How to retrieve a complete row from a spreadsheet based on a filter on an action such as a click of a button.
I read that GAS is server-side scripting and it is complex to gain access to a spreadsheet.
Is that so. Please guide me.
I have done till this:
$("#form-action")
.button()
.click(function() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.openById("");
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
SpreadsheetApp.setActiveSheet(sheet.getSheetByName('Test'));
SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange("D1").setFormula('Query(A:C,"SELECT A,B,C WHERE B="' + "mydata'" + ',1)');
SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange("E:J").getValues();
});
Gaining access to the spreadsheet is not difficult at all. You have to remember that while Google Apps Script runs on Google servers, the client-side code (e.g. HTML and JavaScript code you use in your UI templates) will be sent to your browser for rendering, so you can't really mix the two and write jQuery code in GAS(.gs) files or vice versa.
To clarify, commands like
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.openById("");
must be kept in .gs files. To use client-side HTML and JavaScript, you must create separate HTML files in your project (go to File - New - HTML file). Here's more information on serving HTML in GAS https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/html/
Luckily, Google provides the API that allows you to communicate between client and server sides by calling 'google.script.run.' followed by the name of the function in '.gs' file.
Example function in '.gs' file
function addRow() {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActive()
.getSheets()[0];
sheet.appendRow(['Calling', 'server', 'function']);
}
In your HTML template file, here's how you would call this function
<script>
google.script.run.addRow();
</script>
Consider the example that is more relevant to your situation. In my spreadsheet, the QUERY formula changes dynamically based on the value entered by the user. The form with input field is displayed in the sidebar.
Project structure
Code for 'sidebar.html' is below. Note that using the 'name' attribute of the <input> element is mandatory. On form submit, the value of the attribute ('filterBy') will be transformed into propetry of the form object that we can reference in our server function to get user input.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<base target="_top">
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js">
</script>
</head>
<body>
<form id="myForm">
<input type="text" name="filterBy">
<input type="submit" value="submit">
</form>
<table id="myTable"></table>
<script>
$('document').ready(function(){
var form = $('#myForm');
var table = $('#myTable');
var runner = google.script.run;
form.on('submit', function(event){
event.preventDefault(); //prevents <form> redirecting to another page on submit
table.empty(); // clear the table
runner.withSuccessHandler(function(array){ //this callback function will be invoked after the 'retriveValues()' function below
for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
var item = '<tr><td>' + array[i] +'</td></tr>';
table.append(item);
}
})
.retrieveValues(this); //the function that will be called first. Here, 'this' refers to the form element
});
});
</script>
</body>
</html>
Code in '.gs' file:
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
var sheet = ss.getSheets()[0];
function onOpen() {
var ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
var htmlOutput = HtmlService.createTemplateFromFile('sidebar')
.evaluate();
ui.showSidebar(htmlOutput);
}
function retrieveValues(req) {
var res = [];
var filterBy = req.filterBy; //getting the value of the input field.
sheet.getRange(1, 2, 1, 1)
.setFormula("QUERY(A1:A, \"SELECT A WHERE A > " + filterBy + "\")");
sheet.getRange(1, 2, sheet.getLastRow(), 1)
.getValues()
.map(function(value){
if (value[0] != "") res = res.concat(value[0]); // get only the values that are not empty strings.
});
return res;
}
Here's the result of entering the value and submitting the form. The server-side function returns the array of values greater than 5. The callback function that we passed as parameter to 'withSuccessHandler' then receives this array and populates the table in the sidebar.
Finally, I'm not sure why you are using the QUERY formula. Instead of modifying 'SELECT' statement, you could simply take the values from the target range an filter them in GAS.
Related
After some searching I found this code to get a sidebar of all tabs (workbooks) in Google Sheets as a hyperlink. I am looking to add two functionalities to this, if its possible
Search function - a search box on sidebar to look up tabs more easily
Same tab - open the clicked hyperlinked tab in the same browser tab instead of opening in a new window.
Here's the code so far:
function onOpen() {
SpreadsheetApp.getUi() // Or DocumentApp or FormApp.
