Can you write a Google Sheets function that draws something? - google-sheets

Question

Is it possible to write your own custom function in google sheets script that returns a drawn image, similar to how the SPARKLINE function works, except I want to make one that draws a pie chart instead.
I do not want to use Insert > Chart... > Pie Chart because that creates a floating chart on top of the spreadsheet. I would like to be able to write my own function that would return a pie chart that is embedded within the cell that the function is entered in, just like you can do with columns, bars, and line charts using sparkline.

Answer 1

How about following idea? This sample script embeds a chart to a cell using custom function on Spreadsheet. I think that this method is one of various ideas.
Problems :
When you want to create a chart and embed it to a cell using custom functions, you notice that insertChart() cannot be used. There are some limitations for using custom functions. But insertChart() creates floating charts. So in order to embed a chart to a cell, the function =IMAGE() is suitable for this situation. Here, setFormula() for setting =IMAGE() and DriveApp.createFile() for creating images from charts also cannot be used for custom functions.
Solution :
In order to avoid these limitations, I used Web Apps.
To use this sample script, please deploy Web Apps as follows.
On the Script Editor,
File
-> Manage Versions
-> Save New Version
Publish
-> Deploy as Web App
-> At Execute the app as, select "your account"
-> At Who has access to the app, select "Anyone, even anonymous"
-> Click "Deploy"
-> Copy "Current web app URL"
-> Click "OK"
When it deploys Web Apps, the approval required authorization can be done, simultaneously.
Sample Script :
Please copy and paste this script to a bound script of spreadsheet.
var folderId = "### Folder ID ###"; // This is a folder to save images.
var webappsurl = "https://script.google.com/macros/s/######/exec"; // Here, please put "Current web app URL".
function embedChart(range) {
var ac = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getActiveCell();
var q1 = "?datarange=" + range;
var q2 = "&row=" + ac.getRow();
var q3 = "&col=" + ac.getColumn();
var url = webappsurl + q1 + q2 + q3;
UrlFetchApp.fetch(url);
}
function doGet(e) {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var chart = sheet.newChart()
.setChartType(Charts.ChartType.PIE)
.addRange(sheet.getRange(e.parameters.datarange))
.setOption('height', 280)
.setOption('width', 480)
.setOption('title', 'Sample chart')
.build();
var file = DriveApp.getFolderById(folderId).createFile(
chart.getAs('image/png').setName("chart_image.png")
);
file.setSharing(DriveApp.Access.ANYONE_WITH_LINK, DriveApp.Permission.VIEW);
sheet.getRange(e.parameters.row, e.parameters.col).setFormula(
'=IMAGE("' + "http://drive.google.com/uc?id=" + file.getId() + '")'
);
}
Flow of Script :
embedChart()
Input =embedChart("a2:a6") in cell B7.
Using fetch(), sends data of a2:a6 and the inputted coordinate to doGet().
doGet()
Using doGet(), get the data.
Creates a chart using inputted range a2:a6. (in this case, creates a pie chart)
Saves a chart as an image. (in this case, saves as PNG)
Updates a permission of the image file to use for =IMAGE().
Embeds the image using =IMAGE() which was imported by setFormula().
Result :
By inputting =embedChart("a2:a6") in cell B7 as a custom function, following result can be obtained.
Note :
When the custom function embedChart() is used, loading time is about 40 seconds. (I don't know whether this occurs at only my environment.)
Permissions of the created image are ANYONE_WITH_LINK, VIEW.
embedChart() is overwritten by =IMAGE(). So when the spreadsheet is reopened, the response of =IMAGE() is much faster than that of embedChart().
If I misunderstand your question, I'm sorry.