DriveV3
Unofficial helpers and extensions for the Google Drive V3 API
Installation
Install the gem and add to the application's Gemfile by executing:
bundle add drive_v3
If bundler is not being used to manage dependencies, install the gem by executing:
gem install drive_v3
Examples
Many examples can be found in the examples
directory of this project. The examples
have a README of their own
which describes each example.
Prior to running an example, clone this project and run bundle install
in the
project's root working directory.
Run an example using bundle exec
. For example, to run the set_background_color1
example:
bundle exec examples/set_background_color1
Important links for programming Google Drive
DriveV3 documenation
This Gem's YARD documentation is hosted on [rubydoc.info]https://rubydoc.info/gems/drive_v3/.
General API documentation
Ruby implementation of the Drive API
Other links
Getting started
In order to use this gem, you will need to obtain a Google API service account
credential following the instructions below.
Create a Google Cloud project
Create a Google Cloud project using these directions.
Enable the APIs you want to use
Enable the Drive API for this project using these directions.
Download a Google API credential file
Create a service account and download a credential file using these directions.
You can store the download credential files anywhere on your system.
The recommended location is ~/.google-api-credential.json
since this is default
credential file that DriveV3.drive_service
uses.
Usage
Detailed API documenation is hosted on rubygems.org.
Obtaining an authenticated DriveService
Typically, to construct an authenticated DriveService object where the credential
is read from a file, the following code is required:
require 'googleauth'
drive_service = Google::Apis::DriveV3::DriveService.new
credential = File.read(File.expand_path('~/google-api-credential.json')) do |credential_source|
scopes = Google::Apis::DriveV4::AUTH_DRIVE
options = { json_key_io: credential_source, scope: scopes }
Google::Auth::DefaultCredentials.make_creds(options).tap(&:fetch_access_token)
end
drive_service.authorization = credential
The SheetsV4.sheets_service
method simplifies this a bit.
By default, the credential is read from ~/.google-api-credential.json
. In that case,
an authenticated SheetsService object can be obtained with one method call:
sheets_service = SheetsV4.sheets_service
If the credential is stored somewhere else, pass the credential_source
to
SheetsV4.sheets_service
manually. credential_source
can be a String:
sheets_service = SheetsV4.sheets_service(credential_source: File.read('credential.json'))
an IO object:
sheets_service = File.open('credential.json') do |credential_source|
SheetsV4.sheets_service(credential_source:)
end
or an already constructed Google::Auth::*
object.
Building a request
To use the Sheets API, you need to construct JSON formatted requests.
These requests can be constructed using two different methods:
- constructing requests using
Google::Apis::SheetsV4::*
objects or - constructing requests using hashes
The following two sections show how each method can be used to construct
a request to update a row of values in a sheet.
For these two examples, values in the values
array will be written to the
sheet whose ID is 0. The values will be written one per row starting at cell A1.
values = %w[one two three four]
The method SheetsService#batch_update_spreadsheet
will be used to write the values. This
method takes a batch_update_spreadsheet_request
object with a update_cells
request
that defines the update to perform.
Method 1: constructing requests using Google::Apis::SheetsV4::*
objects
When using this method, keep the Ruby source file containing the SheetsService class
(google/apis/drive_v3/service.rb)
and the Ruby source file containing the defitions of the request & data classes
(lib/google/apis/drive_v3/classes.rb)
open for easy searching. These files will give you all the information you need
to construct valid requests.
Here is the example constructing requests using Google::Apis::SheetsV4::*
objects
def values = %w[one two three four]
def row_data(value)
Google::Apis::SheetsV4::RowData.new(
values: [
Google::Apis::SheetsV4::CellData.new(
user_entered_value:
Google::Apis::SheetsV4::ExtendedValue.new(string_value: value.to_s)
)
]
)
end
def rows
values.map { |value| row_data(value) }
end
def write_values_request
fields = 'user_entered_value'
start = Google::Apis::SheetsV4::GridCoordinate.new(
sheet_id: 0, row_index: 0, column_index: 0
)
Google::Apis::SheetsV4::Request.new(
update_cells: Google::Apis::SheetsV4::UpdateCellsRequest.new(rows:, fields:, start:)
)
end
requests = Google::Apis::SheetsV4::BatchUpdateSpreadsheetRequest.new(requests: [write_values_request])
spreadsheet_id = '18FAcgotK7nDfLTOTQuGCIjKwxkJMAguhn1OVzpFFgWY'
SheetsV4.sheets_service.batch_update_spreadsheet(spreadsheet_id, requests)
Method 2: constructing requests using hashes
When constructing requests using this method, keep the Google Sheets Rest API Reference
documentation open. In particular, the Batch Update Requests page
is particularly useful for building spreadsheet batch update requests.
One caveat to keep in mind is that the Rest API documents object properties using
Camel case BUT the Ruby API requires snake case.
For instance, the Rest API documents the properties for a grid coordinate to be
"sheetId", "rowIndex", and "columnIndex". However, in the Ruby API, you should
construct this object using snake case:
grid_coordinate = { sheet_id: 0, row_index: 0, column_index: 0 }
Here is the example constructing requests using hashes:
def values = %w[one two three four]
def rows
values.map do |value|
{ values: [{ user_entered_value: { string_value: value } }] }
end
end
def write_values_request
fields = 'user_entered_value'
start = { sheet_id: 0, row_index: 0, column_index: 0 }
{ update_cells: { rows:, fields:, start: } }
end
requests = { requests: [write_values_request] }
spreadsheet_id = '18FAcgotK7nDfLTOTQuGCIjKwxkJMAguhn1OVzpFFgWY'
response = SheetsV4.sheets_service.batch_update_spreadsheet(spreadsheet_id, requests)
Which method should be used?
