Formula delimiter differences on different locales

[seahindeniz]

Hi

I'm trying to append cells with hyperlink to a spreadsheet file by following the instructions here https://developers.google.com/sheets/api/reference/rest/v4/spreadsheets/cells#celldata

A hyperlink this cell points to, if any. This field is read-only. (To set it, use a =HYPERLINK formula in the userEnteredValue.formulaValue field.)

The problem is that some formulas has multiple parameters that delimited by comma. But delimiters are different on spreadsheet that has different locales- like Turkey as locale. The delimiter on Turkey locale has settled as semicolon not comma. I didn't check if delimiters are different on different locales.

After I tried to add link as formulaValue, the result looks like this on spreadsheet that has Turkey locale:

and this is from a spreadsheet that has United States locale:

Both spreadsheets has same formulas and only difference is just this (compared to a blank spreadsheet)

It's not like possible for me to track/identify all the configuration for delimiter on different locales. I just simply finding a way to generate hyperlink formula without having delimiter issues.

Environment details

• OS: Ubuntu 18.04
• Node.js version: v12.13.0
• npm version: 6.13.7
• googleapis version: ^48.0.0

Steps to reproduce

1. Have two different spreadsheets that has United States and Turkey locales.
2. Use following data to append cell with batchUpdate API

{
    "requests": [
        {
            "appendCells": {
                "fields": "*",
                "rows": [
                    {
                        "values": [
                            {
                                "userEnteredFormat": {},
                                "userEnteredValue": {
                                    "formulaValue": "=HYPERLINK('https://google.com','20006922')"
                                }
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                ],
                "sheetId": 111111
            }
        }
    ]
}

Making sure to follow these steps will guarantee the quickest resolution possible.

Thanks!

[bcoe]

👋 hey @seahindeniz, it sounds like this is most likely an issue with the upstream API, and not the client library. It might be worth also asking your question here.

[seahindeniz]

Sure, asked
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60834045/formula-delimiter-differences-on-different-locales

[JustinBeckwith]

Greetings! Can you tell if this is an issue with this library, or the upstream API? You can try this out by using the API Explorer here:
https://developers.google.com/sheets/api/reference/rest/v4/spreadsheets.values/batchUpdate

If this is a problem with the npm module, we can help here! If it's a problem with the API, you'd have to go here:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/new?component=191608&template=823916

Sorry for giving you the run around a bit :/ Big place, lots of issue trackers. I just want to make sure you're getting to the right place.

[seahindeniz]

Hi @JustinBeckwith

I can't decide which party is responsible for this issue and seems like I have already asked https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/152250499

In my opinion, it is not a good practice to keep track/collect delimiters for all available locales. There is simply a solution is needed for such cases

[JustinBeckwith]

Ahhh, I see - sorry that it got "Won't fix"'d 😦 It does seem like they had a good reason, and that the issue does appear to be on the back end. There's not much we can do for you here, so I'm closing this out. Sorry for the trouble!