Editor’s Note: Guest author Niels Buekers is a Google Apps consultant at Capgemini Belgium. — Arun Nagarajan
During a recent Google Apps migration project, we received several requests to create custom groups of contacts so that users could more easily email frequent collaborators. Before switching to Google Apps, users created their own private distribution lists — but this approach led to overlapping groups that quickly fell out of sync.
The problem was a perfect case for Google Apps Script. We built a great solution that gives users as much power as possible with just a quick administrator review.
The situation before: either manually adding each contact or using a private contacts group.
To start the process, a user adds a specific label to a Gmail message. A script that runs on a timed trigger then generates a request to create a group for all the addresses in the message. The script writes this data to a spreadsheet that tracks group names and administrator approval.
/** * Retrieves all 'group_request' threads and creates a request. */ function processInbox() { // Get threads that have the group_request label. var groupRequestLabel = GmailApp.getUserLabelByName('group_request'); var threads = groupRequestLabel.getThreads(0, 10); // For each thread, retrieve all recipients and create a group request. for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) { var firstMessage = threads[i].getMessages()[0]; var sender = firstMessage.getFrom(); var recipients = []; // Add sender. recipients.push(parseAddresses(sender)); // Add recipients. if (threads[i].getMessages()[0].getTo()) { var toRecipients = parseAddresses(firstMessage.getTo()); recipients.push(toRecipients); } // Add CCs. if (threads[i].getMessages()[0].getCc()){ var ccRecipients = parseAddresses(firstMessage.getCc()); recipients.push(ccRecipients); } // Write all recipients to a cell in the spreadsheet // and send emails to ask for group name and approval. createGroupRequestForRecipients(recipients, Session.getActiveUser().getEmail()); // Remove label from this thread now that it has been processed. threads[i].removeLabel(groupRequestLabel); } };
Once the request has been processed and written to the spreadsheet, the script sends the user an email that asks her to suggest a name for the group in an Apps Script web app. A second email asks the administrator to visit the web app to approve or decline the request. The results are again stored in the spreadsheet.
The spreadsheet contains a second script, which is triggered for each modification. Once the script confirms that the request has been approved, it uses the Apps Script Domain Service to create the new group.
/** * Creates a new group in the Google Apps cPanel with the provided name * and members. */ function createGroupWithAddresses(addresses,groupName){ var group = GroupsManager.createGroup(groupName, groupName, groupName, GroupsManager.PermissionLevel.DOMAIN); var splitAddresses = addresses.split(','); for (var i = 0; i < splitAddresses.length; i++) { Logger.log('Adding ' + splitAddresses[i]); group.addMember(splitAddresses[i]); } };
The result after successfully running the script.
This solution provides a simple way for users to request new Google groups, without all the overhead of manually creating an admin-managed distribution list.
Editor’s Note: Guest author Jason Gordon is a co-founder of Beth Macri Designs — Arun Nagarajan
Beth Macri Designs creates jewelry from the point of view of a structural engineer. The forms are designed using generative 3D software systems and materialized using 3D printing technologies. Our company understands that to make beautiful fine jewelry, 3D printing is only the first step; traditional jewelry craft is then employed for final production. After our first product, The Hidden Message Necklace, was recently featured on The View as part of its Valentine's Day Gift Guide, we had a lot of orders to ship out. As soon as the mail leaves the building, though, the process is literally out of our hands: something unexpected was bound to happen to at least one or two packages. Several package-tracking services exist, but getting the names and tracking numbers into them was a cut-and-paste operation.
I knew that all of the tracking numbers were being delivered by email and I had already set up a Gmail filter to archive them and apply a label. With a little help from Google Apps Script, I knew I could automatically parse those emails and add them to my account on PackageTrackr (which syncs to their newer service, Fara).