Either method will do the same job. I prefer "Method 2: constructing requests using
hashes" because my code is more concise and easy to read.
While either method can produce a malformed request, "Method 2" is more likely to
result in malformed requests. Unfortunately, when given a malformed request, the
Google Sheets API will do one of following depending on the nature of the problem:
- Raise a
Google::Apis::ClientError
with some additional information - Raise a
Google::Apis::ClientError
with no additional information (this the most
common result) - Not return an error with some of the batch requests not having the expected outcome
Luckily, this library provides a way to validate that requests are valid and
identifies precisely where the request objects do not conform to the API description.
That is the subject of the next section Validating requests.
Validating requests
The SheetsV4.validate_api_object
method can be used to validate request objects prior to using them in the Google
Sheets API.
This method takes a schema_name
and an object
to validate. Schema names can be
listed using SheetsV4.api_object_schema_names
.
This method will either return true
if object
conforms to the schema OR it
will raise a RuntimeError noting where the object structure did not conform to
the schema.
In the previous examples (see Building a request), the
following line can be inserted after the requests = ...
line to validate the
request:
SheetsV4.validate_api_object(schema: 'batch_update_spreadsheet_request', object: requests)
Google Extensions
The SheetsV4::GoogleExtensions
module provides extensions to the Google::Apis::SheetsV4
classes to simplify use of the SheetsV4 API.
These extensions are not loaded by default and are not required to use other parts
of this Gem. To enable these extension, you must:
require 'drive_v3/google_extensions'
SheetsService Extensions
Functionality is added to get_spreadsheet
to set the sheets_service
attribute on
the returned spreadsheet and set the sheets_service
and spreadsheet
attributes
on the sheets contained in the spreadsheet.
This can simplify complex spreadsheet updates because you won't have to pass a
sheets_service, spreadsheet, and sheet objects separately.
Spreadsheet Extensions
The sheets_service
attribute is added and is set by SheetsService#get_spreadsheet
.
Convenience methods for getting sheets within the spreadsheet are added:
sheet(id_or_title)
: returns the sheet matching the id or title givensheet_id(title)
: returns the ID for the sheet matching the title giveneach_sheet(ids_or_titles)
: enumerates the sheets within a spreadsheet matching
the given IDs or titles.
Sheet Extensions
The sheets_service
and spreadsheet
attributes are added. Both are set when the
sheet's spreadsheet is loaded by SheetsService#get_spreadsheet
.
Working with dates and times
Google Sheets, similar to other spreadsheet programs, stores dates and date-time
values as numbers. This system makes it easier to perform calculations with
dates and times.
This gem provides two sets of equavalent conversion methods. The first set is defined
as class methods on the SheetsV4
class.
SheetsV4.date_to_gs(date)
returns a numeric cell valueSheetsV4.gs_to_date(cell_value)
returns a Date objectSheetsV4.datetime_to_gs(datetime)
returns a numeric cell valueSheetsV4.gs_to_datetime(cell_value)
returns a DateTime object
In order to convert to and from spreadsheet values, the spreadsheet timezone must
be known. A spreadsheet's timezone is found in the Google Sheets spreadsheet object's
properties:
SheetsV4.default_spreadsheet_tz = spreadsheet.properties.time_zone
If a time zone is not set using SheetsV4.default_spreadsheet_tz
, a RuntimeError
will be raised when any of the above methods are used.
Here is an example of how the timezone can change the values fetched from the
spreadsheet:
cell_value = 44333.191666666666
SheetsV4.default_spreadsheet_tz = 'America/New_York'
datetime = SheetsV4.gs_to_datetime(cell_value)
datetime.utc
SheetsV4.default_spreadsheet_tz = 'America/Los_Angeles'
datetime = SheetsV4.gs_to_datetime(cell_value)
datetime.utc
Valid time zone names are those listed in one of these two sources:
ActiveSupport::TimeZone.all.map { |tz| tz.tzinfo.name }
ActiveSupport::TimeZone.all.map(&:name)
The SheetsV4
methods works well if the spreadsheet timezone is constant through
the run of the program. If this is not the case -- for instance when working with
multiple spreadsheets whose timezones may be different -- then use
SheetsV4::ConvertDatesAndTimes
.
Each instance of SheetsV4::ConvertDatesAndTimes
has it's own spreadsheet timezone
used in the conversions. Instance methods for this class are the same as the
date conversion methods on the SheetsV4 class.
Example:
cell_value = 44333.191666666666
converter = SheetsV4::ConvertDatesAndTimes.new('America/Los_Angeles')
datetime = SheetsV4.gs_to_datetime(cell_value)
datetime.utc
Working with colors
Color objects (with appropriate :red, :green, :blue values) can be retrieved by name
using SheetsV4.color(:black)
or SheetsV4::Color.black
(these are equivalent).
Color names can be listed using SheetsV4.color_names
.
The color object returned is a Hash as follows:
SheetsV4::Color.black
Development
After checking out the repo, run bin/setup
to install dependencies and then, run
rake
to run the tests, static analysis, etc. You can also run bin/console
for an interactive
prompt that will allow you to experiment.
To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install
. To
release a new version, update the version number in version.rb
, and then run
bundle exec rake release
, which will create a git tag for the version, push git
commits and the created tag, and push the .gem
file to
rubygems.org.
Contributing
Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on the main-branch/drive_v3 GitHub project.
License
The gem is available as open source under the terms of the
MIT License.