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Google Forms API Essential Guide

Jul 21, 20246 minute read

What type of API does Google Forms provide?

The Google Forms API uses a REST API. The API documentation refers to "REST Resource" endpoints for forms, responses, and watches. To interact with the Google Forms API, developers are recommended to use Google-provided client libraries, which are designed to work with the REST API.

Does the Google Forms API have webhooks?

Availability of Webhooks

The official Google Forms API supports webhooks, referred to as "push notifications".

Types of Events You Can Subscribe To

The Google Forms API offers two categories of events for subscription:

  1. EventType.SCHEMA: Notifies about edits to a form's content and settings.

  2. EventType.RESPONSES: Notifies when form responses (new and updated) are submitted.

How Webhooks Work in Google Forms API

  • Notifications are delivered to a Cloud Pub/Sub topic, usually within minutes of the change.

  • To receive push notifications, set up a Cloud Pub/Sub topic and provide that topic's name when creating a watch for the appropriate event type.

  • A "watch" instructs the Forms API to deliver notifications for a particular event type on a specific form to a target (Cloud Pub/Sub topic).

  • Watches last for a week and can be extended before expiration by making a request to watches.renew().

  • Your Cloud Pub/Sub topic only receives notifications about forms that you can view with the supplied credentials.

Key Considerations

  • A Cloud Pub/Sub topic is required to receive notifications.

  • Watches need to be renewed weekly to continue receiving notifications.

  • Notifications are only sent for forms that the authenticated user has permission to view.

Rate Limits and other limitations

Here are the key API rate limits for the Google Forms API:

Read Requests

  • Per day per project: Unlimited
  • Per minute per project: 975
  • Per minute per user per project: 390

Expensive Read Requests (for forms.responses.list)

  • Per day per project: Unlimited
  • Per minute per project: 450
  • Per minute per user per project: 180

Write Requests

  • Per day per project: Unlimited
  • Per minute per project: 375
  • Per minute per user per project: 150

Key Points

  • If you exceed a quota, you'll receive a 429 "Too Many Requests" HTTP status code.

  • You should implement exponential backoff if you hit rate limits.

  • There are no daily limits, only per-minute limits.

  • Form watches have additional limits beyond these general API limits.

  • All usage of the Google Forms API is available at no additional cost.

Best Practices

  • Stay within the per-minute quotas to avoid hitting limits.

  • Implement proper error handling and backoff for 429 errors.

  • Consider batching requests when possible to reduce API calls.

  • Monitor your usage to ensure you stay within limits.

  • Request a quota increase if needed for higher volume projects.

The API rate limits help ensure fair usage across all users while protecting Google's systems. By staying within these limits and implementing proper error handling, you can reliably use the Forms API for your applications.

Latest API Version

Based on the search results provided, here are the key points regarding the most recent version of the Google Forms API:

  1. The Google Forms API is currently in version 1 (v1). This is evident from the REST resource documentation which shows "v1.forms" as the current version.

  2. The Google Forms API became generally available on March 17, 2022. This indicates that v1 is the first stable, production-ready version of the API.

  3. There is also a v1beta version mentioned in the documentation, which likely refers to a beta or preview version of the API that coexists with the stable v1 release.

  4. The API service is identified as "forms.googleapis.com".

  5. The documentation does not mention any newer versions (such as v2) being in development or released.

To summarize, the most recent version of the Google Forms API is v1, which became generally available on March 17, 2022. This appears to be the current stable version of the API as of the latest information provided in the search results.

It's worth noting that Google regularly updates its APIs, so it's always a good idea to check the official Google Forms API documentation for the most up-to-date information on versions and features.

How to get a Google Forms developer account and API Keys?

To get a developer account for Google Forms API integration:

  1. Set up a Google Cloud project
  • Go to the Google Cloud Console [console.cloud.google.com]
  • Create a new project or select an existing one
  • Enable the Google Forms API for your project
  1. Configure OAuth consent
  • Set up the OAuth consent screen in the Google Cloud Console
  • Add the necessary scopes for the Forms API (e.g. forms.responses.readonly, forms.body.readonly)
  1. Create credentials
  • In the Google Cloud Console, create OAuth 2.0 client ID credentials
  • Choose the appropriate application type (web, desktop, etc.)
  • Download the client configuration file
  1. Install client libraries
  • Install the Google Forms API client library for your programming language
  1. Authenticate and authorize your application
  • Use the client library to implement OAuth 2.0 authorization flow
  • Obtain access tokens to make API requests

Key points:

  • You'll need a Google account to access the Google Cloud Console
  • Carefully review the OAuth consent screen settings and scopes
  • Securely store your client credentials
  • Follow Google's API usage guidelines and quotas

Best practices:

  • Use service accounts for server-to-server integrations
  • Implement token refresh and error handling
  • Test your integration thoroughly before deploying to production

What can you do with the Google Forms API?

Here's a list of data models you can interact with using the Google Forms API, along with what is possible for each:

Form

  • Create a new form
  • Update an existing form
  • Retrieve form content and metadata
  • Set form settings (e.g. isQuiz, allowResponseEdits)
  • Apply custom themes and styling

Item

  • Add new items to a form (questions, text, images, videos, etc.)
  • Update existing items
  • Reorder items
  • Delete items

Question

  • Create different types of questions (multiple choice, short answer, etc.)
  • Set question properties (required, points, etc.)
  • Add answer options for multiple choice questions
  • Set correct answers for quiz questions

QuestionGroupItem

  • Create question groups (e.g. grid questions)
  • Add questions to a group
  • Set shared answer options for the group

PageBreakItem

  • Add page breaks to create multi-page forms
  • Set conditional logic to show/hide pages based on answers

FormResponse

  • Retrieve form responses
  • Get individual answer data
  • Access metadata like submission time

Answer

  • Get answer content for each question
  • Access grade information for quiz answers

Watch

  • Set up push notifications for form changes or new responses
  • Manage notification settings

Key capabilities:

  • Dynamic form creation and updates
  • Retrieving and analyzing response data
  • Quiz functionality with grading
  • Conditional logic and multi-page forms
  • Customizing form appearance
  • Integrating forms into apps/websites
  • Automating workflows with form data

The API provides programmatic access to most form creation and management capabilities available in the Google Forms UI, allowing for powerful integrations and automations.