arrays - If value is true in Column A, set Column C one higher

Question

I'm working on a script that uses a column of checkboxes in Column A, a list of names in column B, then a running total of how many times the checkboxes in column A have been checked for each name in column B.

I have the script running through the entire range A, looking for "True" statements (boxes that are checked) and applying the results to the cells in column C ... but it doesn't work quite right. Rather than increasing the value in cell C, I can only get it to set the value to 1, or to set the value to the entire string of result for column 1 + 1.

Here is the script so far:

function setValues() {
//Get the sheet you want to work with. 
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = ss.getSheetByName("Sheet1");
//Grab the entire Range, and grab whatever values you need from it. EX: rangevalues
var range = sheet.getRange("A1:A10");
var range2 = sheet.getRange("C1:C10");
var range2values = range2.getValues();
var rangevalues = range.getValues();
//Loops through range results
for (var i in rangevalues) {
 for (var j in rangevalues) {
 //Get the x,y location of the current cell.
     var x = parseInt(j, 10) + 1;
     var y = parseInt(i, 10) + 1;
 //Set the rules logic
    if (rangevalues[i][j] == 1) {
    //Set the cell 
       sheet.getRange(y,x+2).setValue(range2values+1);
   }
  }
 }
}

There will be a little more to the script to tell it when to run and to clear out the checkboxes after each time the script is run, but those I will add at the end once I have this part figured out:

How do I increment each cell in column C by 1 only if the box is checked next to the corresponding name?

Answer 1

Array Structure:

A1:A4 rangeValues will look like this:

[
[A1],
[A2],
[A3],
[A4]
   ]

rangeValues[0] is the array:

[A1]

rangeValues[1] is the array:

[A2]

rangeValues[0][0] is the element/value:

A1

rangeValues[0][1] is value:

undefined

A1:B4 rangeValues will look like this:

[
[A1,B1],
[A2,B2],
[A3,B3],
[A4,B4]
     ]

Now,
rangeValues[0] is array:

[A1,B1]

rangeValues[0][0] is element/value:

A1

rangeValues[0][1] is element/value:

B1

Arrays are indexed by rows and then columns starting with zero.

---

For A1:A10 rangeValues, You'll need to loop 10 times over each value in array. When you use,

for (var i in rangevalues) {
 for (var j in rangevalues) {

You're essentially looping 10*10 times unnecessarily: If you use Logger.log("rangevalues["+i+"]["+j+"] is:"+rangevalues[i][j]) inside this loop,You'll get these logs:

