Extend Google Sheets with Typeform Data



Make calls to the API Server from Google Apps Script.

Interact with Typeform data from Google Sheets through macros, custom functions, and add-ons. The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Typeform (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), enables connectivity to Typeform data from cloud-based and mobile applications like Google Sheets. The API Server is a lightweight Web application that produces OData services for Typeform 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 Tags data.

Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Typeform 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 Typeform

After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Typeform, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Typeform by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the TypeForm Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\TypeForm.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for TypeForm (see below).

TypeForm API Profile Settings

Authentication to TypeForm uses the OAuth standard.

To authenticate to TypeForm, you must first register and configure an OAuth application with TypeForm here: https://admin.typeform.com/account#/section/tokens. Your app will be assigned a client ID and a client secret which can be set in the connection string. More information on setting up an OAuth application can be found at https://developer.typeform.com/get-started/.

Note that there are several different use scenarios which all require different redirect URIs:

  • CData Desktop Applications: CData desktop applications (Sync, API Server, ArcESB) accept OAuth tokens at /src/oauthCallback.rst. The host and port is the same as the default port used by the application. For example, if you use http://localhost:8019/ to access CData Sync then the redirect URI will be http://localhost:8019/src/oauthCallback.rst.
  • CData Cloud Applications: CData cloud applications are similar to their desktop counterparts. If you access Connect Cloud at https://1.2.3.4/ then you should use the redirect https://1.2.3.4/src/oauthCallback.rst.
  • Desktop Application: When using a desktop application, the URI https://localhost:33333 is recommended.
  • Web Application: When developing a web application using the driver, use your own URI here such as https://my-website.com/oauth.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
  • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
  • OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id that is specified in your app settings.
  • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to Client Secret that is specified in your app settings.
  • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.

You can then choose the Typeform 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 Typeform 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/Tags?select=Id,Id,Title,SettingsIsPublic"; 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 tags = JSON.parse(json).value; var cols = [["Id","Id","Title","SettingsIsPublic"]]; sheet.getRange(1,1,1,4).setValues(cols); row=2; for(var i in tags){ for (var j in tags[i]) { switch (j) { case "Id": a1.offset(row,0).setValue(account[i][j]); break; case "Id": a1.offset(row,1).setValue(account[i][j]); break; case "Title": a1.offset(row,2).setValue(account[i][j]); break; case "SettingsIsPublic": 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:

  1. Click Resources -> Current Project's Triggers -> Add a New Trigger.
  2. Select retrieve in the Run menu.
  3. Select From Spreadsheet.
  4. 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.

Ready to get started?

Learn more or sign up for a free trial:

CData API Server