Importing data from different Spreadsheets - cache issue google app script - google-apps-script

Question

*,
Specs:
import data from a target sheet (A) to another (B) in a different Google Spreadsheet;
data on B sheet need to be filtered/sorted by user without affecting A sheet
when A data change, B data should update too (live or at least on refresh/push a button)
(optional) import B sheet notes into A sheet
Structure of A sheet (and then B sheet which is a mirror basically) is a list of items where every item has a column "ID".
Originally I tried IMPORTRANGE which works great with live updates, but unfortunately on B sheet user cannot use native filters to sort/filter data.
I wrote this custom function:
function importSingleItemData(idItem) {
//vars for debugging
//var idItem = 1;
// Id of spreadsheet where data are contained
var inKey = "xxxxx";
// Actual code
var outData;
var idItemColumn;
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.openById(inKey); // target sheet
// 1. Import idItemColumn
if (ss) {
idItemColumn = ss.getRange("sheet1!A1:A500").getValues();
// 2. find id_property row
for (var i = 0; i < idItemColumn.length; i++){
if(idItemColumn[i][0] == idItem){
var idFound = idItemColumn[i][0];
// 3. import property availability range
var row = i+1;
var RangeString = "sheet1!B"+row + ":AM"+row;
var range = ss.getRange(RangeString);
// copy formatting
// range.copyFormatToRange(range.getGridId(), 3, 4,5,7); !not working
outData = range.getValues();
break;
}
}
return outData;
}
}
Where I try to locate the Id of the item and import the interested data of that row. Then I apply it on B sheet using =importSingleItemData(A1) where A1 contains the id of item =1; A2 = 2, etc like
ID ItemData
1 =importSingleItemData(A1)
2 =importSingleItemData(A2)
...
This works great, the problem is that it does not update data on B sheet when A changes. I read a few posts on stackoverflow about this caching beaviour and tried a few things with no luck (like adding time to import, which is no longer supported), also tried setValue method which does not work with custom function.
I was now thing some combination of VLookup/Hlookup with IMPORTRANGE, not sure whether this will work.
Any tips how to sort this out guys?
Thanks in advance!!

