Google App Engine provides a cloud computing platform for running scalable web applications and provides many APIs to help orchestrate business processes. Google Data APIs provides several ways to interact with Google's services. This talk will explore ways to automate business processes using Google App Engine specific APIs such as Task Queues and Backends coupled with Google Data APIs, specifically Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets.

1. Automating Business
with Google APIs
David Hodge
Thursday, March 7, 13

2. Thursday, March 7, 13

3. Thursday, March 7, 13

4. Thursday, March 7, 13

5. Thursday, March 7, 13

6. Dave & Bediako
We automate business processes
using cloud computing and
machine learning.
Thursday, March 7, 13

7. IAAS and PAAS
- Amazon, Google, Microsoft
- DevOps, NoOps, OOPs
- Beware single point of
failure - read SLAs
Thursday, March 7, 13

8. Google Docs Drive
• Google Docs API deprecated
• Google Drive Polyglot API - .NET, Java,
Dart, Go, GWT, Java, Javascript, Objective-
C, PHP, Python, Ruby
• ReSTful API - create and manage
documents
Thursday, March 7, 13

9. Google Spreadsheets
API
• Spreadsheets, Worksheets, List Row, Cell
• Create, Delete, Share
• List Based Feeds vs Cell Based Feeds
• Updating multiple cells with Batch
Thursday, March 7, 13

10. Google Spreadsheets
API
• Gotchas
• Queries - age > 25 and height < 175
Thursday, March 7, 13

11. Google Apps Scripts
• Javascript cloud scripting language
• Automate workflows
• Customize spreadsheets
• Schedule Tasks
• Save data using Spreadsheets, JDBC,
ScriptDB
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12. Google App Engine
Thursday, March 7, 13

13. Google App Engine
Backends
Thursday, March 7, 13

14. Google App Engine
Backends
Storing
Data
Thursday, March 7, 13

15. Google App Engine
Backends Blobstore
Storing
Data
Thursday, March 7, 13

16. Google App Engine
App
Backends Blobstore
Identity
Storing
Data
Thursday, March 7, 13

17. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing
Data
Thursday, March 7, 13

18. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing Capabilities
Data
Thursday, March 7, 13

19. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel
Data
Thursday, March 7, 13

20. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints
Data
Thursday, March 7, 13

21. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints
Data
Images
Thursday, March 7, 13

22. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints
Data
Images Logs
Thursday, March 7, 13

23. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints
Data
Images Logs Mail
Thursday, March 7, 13

24. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints
Data
Images Logs Mail
Memcache
Thursday, March 7, 13

25. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints
Data
Images Logs Mail
Memcache Multitenancy
Thursday, March 7, 13

26. Google App Engine
Google
App
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints
Data
Images Logs Mail
Memcache Multitenancy OAuth
Thursday, March 7, 13

27. Google App Engine
Google
App Prospective
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity Search
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints
Data
Images Logs Mail
Memcache Multitenancy OAuth
Thursday, March 7, 13

28. Google App Engine
Google
App Prospective
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity Search
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints Search
Data
Images Logs Mail
Memcache Multitenancy OAuth
Thursday, March 7, 13

29. Google App Engine
Google
App Prospective
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity Search
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints Search
Data
Task
Images Logs Mail
Queues
Memcache Multitenancy OAuth
Thursday, March 7, 13

30. Google App Engine
Google
App Prospective
Blobstore Cloud
Backends Identity Search
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints Search
Data
Task
Images Logs Mail
Queues
Memcache Multitenancy OAuth Users
Thursday, March 7, 13

31. Google App Engine
Google
App Prospective
Blobstore Cloud XMPP
Backends Identity Search
Storage
Storing Capabilities Channel Endpoints Search
Data
Task
Images Logs Mail
Queues
Memcache Multitenancy OAuth Users
Thursday, March 7, 13

32. One does not simply
Automate using Google
APIs
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33. How we build software
A Customer
has a nick name
has a full name
has a date of birth
has a social security number which is sensitive
can be viewed or created or changed by a customer service
representative
An Order
belongs to a Customer
has a description
can be viewed or created or changed by a customer service
representative
An Order Line Item is audited
belongs to an Order
has a description
has a price which is a number
can be viewed or created or changed by a customer service
representative
Dictation + Airlift on
Google App Engine
Thursday, March 7, 13

34. Current processes manual
and paper based for recording
line items for accounts
receivable and accounts
payable.
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35. Customer Widgets
Spreadsheets
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36. Widget Maker
Spreadsheets
Thursday, March 7, 13

