Question

I am trying to create a script that will take a Google Doc template document, make a copy, replace certain text with information from a row on my spreadsheet, append another page, replace the text with information from the next row on the spreadsheet, append another page, etc.

Here is what I have so far:

// Global variables 
var templateDocID = ScriptProperties.getProperty("backRxRequestDocID");
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
var activeSheetName = sheet.getName();
var user = Session.getUser().getEmail();

function requestGen3() {
  var physName = ["doc john", "doc evan", "doc jane"];
  var physAddr1 = ["fake st.", "faker st.", "fakest st."];
  var physAddr2 = ["ste 100", "", "ste 209"];
          var physCity = ["SLC", "Provo", "Orem"];
  var physState = ["UT", "AZ", "NV"];
  var physZip = ["84049", "84044", "84601"];
          var physPhone = ["8015555555", "7206666666", "4803333333"];
  var ptName = ["ed", "sue", "izzy"];
  var ptDOB = ["12/10/1979", "1/1/2001", "45/94/4561"];
  // Get document template, copy it as a new temp doc, and save the Doc’s id
  var docID = DocsList.getFileById(templateDocID).makeCopy().getId();
  var doc = DocumentApp.openById(docID);
  var body = doc.getActiveSection();
  var pars = doc.getParagraphs();
  var bodyCopy = body;
  for (var i = 0; i < physName.length; ++i) {
    // Replace place holder keys,  
    body.replaceText('%PHYS_NAME%', physName[i]);
    body.replaceText('%PHYS_ADDR1%', physAddr1[i]);
    body.replaceText('%PHYS_ADDR2%', physAddr2[i]);
    body.replaceText('%PHYS_CITY%', physCity[i]);
    body.replaceText('%PHYS_STATE%', physState[i]);
    body.replaceText('%PHYS_ZIP%', physZip[i]);
    body.replaceText('%PHYS_PHONE%', physPhone[i]);
    body.replaceText('%PT_NAME%', ptName[i]);
    body.replaceText('%PT_DOB%', ptDOB[i]);    
    doc.appendPageBreak();
    for (var j = 0; j < pars.length; ++j) {
      doc.appendParagraph(pars[j].copy());
    }
  }

  // Save and close the document
  doc.saveAndClose();
}

I went through the tutorial on reading from the spreadsheet but I couldn’t seem to make getRowsData() and getObjects() to work properly. My script above is creating the document properly but is not inserting the second set of info into the second page and third set into the third page, etc.

Answer 1

You have to replace the text only after you copied the paragraphs, because if you do it after, the placeholders will be already replaced and will not be present for the next copies. You can do it like this:

//...
var pars = doc.getParagraphs();
for( var i in pars ) //loop to keep a copy of the original paragraphs
  pars[i] = pars[i].copy();

for( var i = 0; i < physName.length; ++i ) {
  body.replaceText('%PHYS_NAME%', physName[i]);
  //do all your replaces...
  if( i != physName.length-1 ) { //has next?
    doc.appendPageBreak();
    for( var j in pars )
      doc.appendParagraph(pars[j].copy());
  }
}
doc.saveAndClose();