IMPORTXML into a Google Apps Script with Automatic Update [duplicate] - google-apps-script

Question

This question already has answers here:
Periodically refresh IMPORTXML() spreadsheet function
(4 answers)
Closed last month.
I'm trying to get a Google sheets apps script to work for an IMPORTXML I'm using.
A1
=importxml("http://www.nfl.com/liveupdate/scorestrip/ss.xml","//#q")
A2
=importxml("http://www.nfl.com/liveupdate/scorestrip/ss.xml","//#h")
The data fills from A1:B16
According to a script I found on web to have it auto refresh:
function getData() {
var queryString = Math.random();
var cellFunction1 = '=IMPORTXML("' + SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange('A1').getValue() + '?' + queryString + '","'+ SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange('A2').getValue() + '")';
SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange('C1').setValue(cellFunction1);
var cellFunction2 = '=IMPORTXML("' + SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange('A4').getValue() + '?' + queryString + '","'+ SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange('A5').getValue() + '")';
SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange('C2').setValue(cellFunction2);
}
I don't know what I'm supposed to be putting/replacing in that code with mine. If someone could help me to explain what I'm supposed to be changing to get it to work in my sheet/provide some examples of how one might look that would be a huge help.
I appreciate

Answer 1

You can update the function by using getFormula() then setFormula() in a time-driven trigger function. Here is a code snippet from a related SO post:
/**
* Go through all sheets in a spreadsheet, identify and remove all spreadsheet
* import functions, then replace them a while later. This causes a "refresh"
* of the "import" functions. For periodic refresh of these formulas, set this
* function up as a time-based trigger.
*
* Caution: Formula changes made to the spreadsheet by other scripts or users
* during the refresh period COULD BE OVERWRITTEN.
*
* From: https://stackoverflow.com/a/33875957/1677912
*/
function RefreshImports() {
var lock = LockService.getScriptLock();
if (!lock.tryLock(5000)) return; // Wait up to 5s for previous refresh to end.
// At this point, we are holding the lock.
var id = "YOUR-SHEET-ID";
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.openById(id);
var sheets = ss.getSheets();
for (var sheetNum=0; sheetNum<sheets.length; sheetNum++) {
var sheet = sheets[sheetNum];
var dataRange = sheet.getDataRange();
var formulas = dataRange.getFormulas();
var tempFormulas = [];
for (var row=0; row<formulas.length; row++) {
for (col=0; col<formulas[0].length; col++) {
// Blank all formulas containing any "import" function
// See https://regex101.com/r/bE7fJ6/2
var re = /.*[^a-z0-9]import(?:xml|data|feed|html|range)\(.*/gi;
if (formulas[row][col].search(re) !== -1 ) {
tempFormulas.push({row:row+1,
col:col+1,
formula:formulas[row][col]});
sheet.getRange(row+1, col+1).setFormula("");
}
}
}
// After a pause, replace the import functions
Utilities.sleep(5000);
for (var i=0; i<tempFormulas.length; i++) {
var cell = tempFormulas[i];
sheet.getRange( cell.row, cell.col ).setFormula(cell.formula)
}
// Done refresh; release the lock.
lock.releaseLock();
}
}
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I have been working on something related and finally solved it by using code from this StackOverFlow Post, but I needed to add some extra bits.
It wasn't working well for me, so I made some changes and added extra logging to make it understandable for me. Here is goes:
function RefreshImports() {
var lock = LockService.getScriptLock();
if (!lock.tryLock(5000)) return; // Wait up to 5s for previous refresh to end.
var now = new Date();
// Show start time on log
Logger.log("Starting Running at " + now.toLocaleTimeString());
var url = "URL OF YOUR SHEET";
var sheetName = "NAME OF YOUR SHEET";
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.openByUrl(url);
var sheet = ss.getSheetByName(sheetName);
var dataRange = sheet.getDataRange();
var formulas = dataRange.getFormulas();
var tempFormulas = [];
for (var row=0; row<formulas.length; row++) {
for (var col=0; col<formulas[0].length; col++) {
// Blank all formulas containing any "import" function
// See https://regex101.com/r/bE7fJ6/2
var re = /.*[^a-z0-9]import(?:xml|data|feed|html|range)\(.*/gi;
if (formulas[row][col].search(re) !== -1 ) {
tempFormulas.push({row:row+1,
col:col+1,
formula:formulas[row][col]});
sheet.getRange(row+1, col+1).setFormula(""); //cleans up the formula
}
}
}
// After a pause, replace the import functions
Utilities.sleep(500);
for (var i=0; i<tempFormulas.length; i++) {
var cell = tempFormulas[i];
sheet.getRange( cell.row, cell.col ).setFormula(cell.formula);
var nowLogger = new Date();
Logger.log("Update import from row " + cell.row + " col " + cell.col + " done at " + nowLogger.toLocaleTimeString());
Utilities.sleep(1000); //adding to try to control the amount of parallel connections from the Sheet
}
// Show Finished time on log
var now = new Date();
Logger.log("Sources from URLs were last updated at " + now.toLocaleTimeString());
// Done refresh; release the lock.
lock.releaseLock();
}
Then I added the Time-Based trigger from my project in https://script.google.com/home/triggers, and that one handles the automatic update execution.
I hope this helps!

Answer 3

It is actually not working. I mean it really does not refresh the cell whereas using a random number it works:
function getData() {
var queryString = Math.random();
var Xpath_1 = "/html/body/text()";
var importXpath_1 = '=IMPORTXML("' + 'http://www.pde-racing.com/trams/tram.php?id=999&valor=1&manega=Entrenament+1&dbTemps=Event999Ex.scdb&dbInscrits=Event999.scdb&name=&_=1616318271525' + '?' + queryString + '";"'+ Xpath_1 + '")';
SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange('B39').setValue(importXpath_1);
}