I have developed an app that integrates with Google Drive. It makes use of the sharing features. Is there a good way for me to beta test this app while still allowing the same experience as an app in the store? I would like to iron out any bugs and performance issues before releasing to the general public.
Thanks!
The app doesn't need to published in the store in order for it to be installed, simple include the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.install scope when prompting the user for authorization (more information here). Once you are ready to publish, there also ways to test your listing before you make it available to everyone.
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I've been thinking about a project I'd like to start using the Google Drive API. My idea was to make a webpage (using Laravel) to let guests download files. I'd have 3 different types of users: the guests, that would be able to download files, the logged in users, that would be able to upload files, and the admins, which would be able to do all of that plus delete files (these files would be PDFs only).
Also, the server it would run on wouldn't have a lot of hard drive space for storing the files, it would just host the page and maybe keep some of the most important files. But the thing is, I have no experience whatsoever with this API. And I would hate to go through all of this trouble just to discover that it can't be done. I've tried reading the documentation but I still don't know if this is doable, and I can't find reliable tutorials (also, I don't know what is reliable, I've never worked with it).
So, for anyone who has already done something with the API, is this doable? Will the download speeds be too slow? Will users without accounts be able to download? Also, do you know any tutorials that are reliable and do it the right way? Or is the documentation the only thing I'll find/need?
Thanks in advance.
Yes,
All three cases can be handled with google drive sdk. You need to explore API in depth. Creation and downloads are easy and upload is tricky.
I recently used google drive api in a chrome extension that uploads images directly to drive here
You can ask questions regarding api usages here.
To start with, I would suggest going through one of the given Quickstarts in Google Drive REST API Overview.
Secondly, please note of the Requirements and Best Practices that a Drive API integration must adopt.
As mentioned:
Requirements
Following an "open with" action, applications must check that the user is authorized to read/write the document to which the passed document ID refers.
Best practices
In the "create new" flow, Google Drive provides your application with an authorization code. This code should be upgraded to an access token as soon as possible before applications take other actions.
Lastly, this SO post - Good tutorial on Google Drive SDK and OAuth might also help.
I received this email and due to my lack of experience in google drive, I am unsure of how to go about troubleshooting this.
Google
IMPORTANT: Steps to migrate from discontinued Documents List API
Hello administrators,
We recently posted a reminder that Documents List API will be discontinued on April 20, 2015. This change means that service calls for this API will no longer be supported, and any Google Apps features that are implemented using this API will no longer function.
Our records indicate that you may have an application that uses Documents List API, and we recommend that you migrate to Drive API, which has comparable functionality, as soon as possible.
Here's what you need to do:
Determine if you have an application that makes requests to these types of URLs:
(took out urls since this format did not allow me to send more than two)
Migrate the applications to Drive API.
If you have questions about migration, please contact Google Apps for Work Support.
Sincerely,
The Google Apps for Work Team
How do I determine, which, if any, docs are going to cease to function post 4/20? Is there a way to organize my current list of docs (I have many) to see how many I need to pay attention to? In terms of migrating, is there a migrating tool available online?
From what I have read, I feel like this doesn't even pertain to my current drive. My understanding is that this is for developers not casual users such as myself. Am I wrong in that assumption?
Thank you for all your help in this matter. If I am not explaining everything to the level you need, please let me know. I am just confused by the email and want to make sure I stay ahead of this.
Best,
Nathan
The key part of the email is Our records indicate that you may have an application that uses Documents List API
If you have such an app (you should know since by implication, you wrote it), then you have a lot of work to do over the next two weeks. If you don't, then relax. Your documents are not affected by this announcement, only the app that Google thinks you once wrote.
It's possible it's referring to an app you have installed, in which case there is nothing you can do other than hope the developer has a new version.
In my case Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook and Google Drive Windows seem to be the 2 applications that are requesting access to these depecrated scopes ... Come on Google, spread the word internally !
Our client has implemented Google Maps in their applications and we are working with them on a large scale load test. Our concern is that Google may interpret this test as a denial-of-service attack and shut out the application. With this in mind, I have three questions:
Is this an issue? Meaning, is Google likely to lock out our application during a test that might have 50,000 simultaneous users?