37. Evolution One - Cron
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<cronentries>
<cron>
<url>/accounting/receivable</url>
<description>Process widgets sold for accounting line items</description>
<schedule>every day 12:30</schedule>
<timezone>America/New_York</timezone>
</cron>
<cron>
<url>/accounting/payable</url>
<description>Process line items for widget making workers</description>
<schedule>every day 03:30</schedule>
<timezone>America/New_York</timezone>
</cron>
</cronentries>
Thursday, March 7, 13

38. Evolution Two -
Backends
• Use Backends to process long lived
requests - No Request Deadlines
• Higher CPU up to 4.8GHz and Memory
limits - up to 1GB
• Also using Spreadsheet Batch
Thursday, March 7, 13

39. Evolution Two -
Backends
• Dynamic vs Resident - Dynamic Backends
become alive only on request and are
turned off when idle
Thursday, March 7, 13

40. Evolution Two -
Backends
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<cronentries>
<cron>
<backends> <url>/accounting/receivable</url>
<backend name="accounting"> <description>Process widgets sold for accounting line items</description>
<options> <schedule>every 20 minutes</schedule>
<dynamic>true</dynamic> <timezone>America/New_York</timezone>
<fail-fast>true</fail-fast> <target>accounting</target>
<class>B8</class> </cron>
</options> <cron>
</backend> <url>/accounting/payable</url>
</backends> <description>Process line items for widget making workers</description>
<schedule>every 40 minutes</schedule>
backends.xml <timezone>America/New_York</timezone>
<target>accounting</target>
</cron>
</cronentries>
cron.xml
Thursday, March 7, 13

41. Task Queues work discretely on a
unit of work
Push - processes tasks based on
rate configuration, auto scales
Pull - allows for specific time and
timeframe to run
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42. Task Push Config
<queue-entries>
<queue>
<name>fooqueue</name>
<rate>1/s</rate>
<bucket-size>40</bucket-size>
<max-concurrent-requests>1</max-concurrent-requests>
<retry-parameters>
<task-retry-limit>7</task-retry-limit>
<task-age-limit>2</task-age-limit>
</retry-parameters>
</queue>
<queue>
<name>barqueue</name>
<rate>1/s</rate>
<retry-parameters>
<min-backoff-seconds>10</min-backoff-seconds>
<max-backoff-seconds>200</max-backoff-seconds>
<max-doublings>0</max-doublings>
</retry-parameters>
</queue>
</queue-entries>
queue.xml
Thursday, March 7, 13

43. Task Queue Headers
• X-AppEngine-QueueName, the name of the queue (possibly default)
• X-AppEngine-TaskName, the name of the task, or a system-generated
unique ID if no name was specified
• X-AppEngine-TaskRetryCount, the number of times this task has
been retried; for the first attempt, this value is 0. This number includes
attempts where the task failed due to a lack of available instances and
never reached the execution phase.
• X-AppEngine-TaskExecutionCount, the number of times this task
has previously failed during the execution phase. This number does not
include failures due to a lack of available instances.
• X-AppEngine-TaskETA, the target execution time of the task, specified
in microseconds since January 1st 1970.
Thursday, March 7, 13

44. Task Push Queues
import com.google.appengine.api.taskqueue.Queue;
import com.google.appengine.api.taskqueue.QueueFactory;
import static com.google.appengine.api.taskqueue.TaskOptions.Builder.*;
//Discrete job for processing single widget to write customer line item
Queue queue = QueueFactory.getDefaultQueue();
queue.add(withUrl("/widgetorderforcustomerjob").param("widgetKey", key));
//Discrete job for processing single widget to write vendor line item
queue.add(withUrl("/widgetorderforvendorjob").param("widgetKey", key));
Thursday, March 7, 13

45. Automation Achieved
Google
Receivable Line Spreadsheet
Invoices
Items Job Line Items Per
Client
Google App
Google Docs
Engine
Google
Payable Line Spreadsheet
Payments
Items Job Line Items Per
Vendor
Thursday, March 7, 13

46. Experiment
Evolve
Architecture
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47. Support
• Google Plus Hangouts
• Google Forums
• Fellow Developers
Thursday, March 7, 13

48. Some More Tips
• Python: Bulk Loader Tool to download/
upload data - good for any flavor of GAE
• Get involved - NoOps doesn’t mean you
don’t have to know your technology stack
• https://github.com/LucidTechnics/google-
apps-util
• https://code.google.com/p/googleappengine/
wiki/WillItPlayInJava
Thursday, March 7, 13

49. “Using no way as a way,
having no limitation as limitation.”
- Bruce Lee
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50. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
Thursday, March 7, 13

51. David Hodge
@davezen1
Thursday, March 7, 13