.createMenu('Sidebar Menu')
.addItem('Show sidebar', 'showSidebar')
.addToUi();
}
function showSidebar() {
var ui = HtmlService.createTemplateFromFile('sidebar.html')
.evaluate()
.setSandboxMode(HtmlService.SandboxMode.IFRAME)
.setTitle('Index Sidebar');
SpreadsheetApp.getUi().showSidebar(ui);
}
function getSheetNames() {
// Get all the different sheet IDs
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheets = ss.getSheets();
return sheetNamesIds(sheets);
}
// function to create array of sheet names and sheet ids
function sheetNamesIds(sheets) {
var indexOfSheets = [];
// create array of sheet names and sheet gids
sheets.forEach(function(sheet){
indexOfSheets.push([sheet.getSheetName(),sheet.getSheetId()]);
});
//Logger.log(indexOfSheets);
return indexOfSheets;
}
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<h1>Index of all sheets in this workbook:</h1>
<input type="button" value="Close" onclick="google.script.host.close()" />
<ol>
<?!= getSheetNames().map(function(d) {
return "<li><a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1234/edit#gid=" + d[1] + "' target='_blank'>" + d[0] + "</a></li>";
}).join(''); ?>
</ol>
Proposed Solution
You should be able to replace the code you posted with what is below and have it work. First copy and paste it into the two files and then run it from the Sheet, not from the Script Editor.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<h1>Index of all sheets in this workbook:</h1>
<script>
function removeElement(elementId) {
var element = document.getElementById(elementId);
element.parentNode.removeChild(element);
}
function buildList(text) {
google.script.run.withSuccessHandler(onSuccess).returnListItems(text)
}
function onSuccess(result) {
var element = document.createElement("ol")
element.innerHTML = result
var sidebar = document.getElementById("sidebar")
sidebar.appendChild(element)
}
function getTextAndSearch() {
var text = document.getElementById("text-search").value
removeElement("ol")
buildList(text)
}
</script>
<sidebar id="sidebar">
<input type="button" value="Close" onclick="google.script.host.close()" />
<br>
<input type="text" id="text-search" />
<input type="button" value="Search" onclick="getTextAndSearch()" />
<ol id="ol">
<?!=
returnListItems()
?>
</ol>
</sidebar>
JS
function onOpen() {
SpreadsheetApp.getUi() // Or DocumentApp or FormApp.
.createMenu('Sidebar Menu')
.addItem('Show sidebar', 'showSidebar')
.addToUi();
}
function showSidebar() {
var ui = HtmlService.createTemplateFromFile('sidebar.html')
.evaluate()
.setSandboxMode(HtmlService.SandboxMode.IFRAME)
.setTitle('Index Sidebar');
SpreadsheetApp.getUi().showSidebar(ui);
}
function getSheetNames() {
// Get all the different sheet IDs
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheets = ss.getSheets();
return sheetNamesIds(sheets);
}
// function to create array of sheet names and sheet ids
function sheetNamesIds(sheets) {
var indexOfSheets = [];
// create array of sheet names and sheet gids
sheets.forEach(function(sheet){
indexOfSheets.push([sheet.getSheetName(),sheet.getSheetId()]);
});
//Logger.log(indexOfSheets);
return indexOfSheets;
}
// function to return a button with onclick attribute for each sheet that matches
function returnListItems(text) {
var sheetNames = getSheetNames()
// Checking if there is a search term
if (text) {
sheetNames = sheetNames.filter(n => n[0].includes(text))
}
var htmlString = sheetNames.map(function(d) {
var string = `
<li>
<input
type="button"
value="${d[0]}"
onclick=\"google.script.run.setActiveByName('${d[0]}')\"/>
</li>
`
return string }).join(' ')
return htmlString
}
// Utility function to set Active sheet by name.
function setActiveByName(name) {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName(name)
SpreadsheetApp.setActiveSheet(ss)
}
You may need to create a dummy function in the script editor: function init(){} and run it just to grant the permissions the script needs, though this should happen when you run the script from the menu.
Explanation
Bringing sheets into focus - setActiveSheet
This is relatively simple so I have included it in the answer, though technically is a second question. In future ensure to only ask one question per post, it keeps things tidier on the site and easier for future users to search for answers. Thank you
This involves using setActiveSheet for which I made the utility function setActiveByName.
