Header section within Google Docs

Question

So, i have ammended some code to add the description field of a file search to a spreadsheet, which is potentially useful for me. However, ideally I want to conduct a file search and then add the details within the header section of a google document to a spreadsheet column.

The problem line I assume is: var header= file.getHeader();

How do I query the search performed to return the contents of the document header? Can anyone help with this please?

function onOpen() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var searchMenuEntries = [ {name: "Search in all files", functionName:  "search"}];
ss.addMenu("Search Google Drive", searchMenuEntries);
}
function search() {

// Prompt the user for a search term

var searchTerm = Browser.inputBox("Enter the search parameters");

// Get the active spreadsheet and the active sheet

var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = ss.getActiveSheet();


// Search the files in the user's Google Drive for the search term
// See documentation for search parameters you can use
// https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/drive/drive-app#searchFiles(String)


 var files = DriveApp.searchFiles("fullText contains  '"+searchTerm.replace("'","\'")+"'");
 var output = [];

 while (files.hasNext()) {
 var file = files.next();
 var fileId = file.getId();

 var fileType = file.getMimeType();

 if (fileType === MimeType.GOOGLE_DOCS) {
 var doc = DocumentApp.openById(fileId);

 var name = doc.getName();
 var header= doc.getHeader().getText();
 var url = doc.getUrl();

 // Set up the spreadsheet to display the results

var headers = [["File ID", "File Type", "File Name", "Header", "URL"]];
sheet.clear();
sheet.getRange("A1:E1").setValues(headers);


 // push the file details to our output array (essentially pushing a row of data)

output.push([ fileId, fileType, name, header, url]);
}


// write data to the sheet

sheet.getRange(2, 1, output.length, 5).setValues(output);
}
}

not sure what this is but you might try file.getDescription() — ScampMichael
– ScampMichael, Commented May 12, 2015 at 17:21
You need to open the file with a DocumentApp first and then get the header from there. var file = files.next() gives you information about the document, but not it's contents. Check out Document for more info. — Akshin Jalilov
– Akshin Jalilov, Commented May 12, 2015 at 17:22
ok thanks guys, The search description option is useful but with these pre-existing files I have this field has not been used, so searching within a document header or document body has to be the most convenient method going forward. I will try the documentapp option and will post the code assuming I can get it too work- I am at the novice end of beginner here after all. — Simon
– Simon, Commented May 12, 2015 at 19:53

Alan Wells · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-14 18:31:40Z

1

Manually insert a header into a document, then open the document and get the ID out of the url. Then run some test code:

function getHeader() {
  var doc = DocumentApp.openById('your ID here');
  var hdear = doc.getHeader();

  Logger.log('hdear: ' + hdear);
};

Run the code from the script editor, then in the VIEW menu, open the LOGS. You can also run the code line by line with the debugger.

In the log, it should show "HeaderSection"

You should use DriveApp to get a list of files, but then you'll need to use DocumentApp to get the header.

function myFunction() {
  var files = DriveApp.searchFiles("fullText contains '"+searchTerm.replace("'","\'")+"'");
  var output = [];

  while (files.hasNext()) {
    var file = files.next();
    var fileId = file.getId();

    var fileType = file.getMimeType();

    if (fileType === MimeType.GOOGLE_DOCS) {
      var doc = DocumentApp.openById(fileId);

      var name = doc.getName();
      var header= doc.getHeader().getText();
      var url = doc.getUrl();

      output.push(name);
      output.push(fileType);
      output.push(header);
      output.push(url);
    };
  };

  var outerArray = [];
  outerArray.push(output);
  // write data to the sheet
  sheet.getRange(2, 1, outerArray.length, output.length).setValues(outerArray);
};

edited May 14, 2015 at 18:31

answered May 12, 2015 at 21:46

Alan Wells

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4 Comments

Simon Over a year ago

I appreciate all your help with this. I still cannot grab the headers no matter how i look at the code- can get Name, Type,Description and URL fine but no joy with the header option at all.

Alan Wells Over a year ago

If there is no header section in a Doc, getHeader() will return null. As a simple test, see my updated answer.

Simon Over a year ago

Ok, great stuff, got this to work, partially. I am getting some errors with null now. So, there must be an easy way to ignore null returns, maybe adding a "-" instead? Updated code above

Alan Wells Over a year ago

Yah, use an if conditional check: if (myVariable !== null) {//If value is NOT equal to null, then do something, else do nothing};

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