Google Apps Script, 2nd Edition

Chapter 2. Setting Up Your Development Environment

When developing a UI in Google Apps Script, you will often load the UI in a browser to see how code is rendered on the page. Among the several ways of displaying the UI during development, it is best to use the web app page and the “latest code” link described in “Publishing options”. The reason is that each time a change is made in the script, proofing that change only requires saving your script and reloading the page showing the development version of your app (or the “dev page”).

The Script Editor has a built-in debugger that can help when you are working up the processing elements. For example, say you would like to retrieve some data from a SOAP service and parse the XML. The debugger will allow you to set breakpoints so you can step through the code and review values throughout the process.

Once you start using interactive elements in the UI, such as a click handler, you will not be able to use the debugger. This is because the frontend of the UI is loaded into the browser and is therefore independent of the Script Editor. Later in this chapter, we will introduce an error-catching method that will help you find problems in your code.

Most developers like to have an arrangement of code, live view, and console output like what’s available in the Eclipse IDE. Figure 2-1 shows a layout of three browser windows that effectively creates an IDE look for Google Apps Script.

To create this setup, open a new window for the Script ...