To insert this function into each link, I wrote the function returnListItems, that generates and returns the HTML for each button to call the setActiveByName when clicked. Writing it as a second function was not strictly necessary, but it made things clearer, especially since it would make the main question a lot easier.
Search function
What seemed relatively simple when I started quickly got quite complicated. It involved breaking up some of the code into its component functionality, to make it easier to work with. Yet the biggest challenge is properly setting up the server side code (Apps Script editor) and the client side code (contained in the HTML).
Once the Sidebar is loaded, I found that any further manipulation of the sidebar HTML needed to be done client side, hence the functions in the HTML. The solution lay in the "Client-to-Server Communication" article in the docs.
The search button is pressed, then the client side script gets the text in the Search input box, passes it to the buildList function, also client side, which in turn calls:
google.script.run.withSuccessHandler(onSuccess).returnListItems([SEARCH_TERM])
This is a asynchronous function that goes server side. The "Success Handler" is the call back function that runs when the list items are returned. onSuccess simply updates the HTML in the sidebar. I modified the returnListItems function to be able to accept a search term, so when it runs the first time, it runs without any arguments so all sheets are returned. When called by the client side function, it runs with a text. If the sheet name contains the search term, it is listed.
References
Spreadsheet Service
Create and Serve HTML
HtmlService
Client-Server Communications
JS includes (for search)
Thank you Ian for your solution above. Works well! After some trial and error, I was able to tweak it to ensure hidden sheets aren't included. Below is the updated code for anyone else interested:
function onOpen() {
SpreadsheetApp.getUi() // Or DocumentApp or FormApp.
.createMenu('Sidebar Menu')
.addItem('Show sidebar', 'showSidebar')
.addToUi();
}
function showSidebar() {
var ui = HtmlService.createTemplateFromFile('Sidebar.html')
.evaluate()
.setSandboxMode(HtmlService.SandboxMode.IFRAME)
.setTitle('Index Sidebar');
SpreadsheetApp.getUi().showSidebar(ui);
}
function getSheetNames() {
// Get all the different sheet IDs
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheets = ss.getSheets().filter(s => !s.isSheetHidden());
return sheetNamesIds(sheets);
}
// function to create array of sheet names and sheet ids
function sheetNamesIds(sheets) {
var indexOfSheets = [];
// create array of sheet names and sheet gids
sheets.forEach(function(sheet){
indexOfSheets.push([sheet.getSheetName(),sheet.getSheetId()]);
});
//Logger.log(indexOfSheets);
return indexOfSheets;
}
// function to return a button with onclick attribute for each sheet that matches
function returnListItems(text) {
var sheetNames = getSheetNames()
// Checking if there is a search term
if (text) {
sheetNames = sheetNames.filter(n => n[0].includes(text))
}
var htmlString = sheetNames.map(function(d) {
var string = `
<li>
<input
type="button"
value="${d[0]}"
onclick=\"google.script.run.setActiveByName('${d[0]}')\"/>
</li>
`
return string }).join(' ')
return htmlString
}
// Utility function to set Active sheet by name.
function setActiveByName(name) {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName(name)
SpreadsheetApp.setActiveSheet(ss)
}
Goal: The purpose is that a sheet will contain information, this information is placed inside a namedrange, the namedrange will be dynamic (the entire column is given a namedrange).
I created a html popup which contains a dropdown list. This dropdown list must contain the list of information from the namedrange.
I am unable to understand how this is to be done. Here is the code below:
function fncOpenMyDialog() {
var htmlDlg = HtmlService.createHtmlOutputFromFile('HTML_myHtml')
.setSandboxMode(HtmlService.SandboxMode.IFRAME)
.setWidth(200)
.setHeight(150);
SpreadsheetApp.getUi()
.showModalDialog(htmlDlg, 'New File');
};
function onInstall(e) {
onOpen(e);
}
function onOpen(e) {
var ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
ui.createMenu('New')
.addItem('New Save File Extension','fncOpenMyDialog')
.addToUi();
}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<base target="_top">
</head>
<body>
<select name="nameYouWant" placeholde="File Type">
<option value="something">Word</option>
<option value="anything">MS Excel</option>
<option value="anything">MS Powerpoint</option>
<option value="anything">MS Slides</option>
</select>
<hr/>
<p>Choose a file, which will then be saved into your Google Drive.</p>
<button onmouseup="closeDia()">Close</button>
<button onmouseup="onOpen()">Save</button>
<script>
window.closeDia = function() {
google.script.host.close();
};
window.saveDia = function() {
onOpen();
};
</script>
</body>
</html>
As you can see in my html file, that the extensions are currently hardcoded.
