Google App Script Spreadsheet bug with insertRows() and getRange() operation immediately after - google-apps-script

It would seems I am stuck with a consistant "Server Encountered an Error" when I am trying in my function to use the insertRows() call or insertRowsAfter() and then do a getRange() operation call within the range of cells newly created (like changing the font weight, or setvalues in the new cells).
When I call my function I always get a google "Server Encountered and Error".
When I call my function in debug mode, step by step: no errors!!!
I have no error logs showing when doing a catch.
I tried a Spreadsheet.flush() call before the getRange() operation, not helping.
function test() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sdebtcal = ss.getSheetByName('Debt');
var max_rows = sdebtcal.getMaxRows(); // sheet set with only 5 rows to test
sdebtcal.insertRowsAfter( max_rows , 20); // adding 20 rows
sdebtcal.getRange(max_rows+5, 1, 2, 1).setFontWeight('bold'); // trying to setFontWeight in the new range of cells
}
I have to say I tried a with a blank spreadsheet, and I do not have the problem. Only with my current large spreadsheet. Though the test sheet is a small one (2 rows to test!). Also I am not reaching any max cells limits on the spreadsheet.
Anybody with a hint? Possible bug from the spreadsheet script API with large spreadsheets?
Regards,

I discovered that problems I experienced with InsertRowsBefore() and InsertRowsAfter() disappeared if the spreadsheet wasn't open on the client side at the time the script executes. So if it's possible for you to insert the rows either from a script in a different spreadsheet or on a timed trigger, then you might find you can work around the problem. Good luck!
Here's a link to a post I made about it on the GAS forum if you want more detail and you might be interested in adding a comment to Issue 1270 about it too.

Related

Google Sheets App Script Edit Protected Cell or Object Error

I have a Google Sheets script that I've been using for the past 2+ years that grabs a chunk of data and transcribes it into a pair of tally sheets, then clears the cells that had been filled creating said chunk of data so the process can be started over. This is used for an inventory calculation system. The script has reliably worked up until roughly 3 weeks ago, but I now encounter an edit protection error when users with limited access to the sheet attempt to run the script. None of the editable cells/ranges reference in the script are locked to any user, but the sheet does have protection on cells I do not want anybody to make inadvertent changes to.
The script is:
function CopyErADD() {
var sss=SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = sss.getSheetByName('ADDER'); //Entry Sheet
var rangeIn = sheet.getRange('B32:N45'); //Range to copy into "Incoming" sheet
var dataIn = rangeIn.getValues();
var ts = sss.getSheetByName('Incoming'); //Tally sheet in
ts.getRange(ts.getLastRow()+1, 1, dataIn.length, dataIn[0].length).setValues(dataIn);
var rangeOut = sheet.getRange('B48:O54'); //Range to copy into "Outgoing" sheet
var dataOut = rangeOut.getValues();
var tss = sss.getSheetByName('Outgoing'); //Tally sheet out
tss.getRange(tss.getLastRow()+1, 1, dataOut.length, dataOut[0].length).setValues(dataOut);
SpreadsheetApp.flush() // NEWLY ADDED PER METAMAN'S SUGGESTION
sheet.getRange('E2:E5').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('B7:B20').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('E7:H20').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('I7:I20').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('L7:L20').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('B24:B29').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('J24:J29').clearContent();
