CODEWITHSUNDEEP
restgoogle-apps-scriptgoogle-sheetszoho
Jaden Ranzenberger
Jaden Ranzenberger

Reputation: 69

Did I reinvent the wheel with multiple user access to 3rd party API within Google Apps Script?

I'm developing a system which, when submitting a form through Google Forms, a script will take the data from the sheet which the data is submitted to and then set up a project in a project management software (Zoho projects), and also create Google folder structures based on the information provided.

In other words, a google form is the one location from which all project infrastructure will be created in their corresponding locations and software.

In order for this system to work properly, I need every user who has access to the form to be able to perform the same actions on every software which the script is tied to, regardless of their permissions level for each.

This necessitates the script using only one set of credentials for the 3rd party API which is authorized at a high level, and having all users of the form access only those credentials in order to get the consistent results that are needed.

The problem with this is that I cannot (or at least I don't think I can,) use the OAuth2.0 library for GAS, as user authentication would be to access only the data which the user operating the software has; this would produce many errors in the code because utilizing credentials of different authority levels while attempting to perform the same tasks which require high levels of authority would yield many errors, and lead to inconsistent functionality with the script. On top of this, because I'm referencing a 3rd party API, there's no "Service Account" that I can use to act on behalf of highly authorized users.

To resolve this issue, I've built my own wrapper library for this API in Google Apps Script and built my own authentication system in which user credentials are automatically renewed and managed using the PropertiesService capabilities. I have established access to a highly-authorized user's data through this system. I access this data in my script instead of authenticating with the OAuth2 library for Google Apps Script in order to allow consistent results from the software.

I've found my own method that works for this scenario, but after all the work I've went through, am wondering if I have reinvented the wheel. Is there any other more established way to have multiple users interface with one set of credentials of a 3rd party API through Google Apps Script? Or is this a unique situation that required the solution that I came up with?

Thanks in advance!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 87

Answers (1)

J. G.
J. G.

Reputation: 1832

You could instead use GAS to create webapp that runs as you every time, and then passes ownership of the related zoho and google drive files to the user after the script runs.

Upvotes: 0

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