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do something useful with Apps Script in 5 minutes
7. Log who you sent emails to in a sheetBruce McPhersonwww.mcpher.com
Snippet objectives● Use the lessons learned in ‘using a spreadsheet as a
database’ ● Search email for a particular topic and write recipient
details to a sheet● Learn about exponential backoff and Array functions
Libraries used
● database abstraction● driver sheet● useful snippets
Add libraries to script
● create a spreadsheet● get its id● create a script● Open resources● Add references to librariesMHfCjPQlweartW45xYs6hFai_d-phDA33Mrckbr9_w7PCphJtOzhzA_Cz3TLx7pV4j
Mcbr-v4SsYKJP7JMohttAZyz3TLx7pV4j
layout what you are going to do
function myFunction() {
// get all email threads matching search query
// extract the messages and recipients for each thread
// open a sheet
// clear sheet
// write results
}
get all matching email threads
For this example, we’ll keep it simple - if you expected many results you’d need to handle continuation as by default this only returns a chunk of the matching queries.
What you’ll get back is an array of GMailThread
// get all email threads matching search query
var threads = GmailApp.search("The Excel Liberation forum has moved to a Google+ community");
set up exponential backoffGetting messages within threads is rate limited in Google Apps Script. If we ask for too many too quickly, it will fail. Exponential backoff is a technique that recovers from errors like this and tries again. You’ll only be able to process about 300 messages within the 6 minute GAS execution quota
var emails = threads.reduce ( function (p,c) {
// get messages within each thread and append each recipient
cUseful.rateLimitExpBackoff(function () {
});
return p;
},[]);
get the message threadsEach thread can contain multiple messages, go through them using Array.forEach() to extract info from each method
var emails = threads.reduce ( function (p,c) {
// get messages within each thread and append each recipient
cUseful.rateLimitExpBackoff(function () {
c.getMessages().forEach(function(d) {
});
});
return p;
},[]);
Map the recipientsEach message can contain multiple recipients in the To: property. These are comma separated so we can use String.split(“,”) to create an array, then Array.Map() to transform each item and extract the summary information we need into a new object. Finally these are appended to the growing array being built up by .reduce() var emails = threads.reduce ( function (p,c) {
// get messages within each thread and append each recipient
cUseful.rateLimitExpBackoff(function () {
c.getMessages().forEach(function(d) {
cUseful.arrayAppend(p, d.getTo().split(",").map(function(e) {
return {to:e,subject:d.getSubject(),dateSent:d.getDate().toString(),from:d.getFrom()};
}));
});
});
return p;
},[]);
Open sheetUsing database abstraction, open a sheet as a database.
// open a new sheet
var handler = new cDbAbstraction.DbAbstraction(cDriverSheet, {
"siloid": "emails",
"dbid": "1yTQFdN_O2nFb9obm7AHCTmPKpf5cwAd78uNQJiCcjPk"
});
and remove any data already there
// remove anything already there
var result = handler.remove();
if (handler.handleCode < 0) throw JSON.stringify(result);
Log the resultsUsing Array.sort() , sort by recipient email address then write the results to a sheet
// sort and log results
var result = handler.save(emails.sort(function (a,b) {
return a.to > b.to ? 1 : (a.to < b.to ? -1 : 0) ;
}));
if (handler.handleCode < 0) throw JSON.stringify(result);
Run and authorize it
Here’s the result
The whole thingfunction myFunction() {
// get all matching emails
var threads = GmailApp.search(
"The Excel Liberation forum has moved to a Google+ community");
var emails = threads.reduce ( function (p,c) {
// get messages within each thread and append each recipient
cUseful.rateLimitExpBackoff(function () {
c.getMessages().forEach(function(d) {
cUseful.arrayAppend(p, d.getTo().split(",").map(function(e) {
return {
to:e,
subject:d.getSubject(),
dateSent:d.getDate().toString(),
from:d.getFrom() };
}));
});
});
return p;
},[]);
// open a new sheet
var handler = new cDbAbstraction.DbAbstraction (
cDriverSheet, {
"siloid": "emails",
"dbid": "1yTQFdN_O2nFb9obm7AHCTmPKpf5cwAd78uNQJiCcjPk"
});
if (!handler.isHappy()) throw 'could not open sheet';
// remove anything already there
var result = handler.remove();
if (handler.handleCode < 0) throw JSON.stringify(result);
// sort and log results
var result = handler.save(emails.sort(function (a,b) {
return a.to > b.to ? 1 : (a.to < b.to ? -1 : 0) ;
}));
if (handler.handleCode < 0) throw JSON.stringify(result);
}
Homework
Apps Script quota prevents you dealing with more than about 300 threads within the execution time quota. Figure out how to deal with more than that using search(query, start, max) and running the task several times
Follow up materials
Take a copy of this scriptTake a copy of these slidesJoin me on G+, or the G+ communityMore on desktop liberationMore on database abstractionMore 5 minute things
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