Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Apps Script

GoogleAppsScriptI’ve been using Google’s Apps Script to work on a side project of mine, during my free time at home (which has slowly diminished quite a bit lately).

It’s actually pretty cool. I started with the Quickstart Guide for Android and after a lot of trial-and-error and visits to StackOverflow, I have a pretty workable bit of code.

It’s a very niche application, but I liked getting more exposure with Android development. I had only done some very basic Hello World type apps on there before, so it was a good experience. That being said… I remembered just how much I have been spoiled by the .NET framework. I’m sure there are some nuances to it that I would quickly get used to if I worked in it more, but as it was… well… I’m glad it’s over for a bit ;)

Similarly, there were some aspects to Apps Script that I really didn’t like. One example of that was when I had accidentally removed the OAuth credentials needed for the web-based development client. I could run the script through my Android app, but I wasn’t able to use the web interface to execute or debug the script. Super annoying. Would’ve been great if there was some child-proofing in place to make it very difficult to remove those credentials. Or at least make it clear what happened and how to fix it. I ended up just having to blow away my original project and make a new one. Pointed my app at the new script id and was good-to-go, but it was a very frustrating hour or two — largely due to a general “something is wrong” error message.

Anyhow, once I’m done with it, I’ll post some screenshots and sample code.