I am trying to make this dynamic, how do I achieve this?
I believe your goal as follows.
You want to put the values to the dropdown list by retrieving from the named range of the Spreadsheet.
In this case, is the named range the same with this thread?
For this, how about this answer?
Modification points:
From google.script.host.close(), I understood that the HTML file of HTML_myHtml is included in the Google Apps Script project. By this, I would like to propose to achieve your goal using google.script.run.
If the named range is the same with your previous question, you can use it by modifying a little.
When above points are reflected to your script, it becomes as follows.
Modified script:
HTML and JavaScript side: HTML_myHtml
Please modify HTML_myHtml as follows.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<base target="_top">
</head>
<body>
<select id="select" name="nameYouWant" placeholde="File Type"></select>
<hr />
<p>Choose a file, which will then be saved into your Google Drive.</p>
<button onmouseup="closeDia()">Close</button>
<button onmouseup="onOpen()">Save</button>
<script>
google.script.run.withSuccessHandler(v => {
const obj = document.getElementById("select");
v.forEach(e => {
const option = document.createElement("option");
option.text = e;
option.value = e;
obj.appendChild(option);
});
}).readNamedRange();
window.closeDia = function() {
google.script.host.close();
};
window.saveDia = function() {
onOpen();
};
</script>
</body>
</html>
Google Apps Script side: Code.gs
At above HTML, readNamedRange() is used. So please put the following script. If you have the same function names, please modify them. In this script, the values are retrieved from the named range of listDown, and sent to HTML side using google.script.run.
function readNamedRange() {
var activeSheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var result = activeSheet.getRange("listDown").getValues();
var end = activeSheet.getLastRow();
var values = [];
for (var i = 0; i < end; i++) {
if (result[i][0] != "") {
values.push(result[i][0]);
}
}
return values;
}
Note:
About window.saveDia = function() {onOpen()};, unfortunately, I couldn't understand about what you want to do.
Reference:
Class google.script.run
I have HTML web app where I have converted a spreadsheet to a HTML table. Now I would like to convert this HTML Table to a spreadsheet. Is it possible to convert it back to a spreadsheet?
You can say that I can directly make use of the spreadsheet but the problem is that I have applied some filters. Now whenever I apply a filter to a specific column, it will be displayed so now I want that column to be moved to the new spreadsheet using google app script
Here is my table, how can convert this table to spreadsheet using Google App Script
I use two sheets for this example one sheet is named sht2tbl and the other sheet is named tbl2sht. You need to have both ready to go when you run the code.
Here's sheet2table and table2sheet.gs:
function sheetToTable()//This produces a modeless dialog
{
var s='';
s+='<table width="100%">';
var ss=SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sht=ss.getSheetByName('sht2tbl');
var rng=sht.getDataRange();
var rngA=rng.getValues();
for(var i=0;i<rngA.length;i++)
{
s+='<tr>';
for(var j=0;j<rngA[0].length;j++)
{
if(i==0)
{
s+='<th id="cell' + i + j + '">' + rngA[i][j] + '</th>';//put ids in each th
}
else
{
s+='<td id="cell' + i + j + '">' + rngA[i][j] + '</td>';//put ids in each td
}
}
s+='</tr>';
}
s+=' </body></html>'
var html=HtmlService.createHtmlOutputFromFile('html2body');//create output from file
html.append(s);//and append s for the rest
SpreadsheetApp.getUi().showModelessDialog(html, 'Sheet to Table')
}
function getParams()//this gives the client side array dimensions
{
var ss=SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sht=ss.getSheetByName('sht2tbl');
var rng=sht.getDataRange();
var A=[];
A.push(rng.getWidth());
A.push(rng.getHeight());
return (A);//range width and height in an array
}
function putData(data)//this gets cell contents from the client side and displays them on another sheet named 'tbl2sht'
{
var ss=SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sht=ss.getSheetByName('tbl2sht');
var h=data.length;
var w=data[0].length;
var rng=sht.getRange(1,1,h,w);//create a range properly dimensioned
rng.setValues(data);//use setValues to load sheet
}
This is the file htmltobody.html. It's a lot easier to create javascript this way. But I like to integrate the data creation with server side google script.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<base target="_top">
