Extend Google Sheets with Vercel Data

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Make calls to Vercel from Google Apps Script via the API Server.

Interact with Vercel data from Google Sheets through macros, custom functions, and add-ons. The CData API Server enables connectivity to Vercel data from cloud-based and mobile applications like Google Sheets. The API Server is a lightweight Web application that produces OData services for Vercel.

Google Apps Script can consume these OData services in the JSON format. This article shows how to create a simple add-on that populates a Google Spreadsheet with User data.

Set Up the API Server

If you have not already done so, download the CData API Server. Once you have installed the API Server, follow the steps below to begin producing secure Vercel OData services:

Connect to Vercel

To work with Vercel data from Google Sheets, we start by creating and configuring a Vercel connection. Follow the steps below to configure the API Server to connect to Vercel data:

  1. First, navigate to the Connections page.
  2. Click Add Connection and then search for and select the Vercel connection.
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Vercel.

    Using API Key Authentication

    Vercel uses Bearer token authentication. You can use either a personal access token or an OAuth access token as the API key.

    To obtain a personal access token:

    1. Log into your Vercel account at https://vercel.com/
    2. Navigate to Account Settings > Tokens.
    3. Click Create Token, enter a name and expiration, and click Create.
    4. Copy the generated token (it will only be shown once).

    After obtaining your token, set the following connection properties:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
    • APIKey: Set this to your Vercel personal access token or OAuth access token.

    Example Connection String

    Profile=C:\profiles\Vercel.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;APIKey=your_access_token;
    

    Working with Teams

    Many Vercel resources are scoped to a team. To scope all requests to a specific team, set the TeamId connection property to your team's ID. You can find your team ID by querying the Teams table or from the Vercel dashboard. Alternatively, you can specify TeamId in your SQL queries using the WHERE clause where supported.

    Connecting to Vercel

    Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to Vercel and query data from any of the available tables such as Projects, Deployments, Teams, and Domains.

  4. After configuring the connection, click Save & Test to confirm a successful connection.

Configure API Server Users

Next, create a user to access your Vercel data through the API Server. You can add and configure users on the Users page. Follow the steps below to configure and create a user:

  1. On the Users page, click Add User to open the Add User dialog.
  2. Next, set the Role, Username, and Privileges properties and then click Add User.
  3. An Authtoken is then generated for the user. You can find the Authtoken and other information for each user on the Users page:

Creating API Endpoints for Vercel

Having created a user, you are ready to create API endpoints for the Vercel tables:

  1. First, navigate to the API page and then click Add Table .
  2. Select the connection you wish to access and click Next.
  3. With the connection selected, create endpoints by selecting each table and then clicking Confirm.

Gather the OData Url

Having configured a connection to Vercel data, created a user, and added resources to the API Server, you now have an easily accessible REST API based on the OData protocol for those resources. From the API page in API Server, you can view and copy the API Endpoints for the API:

Retrieve Vercel Data

Open the Script Editor from your spreadsheet by clicking Tools -> Script Editor. In the Script Editor, add the following function to populate a spreadsheet with the results of an OData query:


function retrieve(){
  var url = "https://MyUrl/api.rsc/User?select=Id,,,";
  var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url,{
    headers: {"Authorization": "Basic " + Utilities.base64Encode("MyUser:MyAuthtoken")}
  }); 
  var json = response.getContentText();
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
  var a1 = sheet.getRange('a1');
  var index=1;
  var user = JSON.parse(json).value;

  var cols = [["Id","","",""]]; 
  sheet.getRange(1,1,1,4).setValues(cols);

  row=2;
  for(var i in user){
    for (var j in user[i]) {
      switch (j) {
        case "Id":
          a1.offset(row,0).setValue(account[i][j]);
          break;
        case "":
          a1.offset(row,1).setValue(account[i][j]);
          break;
        case "":
          a1.offset(row,2).setValue(account[i][j]);
          break;
        case "":
          a1.offset(row,3).setValue(account[i][j]);
          break;
      }      
    }
    row++;
  }
}

Follow the steps below to add an installable trigger to populate the spreadsheet when opened:

  1. Click Resources -> Current Project's Triggers -> Add a New Trigger.
  2. Select retrieve in the Run menu.
  3. Select From Spreadsheet.
  4. Select On open.

After closing the dialog, you are prompted to allow access to the application.

You can test the script by clicking Publish -> Test as Add-On. Select the version, installation type, and spreadsheet to create a test configuration. You can then select and run the test configuration.

Ready to get started?

Learn more or sign up for a free trial:

CData API Server