}
I also have an "erase only" script that runs the second second part of the script only (if data has been entered incorrectly) that executes perfectly fine. It is only when coupled with the copy/transcribe portion of the script that the protection error occurs.
function ErADD() {
var sss=SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = sss.getSheetByName('ADDER');
sheet.getRange('E2:E5').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('B7:B20').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('E7:H20').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('I7:I20').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('L7:L20').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('B24:B29').clearContent();
sheet.getRange('J24:J29').clearContent();
}
Commenting out the sheet.getRange.... etc clearContent and setValue portion of the first script allows it to complete successfully, so I attempted to create a master function that calls the CopyErAdd script (sans clear portion) and then calls the ErADD script, and I encounter the same error. Both script can be run on their own successfully, but when combined the erase portion encounters the error.
Does anybody see any issues that I am missing, or did something occur over the past few weeks that I'm not aware of that could cause this protection error?
I appreciate any ideas anybody might have.
Edit - Thank you MetaMan for the tips for making the script more efficient.
As for the protection, "Incoming" and "Outgoing" copy destination sheets are completely open, no protection at all. "ADDER" sheet is protected except certain cells that are edited by user, and are referenced in the script.
E2:E5 (actually E2:I5 open, since the macro button sits on top of the F2:I5 range), B7:B20, E7:I20, L7:L20, B24:B29, J24:J29, All unprotected.
Adding the line
SpreadsheetApp.flush()
in between the copy section and clearing section of the code worked (as shown in the updated code snippet). I'm no longer encountering a range protection error.
I really appreciate the fix, but I'm boggled over why I've never needed that line until recently. I guess you don't need flush() until you do.
You could replace this:
sheet.getRange('I7').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I8').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I9').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I10').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I11').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I12').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I13').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I14').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I15').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I16').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I17').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I18').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I19').setValue('kg');
sheet.getRange('I20').setValue('kg');
with this:
sheet.getRange('I7:I20).setValue('kg');
also replace this:
var ss = sss.getSheetByName('ADDER'); //Entry sheet
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getSheetByName('ADDER');
with this:
var sheet = sss.getSheetByName('ADDER);
If you are doing anything immediate after this function with the data then you might wish to add SpreadsheetApp.flush()
I can't comment on the protection since none of that information was provided.

