The information on this page refers to the Google Connector v1.4. Click here for the details about Google Connector v2.0.

Installation 

If you are using  In-house and have downloaded the Google Connector:

1.  rename the download file named connector-google-apps.zip to google.war
2.  copy google.war to c:\<frevvo-home>\tomcat\webapps
3. If you are using the tomcat-bundle, the google.war file is located in <frevvo-home>/ext/connectors. Copy the war file from this location to c:\<frevvo-home>\tomcat\webapps.

Tomcat will automatically expand the war file and start the connector running. If you are not using the  tomcat-bundle or have not installed the bundle into c:\frevvo make the necessary path adjustments to step 2 above.  

Google Spreadsheets

 forms can both write to and read from your Google spreadsheets.

Save Submissions to a Spreadsheet 

 provides wizards and a Google Connector that support easy direct connectivity with Google Spreadsheets. You'll need a Google Docs account and a  account.

To save submissions to your Google spreadsheet, edit your form and use the Doc Action Wizard to configure your form to save your submissions into a Google spreadsheet. Each time someone uses and submits your form, a new row is added to your Google spreadsheet.

If your form contains multiple documents because one or more controls are from the palette while other controls are from one or more XSD data sources, you can write each document to a different Google Spreadsheet. To do this use the Google Connector Url Manual Doc URI wizard to configure each Uri to a different spreadsheet or workbook within the spreadsheet. 

Read from a Spreadsheet 

 forms can be initialized with data from a Google Spreadsheet by retrieving data from the Google Spreadsheet via a business rule. This form allows the user to select a customer from the dropdown. Once selected a business rule retrieves the address details from a Google Spreadsheet.

This is the Google spreadsheet containing the customer address details.

The form's business rule calls the Google Connector, passing a parameter named 'query'. The query paramenter selects row(s) from the spreadsheet which match values in specific columns. In this example the spreadsheet has a column named 'customer name'. We want to retrieve the spreadsheet row where customer name equals the name we select in our form's dropdown control name 'Customer'.

eval('x=' + http.get('http://www.frevvo.com/google/spreadsheets/query/u/<google username>/p/<google password>
/s/DisclosureAddresses/w/ByName?media=json&query=customername="' +
Customer.value + '"'));


    if (x.results == null) {
        RequestID.value = 'error';
    } else if (x.results.length == 0) {
        RequestID.value = 'No Match';
    } else {
        RequestID.value = x.results[0].nextid;
}
if (x.results == null) {
    FullAddress.value = 'error';
} else if (x.results.length == 0) {
    FullAddress.value = 'No Match';
} else {
    FullAddress.value = x.results[0].address;
    City.value = x.results[0].city;
    State.value = x.results[0].state;
    Zipcode.value = x.results[0].zipcode;
}

The http.get returns all the values from the matched row(s) to a varable named "x.results". The rule checks for null which means that no row matched the selected customer.

The Google connector has the following restlet parameters:

•  /query - This tells the connector to execute the retrieve data method
•  /u/<google username> - Your google account username.
•  /p/<google password> - The password for this google account
•  /s/<spreadsheet name> - The actual name of your spreadsheet.
•  /w/<worksheet name> - The actual name of the worksheet in this spreadsheet

And the following Url parameters:

•  media=json - This must be set as shown
•  query=<query string> - This is where you specify which rows to match based on the data in your spreadsheet.

The query string supports 'and' and 'or' logic. This query will retrieve all rows where the customer lives either in MA or CT. The rule concatenates all the addresses into the FullAddress form field.

if (form.load) {
eval('x=' + http.get('http://www.frevvo.com/google/spreadsheets/query/u/<user>/p/<password>
    /s/DisclosureAddresses/w/ByName?media=json&query=state="MA" or state="CT"'));
var fi = '';
if (x.results == null) {
    fi = 'Error';
} else if (x.results.length == 0) {
    fi = 'No Match';
} else {
    for (var i=0; i < x.results.length; i++) {
        fi = fi + '\n' + x.results[i].address;
    }
}
FullAddress.value = fi;
}

You can test your queries directly in the web browser. Note that characters such as the equals and double quotes must be URL encoded as shown in the examples below where you see %22 for quote and %3D for =

http://www.frevvo.com/google/spreadsheets/query/u/<user>/p/<password>
    /s/DisclosureAddresses/w/ByName?media=json&query=name%3DHMF

http://www.frevvo.com/google/spreadsheets/query/u/<user>/p/<password>
    /s/DisclosureAddresses/w/ByName?media=json
    &query=name%3D%22AAA Insurance%22

Update Spreadsheet Cells

In addition to retrieving rows from a Google spreadsheet and adding rows to a spreadsheet, you can also update an data in an existing row. See the business rule example Sequential Numbers.

