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I'm a beginner working with Google Apps Script to pull data from a Google Doc, and I need some help...

I have a Google Doc that has a ton of cooking recipes. I'd like to write a function that randomly selects 4 recipes, and emails me the ingredients so I know what to shop for that week. All my recipes titles are 'Heading 3', with the ingredients as bullet points below them. I'm fully open to modifying the formatting if need be.

I'm trying to have my script identify all text that is of type 'Heading 3' as my starting point. That way I can randomly select from that list of recipes, but cannot find a way to do so. Below is what I have so far:

function onOpen() {
  var ui = DocumentApp.getUi();
  ui.createMenu('Generate Weekly Shopping List')
      .addItem('Send Email', 'generateMenu')
      .addToUi();
}

function generateMenu() {
  //I may need the doc and body variables later...  
  //Get the latest contents of the menu
  var doc = DocumentApp.openById("<my doc ID here>");
  
   //Assign a variable to the body of the doc
  var body = doc.getBody();

  //declare variable holding the search criteria
  var searchType = DocumentApp.ParagraphHeading.HEADING3;
  
  //search the body based on the search criteria
  var searchResult = body.findElement(searchType);  

  // Get the email address of the active user - that's you.
  var email = Session.getActiveUser().getEmail();

  // Send yourself an email with list.
  GmailApp.sendEmail(email, "Shopping List For The Week", "Here is the shopping list:" + searchResult);
  
}
Chris de Jong
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1 Answers1

1

From the question

I'm trying to have my script identify all text that is of type 'Heading 3' as my starting point. That way I can randomly select from that list of recipes, but cannot find a way to do so. Below is what I have so far:

Use getHeading

Retrieves the ParagraphHeading.

Then compare the result to DocumentApp.ParagraphHeading.HEADING3.

To do the above first you will have to get all the paragraphs then iterate over them to get the heading.

Regarding

//declare variable holding the search criteria
 var searchType = DocumentApp.ParagraphHeading.HEADING3;
  
//search the body based on the search criteria
var searchResult = body.findElement(searchType);

DocumentApp.ParagraphHeading.HEADING3 can't be used as an argument of findElement as it's is not an ElementType

Related

Rubén
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  • Another beginner question: I see an example usage of getHeading within a reference to [findElement](https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/document/body#findElement(ElementType)). Assuming that code snippet does the trick, how would I store the results of any text of type 'Heading 3' into some sort of array? Would it be: `var par = searchResult.getElement().asParagraph(); if (par.getHeading() == searchHeading) { // Found one, update Logger.log and stop. var h = searchResult.getElement().asText().getText(); ///store into an array somehow??` – Chris de Jong Aug 04 '20 at 01:13
  • I have tried the code, and don't think I've been able to make it return what I need. That is why I replied with a followup for clarification... – Chris de Jong Aug 05 '20 at 14:02