Open a file from Google Sheets script - google-apps-script

Question

I've had a Google Sheets script running for some time (a year) that needs to read an HTML file from it's Google Drive directory. The code to open the file looks like this:
var myHtmlFile = UrlFetchApp.fetch("https://googledrive.com/host/0B1m........JtZzQ/myfile.htm");
... and I could use the HTM file for further parsing.
Suddenly, the code above is throwing an error 404.
Has anything changed recently, stopping me from opening the file?

Answer 1

After a discussion with 'azawaza' (thanks for all the tips), I have finally solved this, so I'm posting the resolution in case others fall into this.
It looks like the construct
https://googledrive.com/host/{public_folder_id}/myfile.htm
in UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, true) can no longer be used. It gives error 404.
I was getting it from the following construct (for simplicity, assuming there is only one parent folder of my spreadsheet):
...
var myId = DocsList.getFileById(SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getId());
var folderId = myId.getParents()[0].getId();
var url = "https://googledrive.com/host/" + folderId + "/myfile.htm";
// url looks like: https://googledrive.com/host/0B1m....JtZzQ/myfile.htm"
var httpResp = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url,true); //throws 404 !!!
// now, parse 'httpResp'
The solution that worked for me, is to find the file directly using this construct (again, assuming there is only one file of given name) :
var htmlCont = DocsList.find("myfile.htm")[0].getContentAsString();
// now, parse htmlCont
I don't know why the 'old' solution no longer works. As I mentioned it worked for a year.
UPDATE (May 2015)
The 'DocsList' has been deprecated, a new construct:
var files = DriveApp.getFilesByName(myURL);
if (files.hasNext()) {
var htmlCont = files.next().getBlob().getDataAsString()
}
has to be used instead

Answer 2

I find it strange that it ever worked before! If it did, it was probably a bug - pretty sure it was never intended to work like that with "local" files... I have never seen it mentioned anywhere that UrlFetchApp.fetch() can fetch "local" files like that.
A simple fix would be to just use proper full url of the file:
var myHtmlFile = UrlFetchApp.fetch("https://googledrive.com/host/{public_folder_id}/myfile.htm");
That will ensure your code complies with the API and does not break next time Google changes something.