<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script>
$(function() {
google.script.run
.withSuccessHandler(getCellValues)//returns to get values from client side
.getParams();//get width and height of data array
});
function getCellValues(A)
{
var w=A[0];
var h=A[1];
var data=[];
for(var i=0;i<h;i++)
{
data[i]=[];
for(var j=0;j<w;j++)
{
var s='#cell' + Number(i) + Number(j);
data[i][j]=$(s).text();//use jquery text to get th and td values
}
}
google.script.run
.putData(data);//send data to server side to load data in tbl2sht
}
console.log('My Code');//helps me to find code in chrome console
</script>
</head>
<body>
This is the sht2tbl which was use to create the modeless dialog:
This is the dialog that gets created:
And this is the data from the dialog displayed on a sheet named tbl2sht:
what I' trying to accomplish is a Google Spreadsheet for a project management. I've got lots of cells in a grid where a user should select either the item was completed or not. Now this spreadsheet would be available only to a Project Manager. The way I imagined the process would work was that Project Manager selects particular cells and assigns them to a technician's email address. Script would then generate mobile friendly html UI and send it to the technician (I thought of Google forms but I want to create more customized UI). Technician would then select a checkbox after completing a task which would at the same time update the spreadsheet. Next time technician would open the UI it would populate all the checkboxes that previously were selected.
The only way I've found that I could make it work was a google script web app bounded to a spreadsheet. I've created a test HTML file and .gs file:
.html file
<head>
<base target="_top">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://ssl.gstatic.com/docs/script/css/add-ons1.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1> Web App Test </h1>
<input type="button" value="Click Me" id="buttonclicked" onclick="getSomeData()"/>
<div id="output" class="current">output</div>
<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js">
</script>
<script>
function getSomeData()
{
google.script.run
.withSuccessHandler(onSuccess)
.withFailureHandler(showError)
.testForWebApp();
myLog("in WebAppTest.html getSomeData()");
}
function onSuccess(testParam)
{
var div = document.getElementById('output');
if (sectionName == null)
div.innerHTML = "<p style='color:red;'>You didn't hit the script</p>";
else
div.innerHTML = "<p style='color:white;'>" + testParam + "</p>";
}
function showError()
{
var div = document.getElementById('output');
div.innerHTML = "<p style='color:red;'>You didn't hit the script</p>";
}
</script>
</body>
and .gs file:
function doGet()
{
return HtmlService.createHtmlOutputFromFile('WebAppTest')
.setSandboxMode(HtmlService.SandboxMode.IFRAME);
}
function testForWebApp()
{
myLog("In testForWebApp()");
var msg = "Yep you hit the script!";
return msg;
}
function myLog(log)
{
//log = 'test';
Logger.log(log);
var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = spreadsheet.getSheetByName('log');
var lastRow = sheet.getLastRow();
sheet.insertRowBefore(1);
var newLogDateRange = sheet.getRange(1, 1);
var newLogTextRange = sheet.getRange(1, 2);
var now = new Date();
newLogDateRange.setValue(now);
newLogTextRange.setValue(log)
}
When I published the app and followed the generated link I saw my html page with a Click Me button. The click event ran the getSomeData() function which called google.script.run function. The server side .testForWebApp() gotten executed because I've gotten a log entry from myLog() but the .withSuccessHandler or .withFailureHandler were never called. At the same time the myLog() that should be executed after google.script.run never run either.
I definitely don't understand how it works and suspect that if I publish a script as a web app the HTML is not bounded to the script anymore, but I couldn't find any information about it online.
Thanks for your help.
Firstly, you cannot call server-side myLog() function from your client side javascript unless you call it using google.script.run.myLog() Therefore
myLog("in WebAppTest.html getSomeData()");
in your getSomeData() doesnt log anything in your google sheet
Secondly, this code in function onSuccess(testParam)
if (sectionName == null)
is causing your function to terminate prematurely, since there is no variable called sectionName defined.
