What's the best way to implement pagination when fetching Google documents?

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1

Hey everyone, I’m trying to figure out how to get Google Docs info with pagination using the Java Client Library. I’ve got some code working, but it’s not behaving as I expected.

Here’s what I’m doing:

private static final String DOCS_URL = "docs.google.com/api/private/full";

public List<DocEntry> fetchDocuments() throws Exception {
    URL apiEndpoint = new URL(DOCS_URL);
    DocQuery queryParams = new DocQuery(apiEndpoint);
    queryParams.setResultLimit(2);
    queryParams.setPageStart(1);
    DocFeed results = apiClient.getFeed(queryParams, DocFeed.class);
    return results.getDocList();
}

Then I process the entries like this:

List<DocEntry> documents = docFetcher.fetchDocuments();
for (DocEntry doc : documents) {
    handleDocument(authToken, docFetcher, doc);
}

The weird thing is, I get two entries as expected. But when I change setPageStart(1) to setPageStart(3), I still get the same two entries.

Any ideas why this is happening or how I can make pagination work correctly? Thanks in advance for any help!

2

I’ve encountered similar issues with the Google Docs API. The problem lies in how it handles pagination, which isn’t as straightforward as other APIs. Instead of using setPageStart(), try implementing a loop that uses the next link in the feed to fetch subsequent pages. Here’s a rough idea:

DocFeed results = apiClient.getFeed(queryParams, DocFeed.class);
List<DocEntry> allDocs = new ArrayList<>();
while (results != null) {
    allDocs.addAll(results.getDocList());
    Link nextLink = results.getNextLink();
    if (nextLink == null) break;
    results = apiClient.getFeed(new URL(nextLink.getHref()), DocFeed.class);
}

This approach should give you better control over pagination. Remember to handle potential exceptions and implement proper error checking.

3

hey tom, i’ve dealt with this before. the docs api is kinda tricky with pagination. have you tried using the drive api instead? it handles pagination way better. you’d need to use the Files.list() method and set the q parameter to filter for google docs. just a thought!

4

I’ve grappled with this exact issue before, Tom. The Docs API can be pretty finicky when it comes to pagination. From my experience, a more reliable approach is to leverage the Google Drive API instead. It’s got a much more robust pagination system.

Here’s a snippet that’s worked well for me:

Drive service = new Drive.Builder(HTTP_TRANSPORT, JSON_FACTORY, credentials)
    .setApplicationName(APPLICATION_NAME)
    .build();

String pageToken = null;
do {
    FileList result = service.files().list()
        .setQ("mimeType='application/vnd.google-apps.document'")
        .setSpaces("drive")
        .setFields("nextPageToken, files(id, name)")
        .setPageToken(pageToken)
        .execute();
    for (File file : result.getFiles()) {
        System.out.printf("Found file: %s (%s)\n", file.getName(), file.getId());
    }
    pageToken = result.getNextPageToken();
} while (pageToken != null);

This approach uses the pageToken to handle pagination, which is much more reliable than trying to manually calculate page starts. It’ll fetch all your Google Docs, and you can adjust the query and fields as needed. Hope this helps!