I have a google application script that changes a value in A1 in onLoad event in a spreadsheet. This triggers a cascade of changes. I would like to detect the event when let's say cell F200 is changed because of the edit to cell A1. How do I set up the triggers to detect this change?
An installable open trigger runs when a user opens a spreadsheet, document, or form that he or she has permission to edit.
An installable edit trigger runs when a user modifies a value in a spreadsheet.
An installable change trigger runs when a user modifies the structure of a spreadsheet itself — for example, by adding a new sheet or removing a column.
An installable form-submit trigger runs when a user responds to a form. There are two versions of the form-submit trigger, one for Google Forms itself and one for Sheets if the form submits to a spreadsheet.
Related
I have ads-script that writes to a spreadsheet but doesn't trigger a simple or a installable onChange event.
Only when I edit the spreasdheet myself this is triggered. Is there any way I can trigger onChange or other simple/custom trigger by an external ads script?
Based on official documentation event-driven triggers run when a user modifies the structure of a spreadsheet itself. So in this case if the Ads Script modifies the Sheet it will not trigger.
A workaround would be to have an Apps Script run a time-driven trigger to check for any changes and continue with the process when changes are detected.
You may accomplish this with a script. You can save the last modified date, if you set triggers for every minute, next minute checks if the modified date is greater than the last one.
I currently have a Google Sheet that I'm using as a master template. That is, I'm making a copy of this template for every request. I want to add a Google App Script (which onEdit POSTs to my server when the sheeting is completed) to my master template that will be duplicated and run for every copy of this template.
I've tried doing this from an admin account, however, the scripts don't seem to 'stick' with any of the templates. Is this possible?
Installable triggers can be attached to any spreadsheet (respecting sharing permissions) from any project. You can add a new trigger to your master sheets project for each copy that is made. In the second example here they suggest using SpreadsheetApp.openById() you could also use SpreadsheetApp.openByURL() or the Spreadsheet returned by Spreadsheet#copy() depending on how you are duplicating your spreadsheet.
Personally, what I do in 2022 is including something like this on the beginning:
function scriptSetup() {
createOnEditFunction();
}
function createOnEditFunction() {
const ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
ScriptApp.newTrigger('onEdit')
.forSpreadsheet(ss)
.onOpen()
.create();
}
function onEdit(e) {
//your stuff here
}
This way, the scriptSetup() is located on the first line so when copying a spreadsheet I would ask them within Sheets to click on Extensions > Apps Script > Run.
As per Jared Pinkham's link referencing Developer documentation, there are a few things Apps Script can use as triggers other than onEdit.
There are several installable triggers for Google Workspace
applications:
An installable open trigger runs when a user opens a spreadsheet,
document, or form that they have permission to edit.
An installable edit trigger runs when a user modifies a value in a
spreadsheet.
An installable change trigger runs when a user modifies the structure
of a spreadsheet itself—for example, by adding a new sheet or removing
a column.
An installable form submit trigger runs when a user responds to a
form. There are two versions of the form-submit trigger, one for
Google Forms itself and one for Sheets if the form submits to a
spreadsheet.
An installable calendar event trigger runs when a user's calendar
events are updated—created, edited, or deleted.
You can refer to the following link for spreadsheet triggers.
my onEdit() function calling to other function when there is a change in the sheet.
if the user makes the change all works fine.
but if the change was made by google-form (the form fill some cells with the answers it gets) onEdit() does not trigger.
do I miss something?
Yes, you forgot to read the documentation for the simple triggers:
onOpen(e) runs when a user opens a spreadsheet, document, or form that he or she has permission to edit.
onEdit(e) runs when a user changes a value in a spreadsheet.
onInstall(e) runs when a user installs an add-on.
doGet(e) runs when a user visits a web app or a program sends an HTTP GET request to a web app.
doPost(e) runs when a program sends an HTTP POST request to a web app.
and installed triggers:
Even though installable triggers offer more flexibility than simple triggers, they are still subject to several restrictions:
They do not run if a file is opened in read-only (view or comment) mode.
Script executions and API requests do not cause triggers to run. For example, calling FormResponse.submit() to submit a new form response does not cause the form's submit trigger to run.
Installable triggers always run under the account of the person who created them. For example, if you create an installable open trigger, it will run when your colleague opens the document (if your colleague has edit access), but it will run as your account. This means that if you create a trigger to send an email when a document is opened, the email will always be sent from your account, not necessarily the account that opened the document. However, you could create an installable trigger for each account, which would result in one email sent from each account.
A given account cannot see triggers installed from a second account, even though the first account can still activate those triggers.
Consider what would happen if your onEdit(e) was activated by programmatic changes, such as if your onEdit function alters the spreadsheet values...
In your situation, where you want form submission to activate your on edit function, You will need to install a form submission trigger (there is no simple trigger for form submissions).
An example function to receive your form submission trigger:
function giveMeAnInstalledFormSubmitTrigger(formSubmitEventObject) {
if(!formSubmitEventObject) throw new Error("You called this from the Script Editor");
var newEventObject = /* do something with the formSubmitEventObject */;
// Call the on edit function explicitly
onEdit(newEventObject);
}
You can read more about the event objects that triggered functions receive in the Apps Script documentation: https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/triggers/events
onEdit() will not be triggered by another script editing a sheet or by a form submission.
You can use onFormSubmit(e) instead depending on what your function does it would be a good idea to use the e parameter of the trigger.
https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/triggers/events#form-submit
What i have done is that i created an extra sheet with a cell that is the same where the primarecell is(the cell that changes). Leave it for now. I open the scriptapp and write down the code(the code that should happen if the cell changes). Then i wrte down "if" and take the two value i both cells and make an trigger that goes on every minute. With that said, if The cells are the same the "if" is looping on "true". But if something change on the primary cell, it will be "false" and you use "else". Under"else" you should have what ever function you want when soemthing change in that cell. + You must have a funtion where you insert the new value form the primarycell to the "check cell" if u want this too function as loop. Otherwise the "if" code will loop "false" every minute becuse the both cells are not the same.
My english and explaining is not that good:(
I've built a spreadsheet that tracks form responses using the onSubmit trigger. This works well. I then want to display part of the spreadsheet on another spreadsheet, and have built a script that does this.
In order to ensure the second spreadsheet is dynamically updated and synchronised with the first, I have tried to use the onEdit installable trigger; however, it does not work when it is programmatically edited, only if I manually edit spreadsheet 1. Any solutions?
Triggers do not fire on the spreadsheet changes made by scripts. I think the idea is that the script making changes can also follow through on any consequences of those changes. In your case, I see three solutions:
If you just want to "display part of the spreadsheet on another spreadsheet", then importrange command suffices, you don't need a script to do that.
The function triggered by form submission can modify the target spreadsheet itself. To do this, you need an installable trigger running on form submission, since simple triggers cannot access other spreadsheets.
If you really want to trigger a function in a script attached to another spreadsheet, you can run a time-based trigger that will check the last-updated time of the spreadsheet.
Example of #3: a function that can be set to run every 5 minutes, to detect changes of any kind.
function checkForUpdates() {
var updated = DriveApp.getFileById(SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getId()).getLastUpdated();
if (new Date() - updated < 300000) {
// updated in the last 5 minutes, do something
}
}
I wrote a small script bound to a Google spreadsheet that reads an email-address from a cell in the last row and sends an email to it.
The values are collected by a WebApp (not by Google form).
I tried all kind of triggers. The time driven triggers work, but the spreadsheet triggers don't work. I tried all of them. If I change manually some cell in the spreadsheet the onEdit trigger is working, but it doesn't fire up when the sheet was changed by another script.
Google's dev says : The onEdit() trigger runs automatically when a user changes the value of any cell in a spreadsheet. but it doesn't precise the change could be from script or not.
You'll find here a comment from HDCerberus :
I'm not at my PC to write a full response, but at a glance it could be the OnEdit trigger, which ONLY works when the sheet is edited manually, and NOT by a script. Are you expecting it to run when the sheet is edited manually or by a script?
Not every change triggers onEdit(). Please take a look on answer from topic Detect user inserting row or column in a google spreadsheet and reacting in a script - you will find registered bugs and one of them says that values written by scripts do not trigger onEdit().