G Suite Developers Blog

Docs, Sheets and Forms add-ons now open to all developers

April 23, 2015

Posted by Saurabh Gupta, Product ManagerOriginally posted to Google Developers blogBack in 2014, we introduced add-ons for Google Docs, Sheets, and Forms in developer preview. Since then, the developer community has built a wide variety of features to help millions of Docs, Sheets and Forms users become more productive. Over the last few months, we launched a number of developer-friendly features that made it easier to build, test, deploy and distribute add-ons. Some key capabilities include:

Ability to publish add-ons in Google Apps Marketplace

Ability to bundle your add-on with existing Apps Marketplace listing

Availability of Apps Script triggers in add-ons

Testing tools for add-ons

Using standalone scripts to publish add-ons

Option to use your own Google Developers console project

Iframe sandbox mode for faster UI

With these features under our belt, we are ready to graduate add-ons out of developer preview. Starting today, any developer can publish an add-on. To ensure users find the best tools for them, every new add-on will undergo a review for adherence to our guidelines before it’s available in the add-ons store. We can’t wait to see what you will build!

Introducing New Post Install Notification and Experience for Google Apps Marketplace

April 22, 2015

Posted by Chris Han, Product Manager, Google Apps Marketplace teamToday we’re announcing two changes to the post install experience for Google Apps Marketplace. Both changes are geared towards improving end user awareness and active usage of your apps.First, after installing a Marketplace app, admins will be given the opportunity to send a notification to end users. This enables admins to easily tell users that your app is now available, and how to access it.

The notification will only appear to the users in the Organizational Unit (OU) or domain for which the admin has installed the app. The notification will appear in each user’s Notification Center and will describe how to access and launch the app.

Second, we’ve completely changed the post install experience itself, making instructions for accessing your app clearer. During the post install experience, we now show how to access all the extension points of your app (e.g. Apps launcher, Drive, Add-ons to Docs, Sheets, and Forms).

For more information on this feature, please see the Help Center article.

The Realtime API: In memory mode, debug tools, and more

April 13, 2015

Posted by Cheryl Simon Retzlaff, Software Engineer on the Realtime API teamReal-time collaboration is a powerful feature for getting work done inside Google docs. We extended that functionality with the Realtime API to enable you to create Google-docs style collaborative applications with minimal effort.Integration of the API becomes even easier with a new in memory mode, which allows you to manipulate a Realtime document using the standard API without being connected to our servers. No user login or authorization is required. This is great for building applications where Google login is optional, writing tests for your app, or experimenting with the API before configuring auth.The Realtime debug console lets you view, edit and debug a Realtime model. To launch the debugger, simply execute gapi.drive.realtime.debug(); in the JavaScript console in Chrome.

Finally, we have refreshed the developer guides to make it easier for you to learn about the API as a new or advanced user. Check them out at https://developers.google.com/drive/realtime.For details on these and other recent features, see the release note.

New Advanced services in Apps Script

April 6, 2015

Posted by Kalyan Reddy, Developer Programs EngineerApps Script includes many built-in Google services for major products like Gmail and Drive, and lately, we've been working to add other APIs that developers have been clamoring for as advanced Google services. Today, we are launching seven more advanced services, including:

Admin SDK Groups Migration service

Admin SDK Groups Settings service

Admin SDK License Manager service

Admin SDK Reseller service

Apps Activity service

DoubleClick Campaigns service

Google+ service

Like all other advanced services in Apps Script, they must first be enabled before use. Once enabled, they are just as easy to use as built-in Apps Script services -- the editor provides autocomplete, and the authentication flow is handled automatically. Here is a sample using the Apps Activity advanced service that shows how to get a list of users that have performed an action on a particular Google Drive file.function getUsersActivity() { var fileId = 'YOUR_FILE_ID_HERE'; var pageToken; var users = {}; do { var result = AppsActivity.Activities.list({ 'drive.fileId': fileId, 'source': 'drive.google.com', 'pageToken': pageToken }); var activities = result.activities; for (var i = 0; i < activities.length; i++) { var events = activities[i].singleEvents; for (var j = 0; j < events.length; j++) { var event = events[j]; users[event.user.name] = true; } } pageToken = result.nextPageToken; } while (pageToken); Logger.log(Object.keys(users)); }This function uses the AppsActivity.Activities.list() method, passing in the required parameters drive.fileId and source, and uses page tokens to get the full list of activities. The full list of parameters this method accepts can be found in the Apps Activity API's reference documentation.