Publishing / sharing a Google Sheet via Github - google-apps-script

Question

I have a Google Sheet. It has a custom script (read: set of functions) associated with. I'd like to share this sheet template (i.e., tool), not with colleagues (i.e., adding them via email address as is a traditional Google drive share) but with anyone who would like a copy for themselves to use it for themselves (i.e., not my copy, their own copy). Ideally, I'd repo this project / tool on GitHub (or similar) and let them grab it there.
I can "Download As..." the sheet but the script doesn't stay "attached". Are such scripts now what Google considers Add-ons? If so, how to I keep the sheet + script as a "whole".
Also, as a temporary workaround, I tried to copy / paste the script from my working copy to another copy of the sheet (created via Download as and then opened again under a diff Google accnt). However, that didn't go as planned either. There's a function within my scrip that checks to make sure the sheet is on the first tab / sheet (i.e., getActiveSheet().getSheetId() == 0). This works on my dev / working copy. However once I copy / paste the SheetId return a 7 or 8 digit #. Is there a way to keep the SheetId relative to the sheet, and not all sheets (or whatever that Id represents.)
Note: I'm by no means a Google Sheets expert. This was just a side project for myself that I ended up building out to the point of wanting to share it with others. Please presume I know even less than you probably think I know. Thanks :)

Answer 1

To fix your problem with finding the first tab / sheet, use the sheet index instead of the sheet id. So instead of getActiveSheet().getSheetId() == 0, it'll be getActiveSheet().getIndex() == 0 instead.
As for downloading the script - it looks like you've created a container-bound script. There are two types of scripts that you can create, standalone and container-bound scripts. (See Google's explanation here). Standalone scripts are created by going directly to script.google.com, but I'm guessing (please correct me if I've assumed wrong) that you clicked Tools->Script editor, so that the script is locked to that specific spreadsheet. That's fine, but a) it means like you can't download it separately through Google Drive as I originally suggested, and b) when you're download the sheet, it downloads it as an Excel worksheet (which doesn't support Google App Script, so of course the script doesn't come with it).
Here's my suggestion for your use case:
Instead of downloading the spreadsheet, make a new copy of it named yourspreadsheet_public or something along those lines by going to File -> Make a Copy. (You can potentially skip this step if you just want to make your personal spreadsheet available to the world.)
Make the copy available to anyone to view by clicking Share -> Change -> Anyone with the Link (or Public on the Web) -> select "Can View" from the dropdown -> Save.
Now, you can distribute the link to whoever wants it. Anyone who has access to the file is able to make a copy in the same way you did in the first step to their own Google Drive, where they'll be able to edit their own private copy, including your script.
Let me know if that helps!

Answer 2

I don't understand why you want to use an external service to make copies of a spreadsheet. Since Google Scripts only run in Google spreadsheets I don't see any use case where it can be useful... but that's not the point, you do what you want.
That said, the easiest (and probably the only) one would be to share the document with someone and create an onOpen function that suggests to create a copy of it. This script should be executed after the required authorization and the copy will be their own copy, without any link to your G account anymore (which was the goal if I understood you well).
More simple and straightforward than that I can't imagine.
To avoid that their copy keeps the same onOpen behavior just setup a variable stored in userProperties so that when present this part of the onOpen doesn't execute.
This is a workflow I have already used and it works nicely.
edit :
I can suggest a completely different workflow to let other people get a personal copy of your SS.
Here is a test , give it a try and let me know if you're interested.
EDIT2 : since the other answer provides a similar workflow I decided to show the code I use in this answer to make that process more userfriendly.
I use 2 webApps :
one that runs as "me" that have access to my drive and runs without authorization for its user and that does nothing else than show a warning and a link.(accessible to anyone even anonymous)
And a second one that creates the copy and needs authorization to allow the SScopy creation in the user's own drive + a couple of links.(runs as the user accessing the app)
Code below (in 2 distinct projects of course) :
// APP 1 :
function doGet(){
var app = UiApp.createApplication().setTitle('Demo-App');
var link = app.createAnchor('Click this link to create your own copy <br>of my spreadsheet.<br>You will be asked for authorizations<br>tocreate a spreadsheet in your drive',true,'https://script.google.com/macros/s/AKfycbwQ5s_WWrsWXx_umZ1v91XGnm3RaO2Z7UQSXNiWFiaTwGuXIXqq/exec');
app.add(app.createVerticalPanel().setStyleAttribute('padding','50px').add(link));
return app;
}
// APP 2
function doGet(){
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.openById('0AnqSFd3iikE3dGNEUDdoLWhUZl9sZ3Z2Zm5XbjZzTkE');
var copy = ss.copy(ss.getName()); / the SS is shared to "anyone with the link can view"
var app = UiApp.createApplication().setTitle('SSCreate');
var panel = app.createVerticalPanel().setStyleAttribute('padding','50px');
panel.add(app.createHTML('A new spreadsheet has been created in your drive with name '+ss.getName()));
panel.add(app.createAnchor('Open it from <b>here</b>',true,copy.getUrl()));
panel.add(app.createAnchor('or from your own Drive','https://drive.google.com/?authuser=0#all'));
return app.add(panel);
}