how to replace variable with mailto: link in google doc apps script

Question

I am trying to replace a variable with text and a mailto: link.

copyBody.replaceText('varEmail', email).setLinkUrl('mailto:'+email);

The above code replaces the varEmail with the appropriate 'email' text but then it makes every text block a mailto: link. I just need the 'email' text to be the mailto: link.

Answer 1

It's a bit tricky as iterating over individual elements inside a Google doc is somewhat confusing. Unlike spreadsheets, the structure of a doc isn't as rigidly defined but you can still get relative coordinates for some elements.

The following code worked for me. As a rule, it might be a good idea to surround patterns with curly braces to distinguish them visually in the doc.

    function addUrl(){   

    //Placeholder patterns
     var pattern = "{{mailTo}}";
     var replacement = "mailto: antond@example.com";

    //Open the bound doc
    var doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();

    //Get body
    var body = doc.getBody();

    //find rangeElement
    var rangeElement =  body.findText(pattern);

    //if the element is partial, check how far it is from the start of the range
    var startOffset = rangeElement.getStartOffset();

    //... and from the end.
    var endOffset = rangeElement.getEndOffsetInclusive();

    //Get the full Element from the partial RangeElement and cast it to Text
    var text = rangeElement.getElement().asText();

      //If element is partial, pick only the part that matches the pattern.
      //Add the URL first to avoid the link not being added to the entire pattern later.
    if (rangeElement.isPartial()) {

        text.setLinkUrl(startOffset, endOffset, replacement);

    } else {

         text.setLinkUrl(replacement);
      }

      text.replaceText(pattern, "Anton Dementiev");


    }

Result: