Access anyone with a link on Google Spreadsheet through the API

Question

Try the following workflow:

• Create a Google spreadsheet. Set the ACL for "Anyone with a link"
• Get your key (https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=HEREISTHEKEY)
• Try accessing it using the HTTP API: https://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/HEREISTHEKEY/o6d/public/full (try also with private, not public)
• Get error 404

It seems that the Google Spreadsheet API does not allow you to access a private link from the API if you are not authenticated >, but maybe I'm wrong somewhere.

This is illogical because you do not need to register when accessing this spreadsheet from a browser.

Any thoughts (I will write a bug report)?

Thanks!

Answer 1

One thought, and I'm not sure if this applies to your situation, is that you can try to create a dummy Google account and associate your interface with the HTTP API using these dummy credentials. This is dirty, but it may work, since once you are logged in, you must authenticate. Right?

Answer 2

To have access to it through the API, you need to "publish" the table. You can do this through the file menu:

File > "Publish to the Web ..."

Then you can use it through the API with the URL you specify. I also had this problem!