Zend Framework and Google Docs API Integration Issue

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1

I’m working on a project that uses Zend Framework to access Google Docs API. My goal is to display the content of a Google Doc on my webpage. Here’s what’s happening:

  1. The initial output looks fine
  2. After a few seconds, an error pops up saying ‘Google Docs has encountered an error’
  3. It suggests reloading the page

I’ve set up the Zend classes and Google authentication. The code fetches the document content, but something’s not right. Here’s a simplified version of what I’m trying:

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Autoloader.php';
Zend_Autoloader::autoload('Zend_Gdata_Docs');

$auth = new Zend_Gdata_ClientLogin('[email protected]', 'password', Zend_Gdata_Docs::AUTH_SERVICE_NAME);
$client = new Zend_Gdata_Docs($auth);
$client->setMajorProtocolVersion(3);

$docUrl = 'https://docs.google.com/document/d/SOME_DOC_ID/edit';
$content = $client->getDocumentContents($docUrl);

echo $content;
?>

The PDF export works fine, but I want to show the doc as it appears in Google Docs. What am I missing? Any ideas on how to fix this?

2

I’ve encountered similar issues when working with Google Docs API. In my experience, the problem often lies in how the content is being fetched and rendered. Have you considered using the Google Docs Viewer as an alternative? It’s a simpler solution that can display Google Docs content directly in your web page without the need for complex API integration.

Here’s a basic approach you could try:

<iframe src='https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=YOUR_DOC_URL&embedded=true' width='100%' height='600px'></iframe>

Replace ‘YOUR_DOC_URL’ with the public URL of your Google Doc. This method bypasses the need for authentication and handles the rendering on Google’s end, which could resolve your error issues. It’s not as customizable, but it’s a quick fix that might suit your needs.

3

hey avamtz, i had a similar issue. try using the google docs api v1 instead of zend. it’s more reliable for live doc content. you’ll need to switch to the google/apiclient library and use the docs.googleapis.com endpoint. it’s a bit more work but should fix ur problem. good luck!

4

I’ve dealt with this exact problem before, and it can be frustrating. The issue likely stems from how Zend handles Google Docs content. Instead of using Zend, I recommend switching to the official Google API Client Library for PHP, which is more up-to-date and reliable for these kinds of integrations.

In my experience, the process began by installing the Google API Client Library via Composer, followed by setting up OAuth 2.0 credentials in the Google Cloud Console. I then used the Google_Service_Docs class to fetch the document content and parsed the returned JSON structure to extract the text content.

This approach gives more control over the rendering process and avoids the ‘Google Docs has encountered an error’ message. Although it requires a bit more setup, the overall results are much more stable and reliable.