Correct Syntax for OnEdit Trigger

Question

I'm trying to get an app that somebody else wrote to call the function each time the spreadsheet is edited. I've been looking at the google developers website https://developers.google.com/apps-script/understanding_triggers and have tried a number of different options for syntax, but none of them have worked so far. Here's the function as it stands (I haven't included any of the syntax options I tried, just the function itself named 'onEdit'). All I want this function to do is count the number of cells with a non-white background in the specified range and update the count displayed in the cell that uses this add-on script when the spreadsheet is edited. Incidentally, does anyone know whether changing the background color of a cell counts as editing the spreadsheet? Thank you.

function onEdit(range) {
  var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  var sheet = ss.getActiveSheet();



  var r = sheet.getRange(range);
  var i = 0;
  var colors  = r.getBackgroundColors();

  for(c in colors) {

    if(colors[c] != "white") {
      i++;
    }
  }

  return i;


}

Kamrul Kamrul · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-09T22:24:55

onEdit is an event handler. you wont be able to return something from it. just initialise i outside, i.e., to the global scope.

var i = 0;    
function onEdit(range) {
      var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
      var sheet = ss.getActiveSheet();



      var r = sheet.getRange(range);

      var colors  = r.getBackgroundColors();

      for(c in colors) {

        if(colors[c] != "white") {
          i++;
        }
      }


    }

Correct Syntax for OnEdit Trigger

1 Answers