Forum Discussion
Exporting Variables into a Google Spreadsheet
Having read this post on how to export variables to be read in a google spreadsheet, I set about trying to get this working in my project, I soon ran into problems, I just could not get it to work as google have changed some of the ways they work their drive documents.
So, after a LOT of google searching and testing various methods, plus reading this article, I came up with the following method which is a combination of the two articles – and it works, hurrah!
1. Create a new google spreadsheet and change the sheet name (lower left hand corner) to DATA. Make sure your column names are the same as the variables you want to export (exactly matching case)
2. Find out your spreadsheet ‘key’ by looking in the address bar, the key is the long series of letters and numbers after /d/ and before /edit:
Eg: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gF0QCNA1TZCNY3qr2zNpWKQ8r43D39o-nqz56c7cQUs/edit#gid=1283040575
Key = 1gF0QCNA1TZCNY3qr2zNpWKQ8r43D39o-nqz56c7cQUs
3. Open the script editor (Tools ==> Script Editor) in your spreadsheet and paste the script from the attached file (I have copied and pasted this script and just kept in all the instructions)
4. There are two places in the script where it says “KEY” – copy and paste your key into these two places, between the “”.
5. Run the setUp script twice (Run menu). The first time it will ask for permission to run (grant it), then the second time you select to run it you won't get any popup indication it has run.
6. Go to Publish > Deploy as web app, enter Project Version name and click 'Save New Version', set security level and enable service (most likely execute as 'me' and access 'anyone, even anonymously).
7. Copy the 'Current web app URL' and paste in a notepad file to keep safe.
8. In Articulate, add a trigger to run javascript and use the following code, replacing “Current web app URL” with your URL you copied in the previous step (in””):
var player = GetPlayer();
$.ajax({
url:
"Current web app URL",
type: "POST",
data: {"Name": player.GetVar("Name")
, "Rating1": player.GetVar("Rating1")
, "Rating2": player.GetVar("Rating2")
, "Rating3": player.GetVar("Rating3")
, "Rating4": player.GetVar("Rating4")
, "postRating1": player.GetVar("postRating1")
, "postRating2": player.GetVar("postRating2")
, "postRating3": player.GetVar("postRating3")
, "Postrating4": player.GetVar("Postrating4")},
success: function(data)
{
console.log(data);
},
error: function(err) {
console.log('Error:', err);
}
});
return false;
9. Publish your articulate project – you need to host it somewhere like SCORM cloud or a LMS. When it has finished publishing click to open the files and edit the story.html and story_html5.html files – add the following line in under the line <!-- version: X.X.XXX.XXX --> or somewhere after <head>:
<script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.0.min.js"></script>
10. Go back to articulate and click ‘zip’ – then publish your zip file and hopefully it will work!
This isn’t for the faint hearted but it is so worth it if you can get it working! Good luck!
160 Replies
Just a thought but could you receive records for more than one course by having other sheets and calling them something other than 'DATA' (and changing the script accordingly)?
You could use other sheets. Depending on the scope and access needs, the way I'd handle that is by adding a field to capture the course ID or title and use a filter to change the report display.
Google Apps Scripts are pretty fantastic. You can even automatically send formatted emails based on a variety of variables.
This is extracted from a function that gathers info from a sheet and sends emails to program owners for a departure clearance process. There is a limit to the number of emails that can be sent from each account per day. For a corporate or government account it's something like 1500.
if (emailSent =="" && emailAddress!="") { // Prevents sending duplicates
var subject = "[Exit Clearance] "+SystemName;
var messageBody="PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE.<br/><br/>"+MemberName+" ("+MemberOffice+") will be departing the agency after "+DepartureDate+".<br/><br/>You have been listed as program contact for <b>"+SystemName+"</b>. Please process the exit for the member listed above as necessary and click the link below to confirm. <br/><br/><a href='https://docs.google.com/a/nara.gov/forms/d/FORMID/formResponse?entry.2015203526="+uid+"&entry.2111276816="+SystemName+"&entry.2115168075="+MemberName+"&entry.439662642="+MemberOffice+"'>Confirm receipt and action.</a><br/><br/>Clicking the link confirms receipt and indicates that the system or program owner will process the required action on or after the date of departure. A reminder will be sent after the scheduled departure date.";MailApp.sendEmail(emailAddress, subject,'',{htmlBody: messageBody});
sheet.getRange(startRow + i, 3).setValue(EMAIL_SENT);
// Make sure the cell is updated right away in case the script is interrupted
SpreadsheetApp.flush();
}Hi Laura -
The Jquery needs to be loaded ahead of the script fire. There is some time-lag between the creation of the object and the actual load and initialization of the library. So if you try to call something immediately, it'll probably fail. I usually try to load it on the base layer then call another layer on a delay to execute. This provides 3 to 5 seconds of lead time which seems to be enough to consistently get the library in.
If you were on a dial-up connection, this could be close.
The other thing you could try is a setInterval call that looks for something jquery unique to load before firing your ajax function and canceling the interval. This is probably better than the delay as it would still work if jquery took forever to load.
Like looping to check for this every second or so:
if (typeof jQuery!='undefined') { //run your jquery ajax call and cancel the interval}
Hi, thanks for replying so quickly. I'm driving myself crackers here! I've still not managed to do it though (my technical-ness isn't great) :(
I have tried putting the write to header trigger right at the beginning and the write to google one right at the end of the project (so it take the time to get from one to the other) - I assumed this would be the same as having it on different layers, but I could be wrong there!
I have to admit, I didn't fully understand your second post, but I have tried putting it before the write to header code from earlier and that didn't work, but I think I'm not writing the code properly. I'll have another crack at it later.
Cheers for your help!
Happy to have a look if you have a published output or story file to share.
It worked it worked it FINALLY worked!!!!!!
Three straight days 8 hours per day and finally FINALLY I can tell my supervisor that "Yes, we can send data to an online spreadsheet from Storyline without using the LMS."
I've looked at so much source code I thought I'd be sick. But it FINALLY worked! Thank you all so much, if it weren't for this thread I'd never have done it!
Just thought I'd share. :D
Thanks for sharing Jessica :) We can feel your relief in your post!
How do you do step 9?
Hey Robert, you'll find the output folder on your computer, which contains the story.html file along with the html5 file. You can open these with Notepad or another plaintext editor.
Once you have them open, copy and paste the text from step #9 after the < head> tag, and save. Hope that helps.
Perfect...yes! Thank you Michael!
HI Kate,
I followed all the steps you mentioned but still not working. I have uploaded the published file on the server but still no response. I think there is something wrong I am doing that's why the data is not appearing in Google sheet. Kindly find the files attached.
Google drive link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L1YtRjp0Kd94XQx-1AjH8cEh-sctGmRPL7VXCRCzdNk/edit?usp=sharing
Published version uploaded: http://blendtolearn.com/articulate/exportgooglesheet/story.html
I look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Mohammad, I have sent you a reply via email but for anyone else, here are the changes I made:
1. You need to call the spreadsheet ‘DATA’ – the name at the bottom, not at the top
2. You need to put column headers in that match the variable names
3. I edited the variable names in your articulate project
4. I edited the javascript to match the variables and took out the ones you didn’t need.
5. I added in a second javascript that stops you needing to do any post-publish surgeryThanks for this, too, Kate. I haven't been successful at this yet and hope implementing these changes will work for me.
