How can I create a function that automatically takes data from Google Sheets and replaces the tags in a Slides template? - email

Question

I am new to Google Apps Script and coding in general and wasn't entirely sure how to do this. I want to create code that allows me to create a new set of Google Slides based on a Slides template using the relevant rows from a Google Sheets document.
function generateNewSlides() {
var wsID = "would insert worksheet URL ID here";
var ws = SpreadsheetApp.openById(wsID).getSheetByName("Data");
var data = ws.getRange(2, 1, ws.getLastRow()-1, 5).getValues();
>the above should get the relevant table from the sheet
data.forEach(function(info){
if(info[0]){
var firstname = info[0];
var surname = info[1];
var email = info[2];
var phone = info[3];
var image = info[4];
var presName = info[5];
>the above are columns where the different pieces of data would be taken from for the placeholders in the Slides template
var slidesTemplateID = "would insert slides template URL ID here";
var slidesTemplate = SlidesApp.openById(slidesTemplateID);
var template = slidesTemplate.getSlides();
var folderID = "would insert desired folder ID for saving in here";
>the above should get me the Slides template
template.makeCopy(presName,DriveApp.getFolderById(folderID)); **>line where error occurred**
var newPresentation = DriveApp.getFilesByName(presName).next().getUrl();
var Presentation = SlidesApp.openByUrl(newPresentation);
>the above should create a copy and then open it
var shapes = (Presentation.getShapes());
shapes.forEach(function(shape){
shape.getText().replaceAllText('{{firstname}}',firstname);
shape.getText().replaceAllText('{{surname}}',surname);
shape.getText().replaceAllText('{{email}}',email);
shape.getText().replaceAllText('{{phone}}',phone);
shape.getText().replaceAllText('{{presname}}', presName)
});
>the above should replace all the placeholder tags in the template with the row data
}
});
}
Above is the code I have so far. The worksheet I am extracting data from has columns: first name, surname, email address, phone number, image (URL), and presentation name. When I try to run it I encounter an error on line 37 where it says template.makeCopy is not a function, however I am certain .makeCopy should be able to create a copy for it, no?
My main questions are:
1) What should I change to make it work, generating a new set slides for each row in the worksheet?
2) How can I add images to it replacing placeholder tags I've added in squares (not textboxes) in the template?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Issue 1. makeCopy:
makeCopy(name, destination) is a method of the class File, which belongs to the Drive Service, not to the Slides Service. In your code, template is a list of Slides (you retrieve it by calling the method getSlides() from a Presentation). makeCopy cannot work here.
In order to make a copy of a Presentation, you should be using the Drive Service instead. You should replace these lines:
var slidesTemplate = SlidesApp.openById(slidesTemplateID);
var template = slidesTemplate.getSlides();
With this one:
var template = DriveApp.getFileById(slidesTemplateID);
Issue 2. Iterating through all shapes:
Next, you want to iterate through all shapes in your Presentation, and replace all placeholder tags with your desired text. In order to do that, you are using Presentation.getShapes(), which cannot work, since getShapes() is not a method of Presentation, but of Slide.
You should first iterate through all Slides in the Presentation, and for each Slide, iterate through all Shapes. You should replace these lines:
var shapes = (Presentation.getShapes());
shapes.forEach(function(shape){
// Replacing text lines
});
With these ones:
Presentation.getSlides().forEach(function(slide) {
slide.getShapes().forEach(function(shape) {
// Replacing text lines
})
});
Note:
In order to retrieve the copied presentation, you are currently doing this:
template.makeCopy(presName,DriveApp.getFolderById(folderID));
var newPresentation = DriveApp.getFilesByName(presName).next().getUrl();
var Presentation = SlidesApp.openByUrl(newPresentation);
There is no need to do this, you can just retrieve the ID of the created template, and open by ID, like this:
var copiedTemplate = template.makeCopy(presName,DriveApp.getFolderById(folderID));
var Presentation = SlidesApp.openById(copiedTemplate.getId());
Reference:
Slides Service
Drive Service