How to define global variable in Google Apps Script

Question

I see most examples from Google is they use only functions in a single giant script    e g  https   developers google com apps-script quickstart macros  But in our style  we usually write all functions under a single namespace  such as  MyCompany    MyCompany         MyCompany init   function          Logger log  init          function onOpen         var spreadsheet   SpreadsheetApp getActiveSpreadsheet        var menus              name   Init           functionName  MyCompany init             spreadsheet addMenu  Test   menus        However  when I run the code above  it return   MyCompany is not defined     How to solve

User · Answer

In GAS global variables are not what they are in other languages. They are not constants nor variables available in all routines.

I thought I could use global variables for consistency amongst functions and efficiency as well. But I was wrong as pointed out by some people here at SO.

Global variable will be evaluated at each execution of a script, so not just once every time you run your application.
Global variables CAN be changed in a script (so they are not constants that cannot be changed by accident), but will be reinitialized when another script will be invoked.
There is also a speed penalty on using global variables. If within a function you use the same global variable two or more times, it will be faster to assign a local variable and use that instead.

If you want to preserve variables between all functions in your application, it might be using a cacheService will be best. I found out that looping through all files and folders on a drive takes a LOT of time. But you can store info about files and folders within cache (or even properties) and speed up at least 100 times.

The only way I use global variables now is for some prefixes and for naming widgets.

User · Answer

You might be better off using the Properties Service as you can use these as a kind of persistent global variable   click  file   project properties   project properties  to set a key value  or you can use   PropertiesService getScriptProperties   setProperty  mykey    myvalue      The data can be retrieved with   var myvalue   PropertiesService getScriptProperties   getProperty  mykey

User · Answer

Global variables certainly do exist in GAS  but you must understand the client server relationship of the environment in order to use them correctly - please see this question  Global variables in Google Script  spreadsheet   However this is not the problem with your code  the documentation indicates that the function to be executed by the menu must be supplied to the method as a string  right now you are supplying the output of the function  https   developers google com apps-script reference spreadsheet spreadsheet addMenu 28String Object 29  function MainMenu Init         Logger log  init          function onOpen         var spreadsheet   SpreadsheetApp getActiveSpreadsheet        var menus              name   Init           functionName   MainMenu Init              spreadsheet addMenu  Test   menus

User · Answer

I m using a workaround by returning a function with an object of my global variables   function globalVariables      var variables         sheetName   Sheet1       variable1  1      variable2  2        return variables     function functionThatUsesVariable       var sheet     SpreadsheetApp getActiveSpreadsheet   getSheetByName globalVariables   sheetName

User · Answer

var userProperties   PropertiesService getUserProperties      function globalSetting        creating an array   userProperties setProperty  gemployeeName   quot Rajendra Barge quot      userProperties setProperty  gemployeeMobile   quot 9822082320 quot      userProperties setProperty  gemployeeEmail   quot  rajbarge hotmail com quot      userProperties setProperty  gemployeeLastlogin   quot 03 10 2020 quot                 var userProperties   PropertiesService getUserProperties    function showUserForm       var templete   HtmlService createTemplateFromFile  quot userForm quot         var html   templete evaluate      html setTitle  quot Customer Data quot      SpreadsheetApp getUi   showSidebar html        function appendData data    globalSetting        var ws   SpreadsheetApp getActiveSpreadsheet   getSheetByName  quot Data quot      ws appendRow  data date                  data name                  data Kindlyattention                  data senderName                  data customereMail                  userProperties getProperty  gemployeeName                                                        data paymentTerms                                    userProperties getProperty  gemployeeMobile                    userProperties getProperty  gemployeeEmail                    Utilities formatDate new Date     quot GMT 05 30 quot    quot dd-MM-yyyy HH mm ss quot                                                 function errorMessage     Browser msgBox  quot   All fields are mandetory quot

User · Answer

I use this  if you declare var x   0  before the functions declarations  the variable works for all the code files  but the variable will be declare every time that you edit a cell in the spreadsheet

[google-apps-script] How to define global variable in Google Apps Script

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