How to search for a specific Google Sheets document using Android API v4?

Other Questions Google drive
1

Hey everyone! I’ve been working on an Android app that uses the Google Sheets API v4. I got the basic setup working following the quickstart guide but I’m stuck on one thing.

Right now the sample code uses a hardcoded spreadsheet ID like this:

String spreadsheetId = "abc123xyz";

What I really want is to search for a spreadsheet by its name and retrieve the ID. I was thinking of trying something like this:

SheetsHelper helper = new SheetsHelper(credential);
List<SpreadsheetInfo> allDocs = helper.getAllSpreadsheets();

String targetId = null;
for (SpreadsheetInfo doc : allDocs) {
  if (doc.getTitle().equals("My Important Spreadsheet")) {
    targetId = doc.getId();
    break;
  }
}

Can anyone guide me on how to achieve this using the v4 API? I haven’t come across good documentation or examples for listing or searching spreadsheets. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

2

have u tried using the Drive API instead? it has better search capabilities for finding specific files. u could use the Files.list method with a query parameter to search for sheets by name. then just grab the id from the matching file. might be easier than looping thru everything manually

3

I encountered a similar challenge in one of my projects. The Drive API is indeed more suitable for searching documents. Here’s a snippet that worked for me:

Drive driveService = new Drive.Builder(HTTP_TRANSPORT, JSON_FACTORY, credential)
    .setApplicationName(APPLICATION_NAME)
    .build();

FileList result = driveService.files().list()
    .setQ("name = 'My Important Spreadsheet' and mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet'")
    .setSpaces("drive")
    .setFields("files(id, name)")
    .execute();

List<File> files = result.getFiles();
if (files != null && !files.isEmpty()) {
    String targetId = files.get(0).getId();
    // Use targetId with Sheets API
}

This approach is more efficient and allows for precise searches. Remember to include the necessary Drive API dependencies in your project.

4

I’ve dealt with this issue before, and I can confirm that using the Drive API is the way to go. It’s much more efficient for searching and retrieving specific documents. Here’s what worked for me:

First, make sure you’ve added the Drive API to your project dependencies. Then, you can use a query to search for your spreadsheet by name. Something like this:

String spreadsheetName = “My Important Spreadsheet”;
String query = String.format(“name=‘%s’ and mimeType=‘application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet’”, spreadsheetName);

Drive.Files.List request = driveService.files().list().setQ(query);
FileList files = request.execute();

if (!files.getFiles().isEmpty()) {
String spreadsheetId = files.getFiles().get(0).getId();
// Use this ID with your Sheets API calls
}

This approach is much faster than iterating through all documents. Just remember to handle potential exceptions and maybe add some logging for debugging. Hope this helps!