Google Apps script setValues() issue: timing out intermittently

I have a Google Apps script that has been running without issues for 4 years. However, since 3 weeks I have this problem: the script is running for a very long time and failing. This happens every 3 out of 10 runs. The error message is “Service Spreadsheets timed out while accessing spreadsheet with id [spreadsheet id here]”.
The actual script, which is elaborate (thousands of lines) and runs on hundreds of spreadsheets takes the data using fetchUrl() and populates the sheet with setValues(). This actual script used to work fine on spreadsheets with 10 sheets and could update the 180k cells in each sheet without a problem for the past 4 years. Now, I can't update even one sheet.
The script below replicates this issue: it copies 1300 rows by 140 columns from Sheet1 to Sheet2 using .getValues() and .setValues().The script starts to fail when the number of rows is increased above 800. When it runs fine the execution logs show it takes 8 seconds. When it fails the logs show run times of up to 900 seconds. During that time, you can’t access the spreadsheet for more than 10 minutes, if you try to load the spreadsheet in a different tab it doesn’t load at all.
I have opened an issue with Google Support, I got no timeline, but profuse apologies for the inconvenience. This happens on all domains I have tried the script on, not only mine. You need to try running the script 10 times to see the failures.
I would greatly appreciate if someone could suggest a workaround or provide some insight about this issue.
Here is the link to the spreadsheet replicating the issue: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jea15rtjv85YIZumABMfFKESb2_QmX0-7zC-KchWeDc/edit?usp=sharing
function myFunction() {
var row1 = 1;
var col1 = 1;
var row2 = 1300;
var col2 = 140;
console.log({numrows:row2, numcols:col2} );
var rng = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("Sheet1").getRange(row1,col1,row2,col2);
var values_to_set = rng.getValues();
var rng2 = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("Sheet2").getRange(row1,col1,row2,col2);
rng2.setValues(values_to_set);
console.log('done');
}
According to this comparison of read/write methods, using advanced services to write is faster than setValues().
Using the following modified version of your original snippet worked for your sample spreadsheet:
function myFunction() {
var row1 = 1;
var col1 = 1;
var row2 = 1300;
var col2 = 140;
Logger.log({numrows:row2, numcols:col2} );
var rng = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("Sheet1").getRange(row1,col1,row2,col2);
var values_to_set = rng.getValues();
var rng2 = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("Sheet2").getRange(row1,col1,row2,col2);
//rng2.setValues(values_to_set);
// Based on https://developers.google.com/apps-script/advanced/sheets
var request = {
'valueInputOption': 'USER_ENTERED',
'data': [
{
'range': 'Sheet2!' + rng2.getA1Notation(),
'majorDimension': 'ROWS',
'values': values_to_set
}
]
};
Sheets.Spreadsheets.Values.batchUpdate(request, SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getId());
Logger.log('done');
}
This issue is already reported to Google in Issuetracker. Add a star(on top left) and +1(on top right) to the issue to request Google developers to prioritize the issue and fix it.
In the mean time, Consider using Advanced Google services using google-sheets-api to do massive operations on a spreadsheet.
The problem seems to stem from set* methods. Another alternative in your specific case would be to use range.copyTo(instead of getValues() and setValues()), which works without issues (tested upto 15 times)
/**#OnlyCurrentDoc*/
function myFunction() {
var row1 = 1;
var col1 = 1;
var row2 = 1300;
var col2 = 140;
console.log({numrows:row2, numcols:col2} );
var rng = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("Sheet1").getRange(row1,col1,row2,col2);
/*var values_to_set = rng.getValues();*/
var rng2 = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("Sheet2").getRange(row1,col1,row2,col2);
/*rng2.setValues(values_to_set);*/
/*Added*/rng.copyTo(rng2, SpreadsheetApp.CopyPasteType.PASTE_VALUES, false)
console.log('done');
}
function test_myFunction(i=15){
while(i--){
myFunction();
}
}
There seems to be a problem with google v8 engine. I recently experienced same problem. after disabling v8 engine its working fine now.
Go to tools->script editor.
In the script editor window, Click Run then disable v8 engine. See the attachment.
The issue is not the code itself, is the type of account that runs it.
I have two spreadsheets, owned by my personal , p............#gmail.com, account.
The script wrote for this 2 sheets to interact, is very simple, and consist on getting the range and values from sheet 1 (about 150000 cells) and setting the values on sheet 2.
Now, if i try to run the script using my personal account, i get the "service spreadsheets timed out while accessing document with id ..." error. The error shows at about 140 seconds.
At work , i have been issued a corporate paid account , that uses my work email,, p.....#c..mi.com. I shared sheets 1 and 2, with editing privileges with this account,.
When i run this same script, with this work paid account, the error never shows up, and the script finishes successfully after about 50 seconds.
I had this same problem with inserting a dozen records into a sheet with 150k rows. It would read the first file, insert and then fail on the second or third. I had several tabs in this sheet doing some very complicated nested queries and arrayformula vlookups and had set the sheet settings to update every minute and on change.
My solution- which fixed the problem, was to make a copy of my original sheet with the complex queries and replace the source data tab with an importRange (pulling the data from the raw data sheet). I then removed all the other tabs from my raw data sheet. Keeping the raw data sheet isolated from the dynamic calculations.
Short answer: remove tabs with complex queries, arrayformulas and vlookup to another sheet.