Note: You can monitor all these errors in the console of your web browser.
Below is the modified code that should work as you intend it to
Final code:
Web App Test
output
function getSomeData()
{
google.script.run
.withSuccessHandler(onSuccess)
.withFailureHandler(showError)
.testForWebApp();
console.log("in WebAppTest.html getSomeData()"); //Log it on the browser console
}
function onSuccess(testParam)
{
var div = document.getElementById('output');
if (testParam == null) // Changed it to testParam from sectionName, to check the value returned from testWebApp()
div.innerHTML = "<p style='color:red;'>You didn't hit the script</p>";
else
div.innerHTML = "<p style='color:black;'>Success:" + testParam + "</p>";
}
function showError()
{
var div = document.getElementById('output');
div.innerHTML = "<p style='color:red;'>You didn't hit the script</p>";
}
Edit
One last note, the below code would make the return text invisible as the text and background color would be the same color (white):
div.innerHTML = "<p style='color:white;'>Success:" + testParam + "</p>";
hence changed the text color to black in the final code
Hope that helps!
Try redeploying the web app, but under a new project version.
I am currently using this code:
var wordRandomizer = {
run: function (targetElem) {
var markup = this.createMarkup();
targetElem.appendChild(markup);
},
createMarkup: function () {
var that = this;
var frag = document.createDocumentFragment();
this.elem = document.createElement('span');
var button = document.createElement('button');
button.innerText = 'Change Item';
button.addEventListener('click', function () {
that.changeItem();
});
frag.appendChild(this.elem);
frag.appendChild(button);
return frag;
},
changeItem: function () {
var rand = this.getRandInt(1, this.items.length) - 1;
console.log(rand);
this.elem.innerText = this.items[rand];
},
getRandInt: function (min, max) {
return Math.floor(Math.random() * (max - min + 1)) + min;
},
items: ['itemA', 'itemB', 'itemC', 'itemD']
};
wordRandomizer.run(document.body);
I code is a button which when pressed grabs one of the items in the list. However, I don't want the items to show on the same page as the generator as people simply look at the source code. How can I make it so once the button is pressed it grabs the random item from another location where people cannot view them all using the source code.
If it helps, you can see the code in action here - http://jsbin.com/ESOdELU/1/edit
I will give you a solution using PHP since it is a free scripting language and is the most likely to be supported by a host or default web server...
For starters, here is the code to include jquery and the basic AJAX script
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/JavaScript">
$(document).ready(function(){
$("#generate").click(function(){
$("#madlibs p").load("script.php");
});
});
</script>
Here is the code for script.php
<?php
header("Cache-Control: no-cache");
// For testing you can use an inline array like the lines below
// Just remove the comment slashes "//" from the beginning of the line
// and comment out the external declarations
//$actors = array('Denzel Washington','Michael J. Fox','Jim Carey','Boris Kodjoe');
//$roles = array('Mental Patient','Homeless Musician','Drag Queen Detective','Tormented Mathematician');
// In production, you would put these in a text file or a database.
// For $actors, put an entry on each line of a text file and save it as 'leads.txt'
// Do the same with a separate file for $roles (roles.txt).
$actors = file("leads.txt");
$roles = file("roles.txt");
// This selects a random element of each array on the fly
echo $prefixes[rand(0,count($actors)-1)] . " stars as a "
. $suffixes[rand(0,count($roles)-1)] . " in the next blockbuster film.";
// Example output:
// Michael J. Fox stars as a Tormented Mathematician in the next blockbuster film.
?>
Put this in the body of your page and be sure to style everything up for display.
<body>
<div id="madlibs"><p> </p></div>
<button id="generate">Surprise Me!</button>
</body>
A couple of notes:
- You can include your basic layout HTML in the script.php file and then would only need the ID of the DIV in which you will be displaying the result $("#madlibs")
You can use any server side language to achieve the same result, just swap out the external file call to the appropriate name and extension (.asp, .cfm, etc.)
Here is a link to the original tutorial that helped me with a similar project:
http://www.sitepoint.com/ajax-jquery/
I hope this helps. Sorry, but I couldn't come up with a purely Java of JavaScript solution on lunch.