get value for specific question/item in a Google Form using Google App Script in an on submit event

Question

I have figured out how to run a Google App Script project/function on a form submit using the information at https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/triggers/events#form-submit_4.

Once I have e I can call e.response to get a FormResponse object and then call getItemResponses() to get an array of all of the responses.

Without iterating through the array and checking each one, is there a way to find the ItemResponse for a specific question?

I see getResponseForItem(item) but it looks like I have to somehow create an Item first?

Can I some how use e.source to get the Form object and then find the Item by question, without iterating through all of them, so I could get the Item object I can use with getResponseForItem(item)?

So, I am confused by what you are asking for. Are you trying to get the most recent response for an item easily, or all the responses for an item? — Hink
Try this one developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/triggers/… — Cooper
It's not 100% what you are asking for, but I have a code snippet I use to pull the current set of answers into a object, so the most current response for the question Your Name becomes form.yourName which I found to be the easiest way to find responses by question — Hink
e.values is an array with all of the answers to all of the questions. — Cooper
e.namedValues values is an object where the properties are the questions and the values are the answers. It's pretty easy to use. You may want to look at this question though because we've been seeing problems of getting more that one trigger from one submit event. — Cooper

Hink Hink · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-16T07:08:37

This is the code I use to pull the current set of answers into a object, so the most current response for the question Your Name becomes form.yourName which I found to be the easiest way to find responses by question:

function objectifyForm() {
  //Makes the form info into an object
  var myform = FormApp.getActiveForm();
  var formResponses = myform.getResponses()
  var currentResponse = formResponses[formResponses.length-1];
  var responseArray = currentResponse.getItemResponses()
  var form = {};
  form.user = currentResponse.getRespondentEmail(); //requires collect email addresses to be turned on or is undefined.
  form.timestamp = currentResponse.getTimestamp();
  form.formName = myform.getTitle();
  for (var i = 0; i < responseArray.length; i++){
    var response = responseArray[i].getResponse();
    var item = responseArray[i].getItem().getTitle();
    var item = camelize(item);
    form[item] = response;
  }
  return form;
}

function camelize(str) {
  str = str.replace(/[\.,-\/#!$%\^&\*;:{}=\-_`~()@\+\?><\[\]\+]/g, '')
  return str.replace(/(?:^\w|[A-Z]|\b\w|\s+)/g, function(match, index) {
    if (+match === 0) return ""; // or if (/\s+/.test(match)) for white spaces
    return index == 0 ? match.toLowerCase() : match.toUpperCase();
  });
}


//Use with installable trigger
function onSubmittedForm() {
  var form = objectifyForm();
  Logger.log(form);
  //Put Code here

}

A couple of important things.

If you change the question on the form, you will need to update your code
Non required questions may or may not have answers, so check if answer exists before you use it
I only use installable triggers, so I know it works with those. Not sure about with simple triggers
You can see the form object by opening the logs, which is useful for finding the object names

get value for specific question/item in a Google Form using Google App Script in an on submit event

1 Answers