Building Memeo Connect with Google

Using Google Document List APIs to build Memeo Connect for Google Docs

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 | 11:26 AM
** From the Google Apps Developer Blog

Building Memeo Connect™ for Google Docs

Editor's Note: This post was written by our partner Memeo, a digital media management company. Memeo Connect™ for Google Docs enhances Google Docs capabilities. We invited Memeo to share their experiences building an application on top of Google Apps utilizing some of our APIs. Other partners will share their experiences in future posts. 

Hi I'm Matthew Tonkin, Mac Applications Architect at Memeo.  Google has been a great partner in helping us bring Memeo Connect to market.  We're excited about the new additions to the Google Documents List API's and the products we've been working on for them.

Google Apps  is a great way for businesses to share and collaborate on documents, but more importantly, it has allowed businesses to move much of their office and IT infrastructure online for dramatic operating cost reductions.  Until recently, Google Docs users had no way of uploading, storing, syncing and sharing files of any type.  The big news is that Google Docs now supports all file types and there are Documents List API's to prove it.  January saw the release of the updated Documents List API with this new arbitrary file support, but no desktop client software to manage file syncing between the desktop and the cloud.  Memeo Connect for Google Apps is that missing link.  Memeo set out to bridge Google Docs cloud storage with desktop software.  A simple goal that has big implications for where users store documents and how they are shared.  

The end result is a desktop application that is fully supported by Google Docs for online storage, synchronization, sharing and data management. With Memeo Connect, instant access to your important documents while online or offline is now very possible. Memeo Connect is available on both Windows and Mac platforms.

Our timeline for Memeo Connect was 'impossibly' short due to Google’s aggressive timeline for launch. How did we do it?  Apart from the obvious late nights, junk food and beer, we received help from Google to take this product from concept to reality.  Some of it came in the form of new API's, some directly from the Documents List API team, some from the client libraries and some from the discussion groups.

1. Keeping native file formats

Google Docs now supports keeping files in their native format.  Previously Microsoft Office files and images were converted to the online Google Document formats, removing much of the application specific formatting options used in the Office file formats.  However, it's now possible to upload Microsoft Office files and images without conversion, meaning users can keep all of their custom file formatting.

You can get all of this with a simple parameter in the post URL when uploading the new document.

Google Documents List API https://docs.google.com/feeds/default/private/full?convert=false

If like us, you use the client libraries, then it's just as easy.

Google Data Objective-C client library** NSURL *uploadURL = [[mDocListFeed postLink] URL]; GDataQueryDocs *uploadQuery = [GDataQueryDocs queryWithFeedURL:uploadURL]; [uploadQuery setShouldConvertUpload:NO];

Google Data .NET client library string uploadURL = DocumentsListQuery.documentsBaseUri + "?convert=false"; docService.StreamSend(new Uri(uploadURL), fileStreamHandle, GDataRequestType.Insert, contentType, docTitle);

The new features don't just handle Microsoft Office files.  Any file type is supported with no additional parameters or changes to client code, however the support for these features is only available through the Google Documents List API for users that have a Premier account.

2. Bigger file size limits and resumable uploads

Google Docs now supports file uploads up to 1GB and is resumable, so failed or paused uploads can pick up where they left off.

Google Documents List API http://code.google.com/apis/documents/docs/3.0/developers_guide_protocol.html#ResumableUpload Resumable post link: resumable-create-media" type="application/atom+xml"     href="https://docs.google.com/feeds/upload/create-session/default/private/full"/> Request: POST /feeds/upload/create-session/default/private/full HTTP/1.1 Host: docs.google.com GData-Version: 3.0 Authorization: Content-Length: 0 Content-Type: application/pdf Slug: MyTitle X-Upload-Content-Type: application/pdf X-Upload-Content-Length: 1234567 Resuming: POST HTTP/1.1 Host: docs.google.com Content-Length: 100000 Content-Type: application/pdf Content-Range: bytes 0-99999/1234567

Google Data Objective-C client library** Resumable uploads are automatically enabled when switching to the uploadLink URL NSURL *uploadURL = [[mDocListFeed uploadLink] URL]; GDataQueryDocs * uploadQuery = [GDataQueryDocs queryWithFeedURL:uploadURL]; Pausing and resuming uploads is also made easy. [mUploadTicket pauseUpload]; [mUploadTicket resumeUpload];

Google Data .NET client library ResumableUploader resumableUploader = new ResumableUploader(); if (newFile)     resumableUploader.Insert(authentication, docEntry); else if (partialFile)     resumableUploader.Resume(authentication, resumeUri, httpMethod, fileStream, cotentType); else if (updateExistingFile)     resumableUploader.Update(authentication, docEntry);

** Objective-C code samples have been taken from the Docs Sample code

3. Client Libraries for Mac & Windows

The Google Documents List API provides all of the backend server functionality but isn't ideal for rapid client application development.  As client developers, we prefer the efficiencies provided by a wrapper in our native client languages.  This is where the client libraries for Objective-C and .NET allowed us to shorten our application development time significantly.  Without the client libraries, we simply would not have been able to achieve our goals for Memeo Connect in the time we had available.

Many of the Documents List API features we worked with in our early development were not available through the client libraries.  This was initially quite daunting because of the risk that we would have to drop down to raw server calls and miss out on the efficiencies we gained through using the client libraries.  However as we got to know the client libraries better, we found they were written flexibly enough that we never had to do that - there was always a way to bend them enough to get what we needed.  A sign of great design by their architects.

For example uploading without conversion was simple in the Objective-C client library even before it was officially updated to support it.

NSURL *uploadURL = [[mDocListFeed postLink] URL]; GDataQueryDocs *uploadQuery = [GDataQueryDocs queryWithFeedURL:uploadURL]; [uploadQuery addCustomParameterWithName:@"convert" value:@"false"];

4. Support from Google

The Documents List API team were of enormous help throughout the course of this project.  As with most of Google's public API's, there's always an avenue to ask questions about how to best use the technology, pursue bugs or request new features.  The new Google Apps Discussion Groups are simply the best way to get an answer quickly and is invaluable in getting past whatever is blocking your progress. Google Developer Relations people monitor the discussion groups and frequently answer questions, link to other relevant resources, and provide code samples.

What's next?

We had a sizable list of things we really wanted to do with Memeo Connect 1.0 and some of that had to wait for 1.x or 2.0.  We're looking forward to continuing to work with Google and file as many feature requests as we can to make some of these new features a reality.  Anyone can file a feature request for Google Apps API's and I can assure you they all get considered.

In future releases we'll be adding more support for direct file system integration, better tools to manage sharing and we're really excited about supporting new devices.  Get ready to see more Google Docs in more places.

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