LatexKit for developers

LatexKit is a Google Sheets Add-on. If you are just looking for latex table generation from Google Sheets, you can install it from the Google Workspace Marketplace.

How to use this code yourself

There are two main reasons for you to want this:

• You are concerned about your Google Drive's privacy and do not trust the code we have uploaded in the add-on
• You want to contribute and you need to have a way of running/testing the code

First of all you should to get familiar with Google Apps Script, e.g. create a simple stand alone script for Google Sheets and run it using the IDE provided by Google. Beside that, you should get into the basics of git and GitHub (or other equivalent services).

As you will probably discover, Google IDE is not very useful when it comes to versioning and collaborating even though you will still use it for debugging (at least). Therefore the idea is to have the code on your machine and edit/version it using whatever you want and then push the code back to your Apps Script project in your Drive in order to use/test/publish it. For this task there are some tools (that relay on Google Apps Script API):

• gas - node.js (tested and in use for the development of LatexKit)
• clasp - Google has released it's own tool (not tested)
• gapps - node.js (not tested)
• python-gas-cli - python (not tested)

By the time you set up one of those tools you should be ready (and know how) to run your own copy of LatexKit. Have fun! This instructions may not be very clear, if you have any difficulties contact us, we will be happy to help you!

Nice things to develop someday

• Apply Validation rules on Settings Sheet for a more user friendly UI and less errors
• Create URLs for overleaf automatic file upload and realtime update
• Automatic and manual columns align
• Automatic table configuration for siunitx latex package
• Data validation for the LatexKitSettings sheet
• Automatic table borders when folks from google give us a getBorder method or working it around with the Sheets API v4. PS Help us reinforce the need of the getBorder method by leaving a comment in the issue tracker.
• Automatic line breaks in cells using \makecell{}

Useful resources

• Advanced Development Process with Apps Script

Privacy Policy and Terms of Service

By using LatexKit you agree with the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.