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Extend Google Sheets with IBM Cloud Object Storage Data
Make calls to the API Server from Google Apps Script.
Interact with IBM Cloud Object Storage data from Google Sheets through macros, custom functions, and add-ons. The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for IBM Cloud Object Storage (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), enables connectivity to IBM Cloud Object Storage data from cloud-based and mobile applications like Google Sheets. The API Server is a lightweight Web application that produces OData services for IBM Cloud Object Storage and any source supported by the CData ADO.NET Providers.
Google Apps Script can consume these OData services in the JSON format. This article shows how to create a simple add-on that populates a Google Spreadsheet with Objects data.
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure IBM Cloud Object Storage OData services:
Deploy
The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.
The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.
Connect to IBM Cloud Object Storage
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for IBM Cloud Object Storage, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to IBM Cloud Object Storage by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
Register a New Instance of Cloud Object Storage
If you do not already have Cloud Object Storage in your IBM Cloud account, follow the procedure below to install an instance of SQL Query in your account:
- Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
- Navigate to the page, choose a name for your instance and click Create. You will be redirected to the instance of Cloud Object Storage you just created.
Connecting using OAuth Authentication
There are certain connection properties you need to set before you can connect. You can obtain these as follows:
API Key
To connect with IBM Cloud Object Storage, you need an API Key. You can obtain this as follows:
- Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
- Navigate to the Platform API Keys page.
- On the middle-right corner click "Create an IBM Cloud API Key" to create a new API Key.
- In the pop-up window, specify the API Key name and click "Create". Note the API Key as you can never access it again from the dashboard.
Cloud Object Storage CRN
If you have multiple accounts, specify the CloudObjectStorageCRN explicitly. To find the appropriate value, you can:
- Query the Services view. This will list your IBM Cloud Object Storage instances along with the CRN for each.
- Locate the CRN directly in IBM Cloud. To do so, navigate to your IBM Cloud Dashboard. In the Resource List, Under Storage, select your Cloud Object Storage resource to get its CRN.
Connecting to Data
You can now set the following to connect to data:
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
- ApiKey: Set this to your API key which was noted during setup.
- CloudObjectStorageCRN (Optional): Set this to the cloud object storage CRN you want to work with. While the connector attempts to retrieve this automatically, specifying this explicitly is recommended if you have more than Cloud Object Storage account.
When you connect, the connector completes the OAuth process.
- Extracts the access token and authenticates requests.
- Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.
You can then choose the IBM Cloud Object Storage entities you want to allow the API Server to access by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Authorize API Server Users
After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address: Connections from all addresses except localhost are blocked by default, so you will need to allow connections from Google's servers for this article. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.
Retrieve IBM Cloud Object Storage Data
Open the Script Editor from your spreadsheet by clicking Tools -> Script Editor. In the Script Editor, add the following function to populate a spreadsheet with the results of an OData query:
function retrieve(){
var url = "https://MyUrl/api.rsc/Objects?select=Id,Key,Etag,Bucket";
var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url,{
headers: {"Authorization": "Basic " + Utilities.base64Encode("MyUser:MyAuthtoken")}
});
var json = response.getContentText();
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var a1 = sheet.getRange('a1');
var index=1;
var objects = JSON.parse(json).value;
var cols = [["Id","Key","Etag","Bucket"]];
sheet.getRange(1,1,1,4).setValues(cols);
row=2;
for(var i in objects){
for (var j in objects[i]) {
switch (j) {
case "Id":
a1.offset(row,0).setValue(account[i][j]);
break;
case "Key":
a1.offset(row,1).setValue(account[i][j]);
break;
case "Etag":
a1.offset(row,2).setValue(account[i][j]);
break;
case "Bucket":
a1.offset(row,3).setValue(account[i][j]);
break;
}
}
row++;
}
}
Follow the steps below to add an installable trigger to populate the spreadsheet when opened:
- Click Resources -> Current Project's Triggers -> Add a New Trigger.
- Select retrieve in the Run menu.
- Select From Spreadsheet.
- Select On open.
After closing the dialog, you are prompted to allow access to the application.
You can test the script by clicking Publish -> Test as Add-On. Select the version, installation type, and spreadsheet to create a test configuration. You can then select and run the test configuration.