The business rule calls the Google Connector, passing a parameter named 'query'. The query paramenter selects row(s) from the spreadsheet which match values in specific columns. In this example the spreadsheet has a column named 'form name'. We want to retrieve the spreadsheet row where form name equals the name 'Checkbook'. The paramenter named 'update' indicates which column(s) to update in the matched row(s). In this example the spreadsheet has a column named 'nextid'. We want to set the value of nextid to the new value of 33.

var updatemethod = 'http://www.frevvo.com/google/spreadsheets/
update/u/<google username>/p/<google password>/
s/SequentialNumberGenerator/w/Sheet1?media=json&query=formname="Checkbook"';
var id = 33;
eval('x=' + http.get(updatemethod + '&updates=nextid=' + id + '&_method=put'));

The Google connector has the following restlet parameters:

•  /update - This tells the connector to execute the update data method
•  /u/<google username> - Your google account username
•  /p/<google password> - The password for this google account
•  /s/<spreadsheet name> - The actual name of your spreadsheet.
•  /w/<worksheet name> - The actual name of the worksheet in this spreadsheet

And the following Url parameters:

•  media=jason - This must be set as shown
•  query=<query string> - This is where you specify which rows to match based on the data in your spreadsheet.
•  update=<update string> - This is where you specify which cell(s) to update in the matched row(s)
•  method=put - A hard coded Url parameter that must exist in the Url string

Google Apps

Form submissions can be saved to your Google Apps Premier account. Note that Google Apps for Education account are currently not supported.

The first step is to create a Collection (effectively a folder) in your Google Apps account. This will be the location where your form submissions will be stored. For example, create a Collection called Leave Approvals.

Use the Google Documents wizard

1. Click the Doc Action button in the toolbar at the top of the form.
2. In the wizard that pops up, select the Save to Google Documents button.
3. Enter your login credentials.
4. After your login has succeeded, the wizard will show the list of Folders (Collections) available.
5. Select the collection you created earlier (Leave Approvals).
6. Choose a name for the Submission Folder. This name should be unique for each submission. The best approach is to choose a combination of controls in the form that will generate a unique name. For example, if your form contains controls named EFulName and StartDate for employee's full name and start date of the leave, then choose: {EFullName}_{StartDate}.
7. Click the Finish button.
8. Your form is now configured to save submissions to your Google Apps account. 

The Google Documents Connector can be used to format emailed form submissions and to echo a formated document back to the page that submitted the form. Here is a sample email formated using the Google Document template shown below.

To use the Google Connector, edit your form and use the Form Action Wizard to echo a formatted document back to the page and/or use Doc Action Wizard to format an email message.

Google Document Template Syntax

This feature is currently in alpha release. The syntax may change. The Google Document Connector uses a template syntax to insert values from a submitted form into the document. The syntax is ${form.[Name]}. Where [Name] is the name you gave to the particular form field in the  Form Designer. Read more about naming form fields.

Here is a Google document using the template syntax:

Repeats

Repeat controls have a special syntax. Assume that your form contains a repeating section named Expense. First you must add a Repeat As tag to the document. ${repeat form.[Name] as [alias]}. For example: ${repeat form.Expense as exp}. Then use the alias to reference the controls inside the repeat. The Connector's template processor will add a row to the table for each repeating item in the form submission.

Sections

Form controls nested inside sections must be referenced using a nesting notation. If two text controls named Firstname and LastName are nested inside of a section named PersonalInfo then the templates in your google document must be written as:

${form.PersonalInfo.FirstName}  ${form.PersonalInfo.LastName}

If you add another section to your form and name it MedicalHistory and drag/drop PersonalInfo into that section, then the templates must be updated and written as:

${form.MedicalHistory.PersonalInfo.FirstName} ${form.MedicalHistory.PersonalInfo.LastName}

Limitations

Google Connector Known Issues

The  Google Connector is an alpha release. These are the known issues we are working to solve. Please report any issues or feedback to us here.