Group rows using google apps scripts

Question

I am writing code in which a user can automatically generate a template of lesson and sub-topics. Each lesson will have 10 sub-topics.

I also need to group the rows lesson-wise and topic-wise.

But, I am unable to group the rows lesson-wise and topic-wise. Tried using the macro-recorder, but the code does not work while generating multiple lessons.

EDIT: Working code is updated below.

  function shiftrowgroupdepth() {
  var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
  var sheet = spreadsheet.getActiveSheet();


  // start from row 6 and column 2
  var row = 6;
  var col = 2;

  //Ask user for the no. of lessons
  var shlen = Browser.inputBox("Enter no of lessons", Browser.Buttons.OK_CANCEL);

  for (var i = 1; i <= shlen; i++) {

   sheet.getRange(row,col).setValue("Lesson " + i);
   row++;

    Logger.log(spreadsheet.getCurrentCell().getRow())
   sheet.getRange(row, 1, 70, sheet.getMaxColumns()).activate()
  .shiftRowGroupDepth(1);

   // Add sub-topics (1.1, 1.2 ....)

   for (var j=1;j<=10;j++){

     sheet.getRange(row,col).setValue(i+"."+j);
     sheet.getRange(row+1, 1, 6, sheet.getMaxColumns()).activate()
    .shiftRowGroupDepth(1);

     row=row+7;

     }    


  }
};

Answer 1

The OP code was very close to the mark. The main changes in this answer are:

• When using a 'dot' separator for the topic codes, Google sheets treats the resulting value as a number; this creates problems displaying '1.10'. I changed the separator to a 'dash'. No doubt there is another potential approach using toString - but this was quick and easy.

• The Lesson grouping is straightforward; 10 topics, 7 rows per topic = 70 rows.

• Topic grouping had been complicated by referring to the location of the "current cell" - which could be anywhere on the sheet. I simplified this by using the row variable, which the OP had already (correctly) incremented.

---

function so5774532602() {

  var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
  var sheetname = "OPSheet";
  var sheet = ss.getSheetByName(sheetname);
  var row = 6;
  var col = 2;

  //Ask user for the no. of lessons
  var shlen = Browser.inputBox("Enter no of lessons", Browser.Buttons
    .OK_CANCEL);

  for (var i = 1; i <= shlen; i++) {

    sheet.getRange(row, col).setValue("Lesson " + i);

    // add grouping
    // Logger.log("DEBUG: i = "+i+", lesson range = "+sheet.getRange(+(row + 1), 2, 70, 1).getA1Notation());
    sheet.getRange(+(row + 1), 2, 70, 1).activate()
      .shiftRowGroupDepth(1);

    row++;

    // Add sub-topics (1.1, 1.2 ....)        leave 6 blank rows below each sub-topic. Then, group those blank rows

    for (var j = 1; j <= 10; j++) {
      // Logger.log("DEBUG: i = "+i+", j = "+j+", row = "+row+", col = "+col); // new
      sheet.getRange(row, col).setValue(i + "-" + j);

      // add grouping
      // Logger.log("DEBUG: range details: row = "+(row + 1) +",column = 1"+"number of rows = "+6+", number of columns = 1");
      // Logger.log("DEBUG: topic range = "+sheet.getRange(+(row + 1), 2, 6, 1).getA1Notation());
      sheet.getRange(+(row + 1), 2, 6, 1).activate()
        .shiftRowGroupDepth(1);

      row = row + 7;

    }
  }
}

---

Edit Two minor changes for formatting

1. sheet.getRange(row,col).setValue("Lesson " + i).setHorizontalAlignment("center");
   Centres the Lesson Number in the column.

2. sheet.getRange(row,col).setNumberFormat("@").setValue(i+"."+j).setHorizontalAlignment("center");
   A return to a 'dot' separator but enables the tenth topic to display as 1.10, etc (credit @Tanaike). Will also center the text in the column.