"Service Spreadsheets failed" error when calling insertCells method

This may be a simple issue, but I am having some trouble with a section of code.
Here is the code:
function CreateSheet() {
function toTitleCase(str) {
return str.replace(/\w\S*/g, function (txt) {
return txt.charAt(0)
.toUpperCase() + txt.substr(1)
.toLowerCase();
});
}
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
var templatesheet = ss.getSheetByName('Template');
//var fieldName = Browser.inputBox('Field Name', 'Insert Field Name', Browser.Buttons.OK_CANCEL);
var ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
var fieldResult =
ui.prompt(
'FIELD NAME',
'Please type in the Field Name',
ui.ButtonSet.OK
)
var fieldName = toTitleCase(fieldResult.getResponseText());
var acreResult = ui.prompt('ACRES',
'Please type in the # of acres, if the # is not known just leave it blank',
ui.ButtonSet.OK
)
var acres = acreResult.getResponseText();
var url = '';
ss.insertSheet(fieldName,3,{template: templatesheet});
ss.getRange('B3:D3').activate();
ss.getCurrentCell().setValue(fieldName);
ss.getRange('E3').activate();
ss.getCurrentCell().setValue(acres);
url += '#gid=';
url += ss.getSheetId();
ss.setActiveSheet(ss.getSheetByName('Summary'));
SpreadsheetApp.setActiveSpreadsheet(ss);
ss.getRange('A5:J5').activate();
ss.getRange('A5:J5').insertCells(SpreadsheetApp.Dimension.ROWS);
The last line is where it is throwing the exception message:
Service Spreadsheets failed while accessing document with id..
If I go into the sheet itself and manually insert range 'A5:J5' then run the code it will work. What am I missing here?
Service Spreadsheets failed while accessing document with id
is usually an error message one obtains when hitting the maximum size limit for a spreadsheet
This limit is 5 000 000 cells, so it should not be the issue for your spreadsheet
However, several users experienced the same problem as you and have reported it on Google's Public Issue Tracker here or here
It is likely to be a bug and it currently being investigated by Google
Some users reported that they experience the problem only with V8 runtime
Try to disable it (Run > Disable new Apps Script runtime powered by V8), hopefully it will solve the issue temporarily
Otherwise, try to find a workaround replacing the line leading to the error
When I reproduce your script it does not error for me, this is why I can only give you some suggestions
If insertCells gives you trouble, try insertRowAfter() or similar instead
If the problem comes from ss.getRange('A5:J5'), try ss.getActiveSheet().getRange('A5:J5') or ss.getSheetByName('Summary').getRange('A5:J5')
Also, try removing the line SpreadsheetApp.setActiveSpreadsheet(ss); - you already defined ss as the active spreadsheet above, there is no need to set it to active again
I had this same problem related to insertCells. It drove me nuts for a couple of days but I finally just solved it! In case this helps someone else, here is a link to my answer as well as a copy/paste of it to be thorough.
This was a REALLY confusing issue to solve, as the errors reported by
the debugger did not point to the true culprit.
In another cell elsewhere on the sheet, I had this formula:
=SUMPRODUCT(LEN($A$5:$A)>0)
But since my inserted cells started with A5, this was causing the
error to be thrown when I would attempt the insert, if it tried to
insert ahead of A5. By removing this formula, the insert code works
perfectly every time, immediately.
So if you get this error and it is not related to having a sheet that
is too large etc., check to see if you have another formula somewhere
that is referencing the cell being inserted on.
Sometimes this error is caused by a process or calculation that was triggered by an earlier part of the script that has not completed by the time you try to insert those cells.
For example, if you have a formula that is summing a column in your summary sheet, that formula may still be calculating at the time you are trying to shift the rows that the sum formula is referencing. You can force the order of operations to complete those calculations before shifting the rows by adding SpreadsheetApp.flush(); before you insert new cells.
SpreadsheetApp.setActiveSpreadsheet(ss);
SpreadsheetApp.flush();
ss.getRange('A5:J5').activate();
ss.getRange('A5:J5').insertCells(SpreadsheetApp.Dimension.ROWS);
I had same issue.
First, you always need to make sure the sheet you are working on is an actual 'Google SpreadSheet' and not an uploaded one (for example, .xlsx or .xls).
Then use the Save as function to save the document as a Spreadsheed; this solution worked for me.
I found that a chart using the range caused this exception, remove the chart and it worked.
I ran into the same error message, with a sheet of 400 rows and 9 columns only. Inspired by the variouos proposals for solutions, I tried the following, and this did the trick:
duplicated the "orig sheet" to "copy of sheet"
deleted rows 4 to [last row] in "orig sheet" (so only 3 rows left)
copied rows 4 to [last row] from "copy of sheeet" back to "orig sheet"
and the script worked fine again :-)
(advantage: I did not have to change any formulas or scripts)

