange (row, column, num rows, num columns)". The values for this are supplied/calculated from steps#1 thru 4.
function so_52759685() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = ss.getSheets()[0];
var range1 = "C590";
var rangeone = sheet.getRange(range1);
var rangeonerow = rangeone.getRow();
var rangeonecolumn = rangeone.getColumn();
Logger.log("RANGE1: " + range1 + " - row = " + rangeonerow + ", and the column number = " + rangeonecolumn); // DEBUG
var range3 = "O594";
var rangethree = sheet.getRange(range3);
var rangethreerow = rangethree.getRow();
var rangethreecolumn = rangethree.getColumn();
Logger.log("RANGE3: " + range3 + " - row = " + rangethreerow + ", and the column number is " + rangethreecolumn); //DEBUG
var range5 = sheet.getRange(rangeonerow, rangeonecolumn, rangethreerow - rangeonerow + 1, rangethreecolumn - rangeonecolumn + 1)
var range5Rows = range5.getNumRows();
var range5Columns = range5.getNumColumns();
Logger.log("RANGE5: " + range5.getA1Notation() + " - Number of rows = " + range5Rows + ", and number of columns" + range5Columns);
}
Alternatively, one might use a named range.
The same process applies except that:
1 - range1 and range3 are Named Ranges, assigned to C590 and O594 respectively.
2 - Instead of declaring the string literals, we use GetNamedRange.
function so_5275968502() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = ss.getSheets()[0];
var rangeone = ss.getRangeByName("range1");
Logger.log("range one is " + ss.getRangeByName("range1").getA1Notation()); //DEBUG
var rangeonerow = rangeone.getRow();
var rangeonecolumn = rangeone.getColumn();
Logger.log("RANGE1: " + rangeone.getA1Notation() + " - row = " + rangeonerow + ", and the column number = " + rangeonecolumn); //DEBUG
var rangethree = ss.getRangeByName("range3");
Logger.log("range three is " + ss.getRangeByName("range3").getA1Notation()); //DEBUG
var rangethreerow = rangethree.getRow();
var rangethreecolumn = rangethree.getColumn();
Logger.log("RANGE3: " + rangethree.getA1Notation() + " - row = " + rangethreerow + ", and the column number is " + rangethreecolumn); //DEBUG
var range5 = sheet.getRange(rangeonerow, rangeonecolumn, rangethreerow - rangeonerow + 1, rangethreecolumn - rangeonecolumn + 1)
var range5Rows = range5.getNumRows();
var range5Columns = range5.getNumColumns();
Logger.log("RANGE5: " + range5.getA1Notation() + " - Number of rows = " + range5Rows + ", and number of columns" + range5Columns); //DEBUG
}