If this an issue, is there anyone we can chat with to get "pre-approval" of the apps during the testing period to make sure this doesn't happen.
Alternatively, does Google offer a version of their API for testing purposes? (I could not find any information in the documentation)
Please note that we are also exploring other solutions (excluding the calls from the app, stubbing out the API, etc).
Thanks in advance for any help!
Running the load test on the page that implements google maps may result in a bill or having maps turned off if you reach the daily limit of requests.
https://developers.google.com/maps/pricing-and-plans/
I am starting to develop a windows-like client google drive client for linux.
I have some problems that I am solving yet, but one no technical question are worrying me.
The drive sdk has request limit, I want open my app like other options (for example gdrive ) but the request limit will avoid general availability.
I need put a personal id, but I suppose that is not the way to publish the app.
How other options solve this problem?
Google Drive Apps have a "courtesy limit" of 10 million requests per day I believe.
I cannot imagine a situation in the near future where you will run into issues.
If so this is often referred to in the world of software development as "the good problem".
Google will no doubt allow you to scale if your app provides value to users and needs the bandwidth.
Is there a technical reason, why a Google Drive application must be installed through the Chrome Web Store (which severely limits the number of potential users)?
The reason that installation is required is to give users the ability to access applications from within the Google Drive user interface. Without installation, users would have no starting point for most applications, as they would not be able to start at a specific file, and then choose an application.
That said, I realize it can be difficult to work with in early development. We (the Google Drive team) are evaluating if we should remove this requirement or not. I suspect we'll have a final answer/solution in the next few weeks.
Update: We have removed the installation requirement. Chrome Web Store installation is no longer required for an app to work with a user's Drive transparently, but it is still required to take advantage of Google Drive UI integrations.
To provide the create->xxx behaviour that makes a new application document from the drive interface, and to be able to open existing documents from links, there must be some kind of manifest registered with Google's systems and some kind of agreement from the user that an application can access your documents and work with specific file types. There's little way around this when you think about the effects of not doing this.
That said, there are two high level issues that make for compatibility problems.
As the poster says, the requirement to install in the chrome store
severely limits the number of potential users.
But why? Why do the majority of Chrome Web Store applications say that they only work on Chrome? Most of these are wrappers to web applications that work on a range of browsers, yet you click through a selection and most display "works on chrome", aka only installs on chrome.
Before we launched our application on chrome we found that someone had created "xxxxxxx launcher" in the store, that simply forwards to our web app page. We're still wondering why it only "works on chrome". I suspect that some default template for the web store has:
"container" : "CHROME",
in it, which is the configuration option to say chrome only. That said, I can't find one, so I'm very confused why this is. It would be healthier if people picked Chrome because it's the better browser (which it is in a number of regards), not because their choice is limited if they don't. People can always write to the application vendor and ask if this limitation is really necessary.
The second thought is that a standardised manifest format across cloud storage providers would mean a much higher take up in web app vendors. Although, it isn't hugely complex to integrate, for example, with Google Drive, the back-end and ironing out the the details took over a week in total. Multiply that lots of storage providers and you have you lose an engineer for 2 months + the maintenance afterwards. The more than is common across vendor integration, the more likely it is to happen.
And while I'm on it, a JavaScript widget for opening and saving (I know Google have opening) by each cloud storage provider would improve integration by web app vendors. We should be using one storage providers across multiple applications, not one web application across multiple storage providers, the file UI should be common to the storage provider.
In order to sync with the local file system, one would need to install a browser plug-in in order to bridge the Web with the local computer. By default, Web applications don't have file I/O permissions on the user's hard drive for security reasons. Browser extensions, on the other hand, do not suffer from this limitation as it's assumed that when you, the user, give an application permission to be installed on your computer, you give it permissions to access more resources on the local computer.
Considering the add-on architectures for different browsers are different, Google first decided to build this application for their platform first. You can also find Google Drive in the Android/Play marketplace, one of Google's other app marketplaces.
In the future, if Google Drive is successful, there may very well be add-ons created for Firefox and Internet Explorer, but this of course has yet to be done and depends on whether or not Google either releases the API's to the public or internally makes a decision to develop add-ons for other browsers as well.