CODEWITHSUNDEEP
urlgoogle-apps-scriptreplacegoogle-docs
Stathi
Stathi

Reputation: 1

Google script: search and replace the url of linked text in a Doc (not sheet)

I am trying to search-and-replace linked text from an old url to a new url.

It is not working and I have spent hours and hours. If I remove the "if (found)" it gives me "TypeError: Cannot read property 'getElement' of null" even though my files have text that is linked to this old_url.

Please, help me.

function myFunction() {
  var old_url  ="http://hurlx1.com";
  var new_url  ="http://urlxa.com";
  var files = DriveApp.getFolderById("my folder id").getFilesByType(MimeType.GOOGLE_DOCS);

  while (files.hasNext()) {
     var file = files.next();
     var doc = DocumentApp.openById(file.getId());
     found=doc.getBody().findText(old_url); 

     if (found) {
         var link_element = found.getElement().asText();
         var start = found.getStartOffset();
         var end = found.getEndOffsetInclusive();
         var correct_link = link_element.getText().slice(start, end);
         link_element.setLinkUrl(start, end, correct_link);
       }
     }
   }

Upvotes: 0

Views: 942

Answers (1)

Tanaike
Tanaike

Reputation: 201358

I believe your situation and goal as follows.

  • In your Google Document,
    • Text and hyperlink are the same with old_url.
    • Hyperlink is old_url. But the text is different from old_url.
  • You want to update old_url with new_url using Google Apps Script.

For this, how about this answer?

Modification points:

  • About your error message, when the text of old_url is not found in the Google Document with found=doc.getBody().findText(old_url);, found becomes null even when old_url is set as the hyperlink. Because findText searches the text on Document body, and that cannot search the hyperlinks set to the texts. I think that this is the reason of your issue.
  • In your script, var new_url ="http://urlxa.com"; is used. But when the link is set, correct_link is used like link_element.setLinkUrl(start, end, correct_link);. By this, new_url is not set.
  • When you want to update the text of http://hurlx1.com to new_url of var new_url ="http://urlxa.com";, it is required to also modify the text.
  • In your script, only the 1st old_url is updated. If there are several values of old_url in the Document, it is required to update them using the loop.

Specification of modified script:

This modified script can be used for the following patterns.

  • Text and hyperlink are the same with old_url.
    • In this case, the text value of old_url is also updated with old_url.
  • Hyperlink is old_url. But the text is different from old_url.
    • In this case, only the hyperlink of old_url is updated.
  • There are several texts with the hyperlink of old_url in the Google Document.

Modified script:

function myFunction() {
  var old_url  ="http://hurlx1.com";
  var new_url  ="http://urlxa.com";
  var files = DriveApp.getFolderById("my folder id").getFilesByType(MimeType.GOOGLE_DOCS);

  while (files.hasNext()) {
    var file = files.next();
    var doc = DocumentApp.openById(file.getId());
    var body = doc.getBody();

    // The following script is used for the situation that the text and hyperlink are the same with `old_url`.
    var found = body.findText(old_url);
    while (found) {
      var link_element = found.getElement().asText();
      var start = found.getStartOffset();
      var end = found.getEndOffsetInclusive();
      var correct_link = link_element.getText().slice(start, end);
      link_element.setLinkUrl(start, end, new_url).replaceText(old_url, new_url);
      found = body.findText(old_url, found);
    }

    // The following script is used for the situation that although the hyperlink is `old_url`, the text is different from `old_url`.
    var text = body.editAsText();
    for (var i = 0; i < text.getText().length; i++) {
      if (text.getLinkUrl(i) == old_url) {
        text.setLinkUrl(i, i + 1, new_url);
      }
    }
  }
}

References:

Upvotes: 4

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