How to copy row ranges in Google docs? - google-apps-script

Question

I have a Spreadsheet, like excel on Google Docs. I am using both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, whichever works. Almost all my columns have dropdown list validation(you know, each cell has a dropdown list to select, I hope I made it clear). I arranged them when I first created the spreadsheet, gave all the columns validation from ranges I created.
My problem is, whenever I add a new row, that row doesn't have any validations, all of them are gone. The old rows still have the validations.
So then, I set the validations every time I add a new row, one by one. This is frustrating. Some people also had the same problem, asked online, but no one answered.
When I copy an empty row with validations and paste it on the new row, it works fine. So, what I am saying is, can you help me write a script for it? Like copying 5 rows when I execute the script?
I am trying to study the scripts but I did nothing nothing so far. I think
var actSc = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var range = actSc.getRange("A1:B1");
This all I got from the examples I saw. I mean it. I got nothing.
If this copies the ranges of one cell, then I guess I should do it for all my columns.
But how do I put them in the new row? Is there something like setRange?
I could really use some help. This is driving me crazy and I really don't get this script thing.
What I mean by range is that I have ranges like "STATES" and it includes "NY,LA,CA" etc. This NY,LA,CA fills the dropdown list in the cells of that STATES column. I hope this getRange means this range.
Sorry about my English.

Answer 1

If I understand correctly, you want to script a function that will add new rows to a sheet and maintain the existing validations for your columns. This is certainly possible and not too difficult. One approach could be a "refresh validations" function that updates your entire sheet all at once, in the event that you want to reuse it in other sheets. First, though, it sounds like you could use a brief overview of the object classes you need to know about to do basic Google Apps Scripts:
SpreadsheetApp - Think of this class as the foundation of the Spreadsheet Service. It provides file I/O and functionality that is not tied to specific spreadsheets, per se, such as UI and the creation of Data Validation sets. It's the interface to all of your individual spreadsheet documents.
Spreadsheet - A spreadsheet document file, which can contain multiple Sheets. This is what gets created when you create a new Google Sheets document in Drive. Provides document-level functions, such as the ability to manage ownership, set permissions, access metadata, etc. There's some overlap with the Sheet class, so this one can seem like a bit of a mishmash.
Sheet - An individual sheet is what you normally think of as a spreadsheet: a set of rows and columns. Each Spreadsheet document can contain many, distinct Sheets. The Sheet class lets you modify the overall appearance of the sheet. You can freeze or hide rows, protect ranges of cells from being edited, add/delete rows and columns, etc. You can also get data about the sheet, such as the last row that has content or the maximum range of the whole sheet.
Range - Dropping down another level, we reach the Range object, which represents a certain rectangular area of cells. This can be as small as a single cell or as large as the whole sheet. It does not seem possible, however, for Ranges to represent discontiguous cells. This is where you had some trouble, because you treated the Range object as content that you could copy and paste in your sheet, which is understandable. But a Range isn't the data in the cells it represents. It's just an interface to those cells. If you want to access the data itself, you have to drop down to the bottom level of the hierarchy:
Value - The actual contents of your sheets are normal JavaScript values: strings, integers, Booleans, etc. that you can manipulate with the subset of JavaScript that Google Apps Script supports.
In order to do something with the values in your sheet, you first get the Range object from the Sheet (which you get from the SpreadsheetApp) and then get the values from the Range:
var values = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange("A1:B1").getValues(); // returns [[]]
Note that getValues() returns a multi-dimensional array. As a representation of the values in your sheet, it looks like this:
// row 1 [[column A, column B, column C, column D, ...],
// row 2 [column A, column B, column C, column D, ...],
// row 3 [column A, column B, column C, column D, ...],
// row 4 [column A, column B, column C, column D, ...],
// row 5 [column A, column B, column C, column D, ...], ...]
So if the range A1:B1 is a range of one row and two columns, you can retrieve the values with A1 notation or by specifying the upper left row and column of the range, and the number of rows and number of columns you want to retrieve:
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var range = sheet.getRange("A1:B1");
var range = sheet.getRange(1, 1, 1, 2); // row 1, column 1, 1 row, 2 columns
var values = range.getValues(); // returns [[50, 100]]
If the value in A1 is 50, and the value in B1 is 100, the last function above will return [[50, 100]]. You can access individual cell values directly, too:
var range = sheet.getRange("A1");
var value = range.getValue(); // returns 50
var cell = range.getCell().getValues(); // returns [[50]]
Obviously, you can set the values of ranges, too:
var range = sheet.getRange("A1:B2");
range.setValues([[50, 100]]);
range = sheet.getRange(1, 1); // same as sheet.getCell(1, 1)
range.setValue(50); // the value of A1, or row 1 column 1, is now 50
The next step is to figure out how the Data Validation class works. You create a Data Validation object using the Data Validation Builder, which lets you chain together a series of rules to apply to a range. You then set the range to that Data Validation rule set:
var stateList = ["AK", "AL", "AR", ...];
var rules = SpreadsheetApp.newDataValidation() // create a new Data Validation Builder object and use method chaining to add rules to it
.requireValueInList(stateList, true) // first param is the list of values to require, second is true if you want to display a drop down menu, false otherwise
.setAllowInvalid(false) // true if other values are allowed, false otherwise
.setHelpText("Enter a state") // help text when user hovers over the cell
.build();
range.setDataValidation(rules); // apply the rules to a range
Now you can insert rows and the rules should copy over into them automatically:
var lastRow = sheet.getLastRow(); // get the last row that contains any content
sheet.insertRowAfter(lastRow);
Or copy the rules and use them elsewhere:
var cell = sheet.getRange(1, 1, 1, 1);
var rule = sheet.getDataValidation(); // returns rule
var range = sheet.getRange("A1:B1");
var rules = range.getDataValidations(); // returns [[rules, rules]]
var lastRow = sheet.getLastRow(); // or sheet.getMaxRows()
range.setDataValidations(rules);
So you can very easily put these concepts together to write whatever sort of function you need to add rows, build validation rule sets, and add validations to new ranges of cells. You can do most of these things more concisely than I have here, but it sounds like you're looking for a more in-depth explanation. I hope it helps.

Answer 2

var sheetToUpdate = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
sheetToUpdate.insertRowAfter(sheetToUpdate.getLastRow());
var rangeToUpdate = sheetToUpdate.getRange(sheetToUpdate.getLastRow()+1,1,1,sheetToUpdate.getMaxColumns());
sheetToUpdate.getRange(sheetToUpdate.getLastRow(),1,1,sheetToUpdate.getMaxColumns()).copyTo(rangeToUpdate, {formatOnly:true});