GAP Check App Ads Content

A Google Apps Script-based monitoring library that validates remote app-ads.txt content from Google Sheets and dispatches change alerts to Telegram or Slack.

Important

This repository is built for Google Apps Script runtime and is designed to execute inside a Google Spreadsheet-bound script project.

Table of Contents

• Title and Description
• Features
• Tech Stack & Architecture
  • Core Stack
  • Project Structure
  • Key Design Decisions
• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
• Testing
• Deployment
• Usage
  • 1) Validate app-ads.txt content
  • 2) Notify changes to Telegram
  • 3) Notify changes to Slack
• Configuration
  • Spreadsheet Schema
  • Script Constants
  • Execution Triggers
• License
• Contacts & Community Support

Features

• Batch-validates app-ads.txt endpoints listed in a spreadsheet.
• Uses HTTP status-aware fetch logic (200 pass-through, non-200 status reporting).
• Compares expected text lines against remote content with newline-based parsing.
• Tracks per-row validation status in a dedicated output column.
• Detects status deltas between the current and prior execution snapshots.
• Supports Telegram alerting via Bot API integration.
• Supports Slack alerting via Incoming Webhook integration.
• Minimizes write operations with batched setValues for history updates.
• Uses idempotent comparison flow (newStatus vs oldStatus) to reduce noise.
• Handles fetch exceptions and logs runtime errors for observability.

Note

The checker logic reads expected directives from one cell and splits by newline (\n), allowing each expected app-ads.txt rule to be maintained on a separate line.

Tech Stack & Architecture

Core Stack

• Runtime: Google Apps Script (V8 JavaScript runtime).
• Host Application: Google Sheets (bound-script execution model).
• Core APIs:
  • SpreadsheetApp for tabular I/O.
  • UrlFetchApp for HTTP requests.
  • Logger for execution logs.
• External Integrations:
  • Telegram Bot API (sendMessage).
  • Slack Incoming Webhooks.

Project Structure

.
├── checkAppAdsContent.gs             # Core validator: fetch and verify app-ads.txt lines
├── SHEETSmonitorChangesAndNotify.gs  # Change detector + Telegram notifier
├── SLACKmonitorChangesAndNotify.gs   # Change detector + Slack notifier
└── LICENSE                           # Apache License 2.0

Key Design Decisions

• Spreadsheet-first orchestration: configuration and state history are stored directly in sheet columns for non-developer operability.
• Separation of concerns: validation and notification logic are split into distinct scripts for maintainability.
• Diff-based notifications: alerts only trigger when status transitions are detected.
• Batch writes: status history updates are buffered to reduce Apps Script API calls.

flowchart TD
    A[Time-driven Trigger] --> B[checkAppAdsContent]
    B --> C[Read B:C from sheet]
    C --> D[Fetch app-ads.txt URLs]
    D --> E[Compare expected lines]
    E --> F[Write status to column D]

    A --> G[monitorChangesAndNotify*]
    G --> H[Read A, D, E columns]
    H --> I{newStatus != oldStatus?}
    I -- No --> J[Skip]
    I -- Yes --> K[Send Telegram/Slack message]
    K --> L[Update column E with newStatus]

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Tip

Keep validation and notification functions on separate time-based triggers. This allows independent schedule tuning (e.g., run validation every 15 minutes, notifications every 5 minutes).

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Google account with access to Google Sheets.
• A spreadsheet containing monitoring rows.
• Google Apps Script editor access.
• For Telegram alerts:
  • Bot token from BotFather.
  • Target chat ID.
• For Slack alerts:
  • Slack Incoming Webhook URL.

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/<your-org>/GAP_checkAppAdsContent.git
cd GAP_checkAppAdsContent

2. Create or open your target Google Spreadsheet.
3. Open Extensions → Apps Script.
4. Copy script contents from:
   • checkAppAdsContent.gs
   • SHEETSmonitorChangesAndNotify.gs
   • SLACKmonitorChangesAndNotify.gs
5. Save the project.
6. Replace secrets/constants in notifier scripts (TELEGRAM_TOKEN, CHAT_ID, SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL).
7. Configure time-driven triggers for your selected functions.

Warning

The repository stores placeholder credentials. Never commit real secrets into version control. Use Apps Script Properties Service for production-grade secret management.

Testing

This project is script-runtime-centric (Google Apps Script), so validation is primarily done through Apps Script execution logs and sheet-state assertions.

Recommended checks:

# Optional static syntax check if clasp is configured
clasp pull

# Review repository status before deployment
git status

Runtime validation checklist:

1. Execute checkAppAdsContent manually once from Apps Script editor.
2. Verify column D is populated with one of:
   • Valid
   • Missing: ...
   • Error: HTTP <code>
   • Error: <message>
3. Execute monitorChangesAndNotify (Telegram) or monitorChangesAndNotifySlack (Slack).
4. Confirm outbound alert delivery and that column E mirrors new status values.

Caution

If column E is manually edited or cleared, the next notifier run may generate a notification burst because all rows appear as changed.

Deployment

Production deployment options:

• Bound script in Google Sheets (recommended): easiest operational model for spreadsheet-driven workflows.
• Versioned Apps Script deployments: create immutable versions for rollback safety.
• CI-assisted sync with clasp: push script changes from GitHub workflows to Apps Script project (advanced).

Suggested production workflow:

1. Update code in Git.
2. Run peer review.
3. Sync to Apps Script project.
4. Create a versioned deployment.
5. Monitor execution logs and quota usage.

Example Dockerized CI helper for clasp-based pipelines:

# docker-compose.yml (example)
services:
  clasp:
    image: node:20-alpine
    working_dir: /repo
    volumes:
      - ./:/repo
    command: sh -c "npm i -g @google/clasp && clasp push"

Note

For enterprise environments, prefer non-interactive auth with dedicated service credentials and secure secret injection from your CI platform.

Usage

1) Validate app-ads.txt content

function runValidation() {
  // Reads URLs from column B and expected directives from column C
  // Writes validation status to column D
  checkAppAdsContent();
}

Expected behavior:

• Every row is fetched from URL in column B.
• Expected rules in column C are split by newline.
• Missing lines are aggregated into a single status message.

2) Notify changes to Telegram

function runTelegramMonitor() {
  // Compares current status (D) against previous status snapshot (E)
  // Sends Telegram alerts only when a row transitions
  monitorChangesAndNotify();
}

3) Notify changes to Slack

function runSlackMonitor() {
  // Compares status deltas and emits Slack webhook notifications
  monitorChangesAndNotifySlack();
}

Configuration

Spreadsheet Schema

Column	Purpose	Required	Example
A	Site URL / Display label for notifications	Yes	https://example.com
B	app-ads.txt URL to fetch	Yes	https://example.com/app-ads.txt
C	Expected lines (\n separated)	Yes	google.com, pub-123, DIRECT
D	Current validation status (managed by script)	Yes	Valid
E	Previous status snapshot (managed by notifier)	Yes	Valid

Script Constants

• In SHEETSmonitorChangesAndNotify.gs:
  • TELEGRAM_TOKEN
  • CHAT_ID
• In SLACKmonitorChangesAndNotify.gs:
  • SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL
• In all scripts:
  • sheetName (currently test1)

Execution Triggers

Recommended schedule:

• checkAppAdsContent: every 15-60 minutes.
• monitorChangesAndNotify / monitorChangesAndNotifySlack: every 5-15 minutes.

Important

Keep trigger frequency within Google Apps Script quotas and external API rate limits.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for full legal terms.

Contacts & Community Support

Support the Project

If you find this tool useful, consider leaving a star on GitHub or supporting the author directly.