instruct GAM to check for a top-level folder on a user's drive matching a string

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Kevan Chapman

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Jun 20, 2024, 12:32:11 PM6/20/24
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Hi All. 

New to GAM, still struggling with the basics. 

I have to circumstantially create a folder for a particular user, but want to first check for the existence of a folder with that name so I won't create a duplicate should circumstances repeat.
Foldernames to be added/checked for will be of the pattern "prefix-otherusername"

I've managed to get GAMADV-XTD3 to list top-level folders for me using

gam user cruiset.at.domain.ext print filetree showmimetype gfolder depth 0

but that also lists drive names at level -1. 

I *could* use a variant of this command, if I could just restrict the output to only the level-0 folders in "My Drive", without listing the drive name or any other drives and folders. I could pipe that restricted output to a list and check the list for a particular name before creating a duplicate folder.

However, I'd prefer to have a GAM command to directly query for the existance of a particular folder, say "test-dieselv" on cruiset's "My Drive" -- if the result is negative, I would create the folder; if it already exists, I would do nothing.

Thanks for any insights!

Kevan


Ross Scroggs

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Jun 20, 2024, 12:40:56 PM6/20/24
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$ gam user testsimple show fileinfo query "'root' in parents and name = 'purgeme'" fields id

Getting all Drive Files/Folders that match query ('root' in parents and name = 'purgeme') for tests...@domain.com

Got 1 Drive File/Folder that matched query ('root' in parents and name = 'purgeme') for tests...@domain.com...

User: tests...@domain.com, Show 1 Drive File/Folder

  Drive Folder: purgeme (1kK0x4J9z-sPZnBTU-v2qvyFUTP0eSqlV)

    id: 1kK0x4J9z-sPZnBTU-v2qvyFUTP0eSqlV

$ echo $?

0


$ gam user testsimple show fileinfo query "'root' in parents and name = 'purgemex'" fields id

Getting all Drive Files/Folders that match query ('root' in parents and name = 'purgemex') for tests...@domain.com

Got 0 Drive Files/Folders that matched query ('root' in parents and name = 'purgemex') for tests...@domain.com...

User: tests...@domain.com, Show 0 Drive Files/Folders

$ echo $?

60



Substitute actual values for user name and folder name

Ross
----
Ross Scroggs



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Kevan Chapman

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Jun 20, 2024, 1:34:39 PM6/20/24
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That's beautiful, Ross! Thanks so much!

Kevan

Kevan Chapman

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Jun 20, 2024, 5:03:11 PM6/20/24
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Follow-up question: Is there a way to suppress the display of the fields? i.e. just limit the per-folder output to:
 Drive Folder: purgeme (1kK0x4J9z-sPZnBTU-v2qvyFUTP0eSqlV)
From that one line I can get the name and the id, and I can have the query portion filter out trashed folders.

Ross Scroggs

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Jun 20, 2024, 7:26:14 PM6/20/24
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$ gam config show_gettings false redirect csv - noheader user testsimple print filelist query "'root' in parents and name = 'purgeme'" fields id,name

tests...@domain.com,1kK0x4J9z-sPZnBTU-v2qvyFUTP0eSqlV,purgeme

$ echo $?

0

$ gam config show_gettings false redirect csv - noheader user testsimple print filelist query "'root' in parents and name = 'purgemex'" fields id,name

$ echo $?

60


Ross

----
Ross Scroggs


Chapman, Kevan

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Jun 21, 2024, 9:34:43 AM6/21/24
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Thanks again Ross. Getting soooo close! Finally, how to limit the output to folders only? I've tried this query
"'root' in parents and mimetype=gfolder' (gives back invalid query)
and
"'root in parents and mimetype=application/vnd.google-apps.folder" (also  results in invalid query) 

Note: I *am* trying to figure this out from the documentation, but it seems this knowledge builds up holographically, and I'm not quite getting the picture yet...

Kevan

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Kevan Chapman
Technology Specialist
Pryor Public Schools Tech Team
'You never know until you find out!'

Ross Scroggs

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Jun 21, 2024, 9:50:11 AM6/21/24
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"'root' in parents and name = 'purgeme'and mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.folder'"
----
Ross Scroggs



Chapman, Kevan

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Jun 21, 2024, 9:55:28 AM6/21/24
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Thanks! It was the single quotes that got me (again).

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