Limit the frequency of calls to onEdit - google-sheets

Question

I wrote some scripts using the script editor to automate some google spread-sheet tasks.
I would like to do a few things after the user interacts with my users sheets, .e.g update some background sheets that start with _.
I wrote the following:
function onEdit(e){
var range = e.range;
if (e.source.getActiveSheet().getName()[0]!='_'){
//It is an user edit!
UpdateOtherHiddenTables()
}
};
My problem is that UpdateOtherHiddenTables() takes quite a while, like 2 mins, and it is triggered on any user edit so it is not ideal.
How would you make sure that after a user has interacted with a sheet, that UpdateOtherHiddenTables() is called, but not too often?

Answer 1

I would use Script properties in combination with a timed trigger. The on-Edit trigger only records the fact that the Spreadsheet was edited:
function recordEdit() {
var sp = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
sp.setProperty("edited", "yes");
}
This function needs to be run by an installable trigger, simple onEdit won't provide the authorization necessary to modify script properties.
The UpdateOtherHiddenTables function is set to run every 10 minutes, or every hour, or whatever interval you want. It checks whether a refresh is needed.
function UpdateOtherHiddenTables() {
var sp = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
if (sp.getProperty("edited") == "yes") {
// update stuff
sp.setProperty("edited", "no");
}
}
By the way: onEdit is only triggered by user edits. A script changing the values in a spreadsheet will not fire that trigger.
I'm using string values instead of Boolean, because Properties stringifies everything. Storing false gets you back the string "false", which is truthy...