Invalid ReplaceNamedRangeContent request - google-docs-api

Question

I can successfully create a name range using batchUpdate api, however, replaceNameRangeContent gives the following error:
{ "error": { "code": 400, "message": "Invalid requests[0].replaceNamedRangeContent: Named range with ID kix.ydbik9q4xmna contains content that cannot be replaced.", "status": "INVALID_ARGUMENT" } }
The request for this was:
{ "requests": [ { "replaceNamedRangeContent": { "namedRangeId": "kix.ydbik9q4xmna", "text": "" } } ] }
Am I using the API properly? I created the name range giving start/endindex and naming it. It creates the NameRangeId that I used in the replace content post.
There was content in the index range above. However, below is a sample doc structure for an empty doc (with doc styles, etc. omitted). I tried a
{
"requests": [
{
"createNamedRange": {
"range": {
"startIndex": 1,
"endIndex": 2
},
"name": "ApplicantName"
}
}
]
}
followed by
{
"requests": [
{
"replaceNamedRangeContent": {
"namedRangeId": "kix.f7g9w0sr3kyp",
"text": "Applicant Name"
}
}
]
}
and get the same error. But when doing the create named range it would not accept any start/end index besides 1 and 2.
I must not understand the actual intent of named ranges!
Sample:
{
"title": "Test mule",
"body": {
"content": [
{
"endIndex": 1,
"sectionBreak": {
"sectionStyle": {
"columnSeparatorStyle": "NONE",
"contentDirection": "LEFT_TO_RIGHT",
"sectionType": "CONTINUOUS"
}
}
},
{
"startIndex": 1,
"endIndex": 2,
"paragraph": {
"elements": [
{
"startIndex": 1,
"endIndex": 2,
"textRun": {
"content": "\n",
"textStyle": {}
}
}
],
"paragraphStyle": {
"namedStyleType": "NORMAL_TEXT",
"direction": "LEFT_TO_RIGHT"
}
}
}
]
}

Answer 1

I can reproduce your error when creating a named range with "startIndex": 0
Mind that indices for paragraphs (and thus text) in Google Docs refer to the position of a character in the text and start with 1.
So if you create a name range specifying the indices correctly, you will not get the error mesage
{ "error": { "code": 400, "message": "Invalid requests[0].replaceNamedRangeContent: Named range with ID kix.ydbik9q4xmna contains content that cannot be replaced.", "status": "INVALID_ARGUMENT" } }
Sample request for creating named ranges:
{
"requests": [
{
"createNamedRange": {
"range": {
"startIndex": 5,
"endIndex": 7
},
"name": "test3"
}
}
]
}