The script supports reading emails from multiple shipping providers and is set up so one could easily add more. Every 30 minutes on a time-driven trigger, using the Gmail service, the script runs and looks through unread emails from the shipping provider label, then parses the name and tracking number out of each one. The provider, tracking number, and recipient are stored in a JavaScript array.
function getUSPSConversations(){ return GmailApp.search("in:usps is:unread subject:(Click-N-Ship)"); } function matchUSPSHTML(data){ var out = []; var track_num = data.match( /TrackConfirmAction\Winput\.action\WtLabels\=(\d+)/g); var to = data.match(/Shipped.to.*[\r\n]*.*>([a-zA-Z\s-_]*)<br>/g); for(i in track_num){ var o = new Object(); var track = track_num[i].match(/(\d+)/g); var person = to[i].match(/>([a-zA-Z\s-_]+)<br>/); var myPerson = person[1].replace(/(\r\n|\n|\r)/gm,"") o["number"]=track[0]; o["carrier"]="USPS"; o["person"]=myPerson; out.push(o); } return out; }
You can parse all of your different shipping providers in one run of the script. After all of the shipment emails are read, it composes an email to PackageTrackr to give it all of the tracking numbers it just harvested.
var user = Session.getActiveUser().getEmail(); if(data.length > 0){ for(d in data){ body += this["formatForPackageTrackr"](data[d]["number"], data[d]["carrier"], data[d]["person"]); } GmailApp.sendEmail("track@packagetrackr.com", "Add Packages", body, {bcc: user}); } function formatForPackageTrackr(tracking_num, service, person){ return "#:" + tracking_num + " " + service + " " + person + "\n"; }
Down the line, other shipping providers could be added such as UPS and Fedex. Additionally, more tracking services could be added instead of just PackageTrackr.
Search engines have been using structured data for years to understand the information on web pages and provide richer search results. Today, we are introducing schemas in emails to make messages more interactive and allow developers to deliver a slice of their apps to users’ inboxes.
Schemas in emails can be used to represent various types of entities and actions. Email clients that understand schemas, such as Gmail, can render entities and actions defined in the messages with a consistent user interface. In the case of Gmail, this means that the emails can display quick action buttons that let users take actions directly from their inboxes, as in the following screenshot:
Using schemas to add quick action buttons to the emails you send is easy. All it takes is adding some markup to your HTML emails, together with your regular content, in one of the supported formats - Microdata and JSON-LD.
As an example, the following JSON-LD markup can be used to define a movie and the corresponding one-click action to add the movie to your queue:
<script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "schema.org", "@type": "Movie", "name": "The Internship", ... information about the movie ... "action": { "@type": "ConfirmAction", "name": "Add to queue", "actionHandler": { "@type": "HttpActionHandler", "url": "https://my-movies.com/add?movieId=123", "method": "POST", } } } </script>
Gmail renders the markup above with a button labelled “Add to queue” next to the email subject line. When the user clicks on the button, Gmail sends a POST request to the url specified in the action handler. Your app has to handle these requests and respond to the email client with an appropriate HTTP response code (200 for successful requests, 400 for invalid requests, etc.).
Schemas in emails currently support four different types of actions - rate/review, RSVP, one-click action and goto link - and we plan to add more types moving forward. We are collaborating with a number of partners who will launch their integrations in the coming weeks, making the messages they send more useful and interactive for Gmail users. For example, Esna is using this to inform users of missed calls and provide them with a one-click button to be called again, while Seamless is implementing the rate/review action to collect feedback about restaurants.
Other partners who are already implementing schemas in email today include both Billguard, Concur Technologies, Docusign, HelloSign, Insight.ly, Mailchimp, myERP, Netflix, OpenTable, Orangescape, Paperless Post, Spotify, SugarCRM, and Tripit.
To learn more about all supported entities and actions and to find out how to get started with schemas in email, visit http://developers.google.com/gmail.
As you can see, we’ve been working hard to improve Apps Script for you. We hope you enjoy the new features!