Apps script onedit triggered too fast causing code conflicting with itself

I'm trying to make an applet in Google Spreadsheets and Apps script that scrapes view data about youtube videos searched by users. When a user types in a search query, a new sheet should be copied from a template sheet and customized to the query. The problem I'm encountering is that when a user rapidly types in multiple queries in succession, the script would dump multiple copies of the template sheet and name them 'Copy of template 1', 'Copy of template 2' and so on, whereas the name of each sheet should be "KW: " + its associated keyword. I suspect this is because the function duplicates and renames a sheet, but if two or more instances of a function try this at nearly the same time, they target the same sheet, causing errors.
This is the culmination of what I've tried:
function main(e){
//spreadsheet=SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet() at the top of the function
//keyword=the string the user typed in
//...
while(true){
var random=Math.random().toString();
try{
//assign the template sheet a random name other processes will fail when they try to use it
spreadsheet.getSheetByName('template').setName(random);
//make a copy of the template
spreadsheet.getSheetByName(random).copyTo(spreadsheet);
//give the copy a proper name
spreadsheet.getSheetByName('Copy of '+random).setName("KW: "+keyword);
//reset the name of the template so other processes can use it
spreadsheet.getSheetByName(random).setName('template');
break;
}
//when a process fails, it should wait then try again
catch(e){Utilities.sleep(Math.round(random*250));}
//...
}
main is has a trigger set on edit. The above code prevents any 'Copy of template n' sheets from appearing, but it simply leaves out most of the sheets that should be produced. My guess is that the code encounters an error in the first line of the try block and loops until it times out. I'm very much at a loss as to what to do. I'd appreciate any help, thank you!
Try copying the template sheet first, then changing the name of the new sheet. Your solution runs into errors because you're modifying the template sheet, but you should really avoid doing that. With this approach, you'll never modify the template sheet.
function main(e){
//spreadsheet=SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet() at the top of the function
//keyword=the string the user typed in
//...
while(true){
try{
// Select the template sheet
var templateSheet = spreadsheet.getSheetByName("template");
// Set the new sheet name
var sheetName = "KW: "+keyword;
// Copy the template sheet and set name
var newSheet = templateSheet.copyTo(spreadsheet).setName(sheetName);
break;
}
//when a process fails, it should wait then try again
catch(e){Utilities.sleep(Math.round(random*250));}
//...
}
}
Granted that I don't have full knowledge of what you're doing with your script, I do have some major concerns with your approach. I don't think you should be creating a new sheet for every query. For one, that will make your data really challenging to aggregate. Secondly, since sheet names must be unique, any time someone searches for something that already has an existing sheet, your function will get stuck in the infinite while loop you set up.
I don't know what kind of data you're placing in the sheets, but you should consider trying to record the data in one sheet. Also, although your while loop works and will, in the case of errors, eventually be terminated by Google's script limitations, you should really try (1) implementing something more robust like appending a number to the sheet name and (2) properly logging the errors.

Google SpreadSheets - When using a time trigger in code, some cells getting '#N/A' value

I've created a Google spreadsheet with imported data on one cell, extracting specific string to another cell and pasting the data in a table with a trigger for every 2 hours.
Now everything works perfectly when running the script manually but when logged out and waiting for the cells to fill, sometimes the pasted cell getting "#N/A" value.
Here is the code I'm using:
function PasteV(){
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = ss.getSheets()[0];
var timestamp= sheet.getRange("D1").getValue();
var sale= sheet.getRange("G1").getValue();
var rent= sheet.getRange("J1").getValue();
sheet.appendRow([timestamp, rent, sale]);
}
Again when running manually countless times - no problem.
I'll appreciate your help.
Thanks.
#N/A is caused by using a custom function. There is an issue for it on the google-apps-script issue tracker, see https://code.google.com/p/google-apps-script-issues/issues/detail?id=1131
Sounds like the same bug, your description sounds the same.