Better to develop an Worspace Editor addon or a Google Sheets extension ?

[A. Luca B]

Hello 

I have agood experience with GAS and I am thinking to develop an addon to add several specialized analysis functionalities to Google sheets.

Basically statistical analysis, data cleaning and charting for a very specialized environment.

My question is it better to start developing a traditional goggle sheets extension or something based on the new Workspace editor addon architecture ?

I am especially hesitant as I would have to learn the new cardservice based GUI development and definitely it looks less integrated where i have a very good experience with the traditional sidebars

Thanks for any comment

[Alan Wells]

The word "extension" has typically been used to refer to a Google Chrome browser extension, which is very different than and editor add-on. The new card service is not part of the "editor" addons it's a Workspace addon. The terms are unfortunately easy to be misused. Even though an "editor" addon is part of "Workspace" and "Workspace addon" is technically considered something that uses the card service, and it has other characteristics.

See:

https://developers.google.com/apps-script/add-ons/concepts/types#g_suite_add-ons

One of the biggest issues is the run time restriction that the Workspace addon has compared to an editor addon.  And editor addon can run up to the amount of quota time limit on the users account, but a Workspace addon can only run for 30 seconds. I can't find the documentation for this, so if anyone has it, please post it. Also, you can't create or use Apps Script simple triggers in a Google Workspace Add-on.
The editor addon has much more capability than the Workspace addon however there are some advantages to the card service. There is a problem with editor addons when users are logged into multiple Google accounts in the same browser.

Unfortunately, the progress seems to be very slow in improving new products and fixing bugs.

If you have easy access to promoting your addon to people who have a special need, that is one of the best advantages there is. Otherwise it's very difficult for users to find your addon.

[Romain Vialard]

"a Workspace addon can only run for 30 seconds. I can't find the documentation for this, so if anyone has it, please post it"

https://developers.google.com/apps-script/add-ons/how-tos/interactions?hl=en

"Keep your callback functions simple. To keep the add-ons responsive, the Card service limits callback functions to a maximum of 30 seconds of execution time. If the execution takes longer than that, your add-on UI may not update its card display properly in response to the Action ."

[Kos]

Google's "sample" extensions like Calendar may let you think that you can also build something similar - with custom UI (like calendar view or maps view) - but digging at documentation for Workspace add-ons you can see that it's basically very limited and reminds of design of first Android versions, like very very first. Here is official UI kit for example:  G Suite Add Ons UI Design Kit – Figma.

See  Google Workspace Add-On Hide or Edit App Bar Card - Stack Overflow

So I would not recommend wasting your time on this instead of building regular sidebar add-on, unless requested from client or other spec. 

[A. Luca B]

@Kos

That's exactly my feeling, based on a superficial study of the tutorials. Lot of clunky code and limited possibilities, it reminds me the UIService that costed me a lot of rewriting when deprecated.

I think the direction is interesting but still to mature a lot.   It seems that Google likes these abstract UI frameworks for web apps, from time to time the invent a new one .

[A. Luca B]

@AJ,Roman 

I didn't notice this detail which is a deal breaker for me, thanks!

[Phillip Bainbridge]

Hi

Just to chip-in my experience here, having created 1 of each type within the last 2 months (for the first time ever). The 30-second Card Service limitation was a big factor in determining what my tools needed to be able to do (one was scanning a lot of files, the other just archiving a row of data in a Google Sheet).

I found learning the Card Service to be fine - there were enough examples online to achieve what I needed (without lots of fancy images). Whereas the alternative (Apps Script, JavaScript & HTML) was a lot to juggle for the Editor-Add-on. But I do like to try keep things simple  :)

Kind regards

Phil

[Hardik Thakkar]

 There is a problem with editor addons when users are logged into multiple Google accounts in the same browser.

This has become a show-stopper for an almost ready add-on I am working on. It used to work with multiple accounts until recently. I suspect it stopped working once I started using PropertiesService. Any other hints where to look at? 

[Alan Wells]

There have been various "work arounds" proposed for the bug that happens when someone is logged into multiple Google accounts. I'm not sure what the current status is. At one time I thought there was a "work around", but then it didn't seem to work. Unfortunately, it seems like there are various "dead ends" in Apps Script and no matter how hard we try or how creative we try to get to overcome the challenges some of them can't be overcome. I'd like to hear from others concerning their thoughts. The conclusion that I've intuitively decided on, is that Apps Script is a low priority for Google, and they don't have answers for how to deal with the challenges. The analogy I'd make is a car manufacturer that builds a functioning car without a rear bumper.  The car still works. You can drive it. The rear bumper isn't critical unless someone runs into you from the back.

[A. Luca B]

that's correct IMHO.

I used it from the start and your analogy expresses exactly my feelings.. 

Basically you have to assume that if there is a serious issue it won't be fixed or it will be fixed in years.

I love the tool and it could be huge if maintained in a more coherent way. In the 90s there were entire companies doing only Access or Excel customizations with VBA and other tools.

It was the key of Microsoft success in the enterprise environment together with the unified ecosystem.

Here they developed this tool that makes incredibly simple to integrate the pieces and they really focus on much more complex and less usable stuff