Answer 1

If your working with alot of data between two different areas and matching up alot of info. I made script based vlookup. It maybe helpful in the future.
//-------------------------------------------------(Script Vlookup)------------------------------------------------//
/*
Benefit of this script is:
-That google sheets will not continually do lookups on data that is not changing with using this function
-Unlike Vlookup you can have it look at for reference data at any point in the row. Does not have to be in the first column for it to work like Vlookup.
Useage:
var LocNum = SpreadsheetApp.openById(SheetID).getSheetByName('Sheet1').getRange('J2:J').getValues();
FinderLookUpReturnArrayRange_(LocNum,0,'Data','A:G',[3],'test',1,1,'No');
-Loads all Locations numbers from J2:J into a variable
--looks for Location Numbers in Column 0 of Referance sheet and range eg "Data!A:G"
---Returns results to Column 3 of Target Sheet and range eg "test!A1" or "1,1"
*/
function FinderLookUpReturnArrayRange_(Search_Key,SearchKey_Ref_IndexOffSet,Ref_Sheet,Ref_Range,IndexOffSetForReturn,Set_Sheet,Set_PosRow,Set_PosCol,ReturnMultiResults)
{
var twoDimensionalArray = [];
var data = SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getSheetByName(Ref_Sheet).getRange(Ref_Range).getValues(); //Syncs sheet by name and range into var
for (var i = 0, Il=Search_Key.length; i<Il; i++) // i = number of rows to index and search
{
var Sending = []; //Making a Blank Array
var newArray = []; //Making a Blank Array
var Found ="";
for (nn=0,NNL=data.length;nn<NNL;nn++) //nn = will be the number of row that the data is found at
{
if(Found==1 && ReturnMultiResults=='No') //if statement for found if found = 1 it will to stop all other logic in nn loop from running
{
break; //Breaking nn loop once found
}
if (data[nn][SearchKey_Ref_IndexOffSet]==Search_Key[i]) //if statement is triggered when the search_key is found.
{
var newArray = [];
for (var cc=0,CCL=IndexOffSetForReturn.length;cc<CCL;cc++) //cc = numbers of columns to referance
{
var iosr = IndexOffSetForReturn[cc]; //Loading the value of current cc
var Sending = data[nn][iosr]; //Loading data of Level nn offset by value of cc
if(isEmpty_(Sending)==true) //if statement for if one of the returned Column level cells are blank
{
var Sending = "#N/A"; //Sets #N/A on all column levels that are blank
}
if (CCL>1) //if statement for multi-Column returns
{
newArray.push(Sending);
if(CCL-1 == cc) //if statement for pulling all columns into larger array
{
twoDimensionalArray.push(newArray);
Logger.log(twoDimensionalArray);
var Found = 1; //Modifying found to 1 if found to stop all other logic in nn loop
break; //Breaking cc loop once found
}
}
else if (CCL<=1) //if statement for single-Column returns
{
twoDimensionalArray.push(Sending);
var Found = 1; //Modifying found to 1 if found to stop all other logic in nn loop
break; //Breaking cc loop once found
}
}
}
if(NNL-1==nn && isEmpty_(Sending)==true) //following if statement is for if the current item in lookup array is not found. Nessessary for data structure.
{
for(var na=0,NAL=IndexOffSetForReturn.length;na<NAL;na++) //looping for the number of columns to place "#N/A" in to preserve data structure
{
if (NAL<=1) //checks to see if it's a single column return
{
var Sending = "#N/A";
twoDimensionalArray.push(Sending);
}
else if (NAL>1) //checks to see if it's a Multi column return
{
var Sending = "#N/A";
newArray.push(Sending);
}
}
if (NAL>1) //checks to see if it's a Multi column return
{
twoDimensionalArray.push(newArray);
}
}
}
}
if(typeof Set_PosRow != "number") //checks to see if what kinda of variable Set_PosRow is. if its anything other than a number it will goto next avaible row
{
var Set_PosRow = getFirstEmptyRowUsingArray_(Set_Sheet); //for usage in a database like entry without having to manually look for the next level.
}
for (var l = 0,lL=Search_Key.length; l<lL; l++) //Builds 2d Looping-Array to allow choosing of columns at a future point
{
if (CCL<=1) //checks to see if it's a single column return for running setValue
{
SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getSheetByName(Set_Sheet).getRange(Set_PosRow + l,Set_PosCol).setValue(twoDimensionalArray[l]);
}
}
if (CCL>1) //checks to see if it's a multi column return for running setValues
{
SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getSheetByName(Set_Sheet).getRange(Set_PosRow,Set_PosCol,twoDimensionalArray.length,twoDimensionalArray[0].length).setValues(twoDimensionalArray);
}
SpreadsheetApp.flush();
}
//*************************************************(Script Vlookup)*************************************************//
And some helper Functions
//;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
//Copy this block of fucnctions as they are used in the Vlookup Script
//;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
//-------------------------------------------------(Find Last Row on Database)------------------------------------------------//
function getFirstEmptyRowUsingArray_(sheetname)
{
var data = SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getSheetByName(sheetname).getDataRange().getValues();
for(var n = data.length ; n<0 ; n--)
{
if(isEmpty_(data[n][0])=false)
{
n++;
break;
}
}
n++
return (n);
}
//*************************************************(Find Last Row on Database)*************************************************//
//-------------------------------------------------(Blank Array Extractor/Rebuilder)------------------------------------------------//
function cleanArray_(actual)
{
var newArray = new Array();
for(var i = 0; i<actual.length; i++)
{
if (isEmpty_(actual[i]) == false)
{
newArray.push(actual[i]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
//*************************************************(Blank Array Extractor/Rebuilder)*************************************************//
//-------------------------------------------------(Even/Odd)------------------------------------------------//
function isEven_(value) {
if (value%2 == 0)
return true;
else
return false;
}
//*************************************************(Even/Odd)*************************************************//
//-------------------------------------------------(Array Col Sum Agent)------------------------------------------------//
function SumColArray_(sumagent)
{
var newArray = new Array();
for(var i = 0; i<sumagent.length; i++)
{
var totalsum = 0
var CleanForSum = cleanArray_(sumagent[i]);
for(var d = 0; d<CleanForSum.length; d++)
{
totalsum += CleanForSum[d];
}
newArray.push(Math.round(totalsum));
}
return newArray;
}
//*************************************************(Array Col Sum Agent)*************************************************//
//-------------------------------------------------(Empty String Check)------------------------------------------------//
function isEmpty_(string)
{
if(!string) return true;
if(string == '') return true;
if(string === false) return true;
if(string === null) return true;
if(string == undefined) return true;
string = string+' '; // check for a bunch of whitespace
if('' == (string.replace(/^\s\s*/, '').replace(/\s\s*$/, ''))) return true;
return false;
}
//*************************************************(Empty String Check)*************************************************//

Answer 2

Eventually I sorted out with native functions filtering on a single row by id
=IFERROR(FILTER(IMPORTRANGE("key";"sheet1!B1:AN300");IMPORTRANGE("key";"sheet1!A1:A300") = id))