[--Time--:473] rangevalues[0][0] is:false
[--Time--:473] rangevalues[0][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:474] rangevalues[0][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:475] rangevalues[0][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:476] rangevalues[0][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:476] rangevalues[0][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:477] rangevalues[0][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:478] rangevalues[0][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:479] rangevalues[0][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:479] rangevalues[0][9] is:undefined
[--Time--:480] rangevalues[1][0] is:
[--Time--:481] rangevalues[1][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:481] rangevalues[1][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:482] rangevalues[1][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:483] rangevalues[1][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:484] rangevalues[1][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:484] rangevalues[1][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:485] rangevalues[1][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:486] rangevalues[1][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:486] rangevalues[1][9] is:undefined
[--Time--:487] rangevalues[2][0] is:false
[--Time--:488] rangevalues[2][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:488] rangevalues[2][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:489] rangevalues[2][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:490] rangevalues[2][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:490] rangevalues[2][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:491] rangevalues[2][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:492] rangevalues[2][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:492] rangevalues[2][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:493] rangevalues[2][9] is:undefined
[--Time--:494] rangevalues[3][0] is:
[--Time--:495] rangevalues[3][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:495] rangevalues[3][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:496] rangevalues[3][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:497] rangevalues[3][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:498] rangevalues[3][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:498] rangevalues[3][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:499] rangevalues[3][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:500] rangevalues[3][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:501] rangevalues[3][9] is:undefined
[--Time--:501] rangevalues[4][0] is:
[--Time--:502] rangevalues[4][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:503] rangevalues[4][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:503] rangevalues[4][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:504] rangevalues[4][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:505] rangevalues[4][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:506] rangevalues[4][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:506] rangevalues[4][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:507] rangevalues[4][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:507] rangevalues[4][9] is:undefined
[--Time--:508] rangevalues[5][0] is:
[--Time--:509] rangevalues[5][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:509] rangevalues[5][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:510] rangevalues[5][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:511] rangevalues[5][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:512] rangevalues[5][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:512] rangevalues[5][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:513] rangevalues[5][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:514] rangevalues[5][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:515] rangevalues[5][9] is:undefined
[--Time--:515] rangevalues[6][0] is:
[--Time--:516] rangevalues[6][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:517] rangevalues[6][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:517] rangevalues[6][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:518] rangevalues[6][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:519] rangevalues[6][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:519] rangevalues[6][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:520] rangevalues[6][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:521] rangevalues[6][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:522] rangevalues[6][9] is:undefined
[--Time--:522] rangevalues[7][0] is:
[--Time--:523] rangevalues[7][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:524] rangevalues[7][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:524] rangevalues[7][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:525] rangevalues[7][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:525] rangevalues[7][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:526] rangevalues[7][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:527] rangevalues[7][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:527] rangevalues[7][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:528] rangevalues[7][9] is:undefined
[--Time--:529] rangevalues[8][0] is:
[--Time--:529] rangevalues[8][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:530] rangevalues[8][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:531] rangevalues[8][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:531] rangevalues[8][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:532] rangevalues[8][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:533] rangevalues[8][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:533] rangevalues[8][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:534] rangevalues[8][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:535] rangevalues[8][9] is:undefined
[--Time--:535] rangevalues[9][0] is:true //A10 box is checked
[--Time--:536] rangevalues[9][1] is:undefined
[--Time--:536] rangevalues[9][2] is:undefined
[--Time--:537] rangevalues[9][3] is:undefined
[--Time--:538] rangevalues[9][4] is:undefined
[--Time--:538] rangevalues[9][5] is:undefined
[--Time--:539] rangevalues[9][6] is:undefined
[--Time--:539] rangevalues[9][7] is:undefined
[--Time--:540] rangevalues[9][8] is:undefined
[--Time--:541] rangevalues[9][9] is:undefined

Since you're just getting a single column,you only need to loop over this once. In other words, the only valid j in your loop is [0]. Everything else is undefined.

Next,

sheet.getRange(y,x+2).setValue(range2values+1);

Here, range2values is array. You need to add value to corresponding value. Hence, this might work:

sheet.getRange(y,x+2).setValue(range2values[i][j]+1);

However, It's not good practice to use setValue() as you'll be writing value to the spreadsheet 100 times,which is costly. Always use batch operations- Create a output array and use setValues() instead.

---

Modified Script:

//@OnlyCurrentDoc
function setValues() {
  //Get the sheet you want to work with. 
  var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  var sheet = ss.getSheetByName("Sheet1");
  //Grab the entire Range, and grab whatever values you need from it. EX: rangevalues
  var range = sheet.getRange("A1:A10");
  var range2 = sheet.getRange("C1:C10");
  var range2values = range2.getValues();
  var rangevalues = range.getValues();
  //Loops through range results
  for (var i in rangevalues) {
    // for (var j in rangevalues) {
    
    Logger.log("rangevalues["+i+"]["+0+"] is:"+rangevalues[i][0]);//Added
    
    //Get the x,y location of the current cell.
    //    var x = parseInt(j, 10) + 1;
    //    var y = parseInt(i, 10) + 1;
    //Set the rules logic
    if (rangevalues[i][0] == true) { //Modified
      //Set the cell 
      range2values[i][0] += 1; //Directly add 1 to range2values
      Logger.log(range2values);//Added
    }
  }
  range2.setValues(range2values);//Added; Set the modified range2values back to range2(Column C)
}

---

Further Reading:

• Arrays
• Array Iteration
• Basic Reading
• TroubleShooting
• Best Practices
• Edit Trigger
• Loop Benchmarks
• Loop differences