7 ms·

Google Drive SDK

mtgx 14y ago
What has bothered me most about Google Drive lately, is that when I try to open an epub file from Drive, even if I make it available offline, it doesn't want to open the file in the selected book reader. Is that Google's fault or the book reader app's fault (it supports epub, obviously). This is on Android.
- bduerst 14y ago
  Was it working before it was set in offline mode?
  - mtgx 14y ago
    No, it never worked. Normally when you try to open something you get that Android dialog that asks you to choose an app. And I would assume it's supposed to work like that with the stuff from inside Google Drive since it's downloading them to the phone anyway, but it doesn't work like that. It tries to open it with the app, but doesn't.
    - mdwrigh2 14y ago
      It sounds like an app problem then.
    - bduerst 14y ago
      Just wondering why you specified offline mode. That is definitely the third party app problem.
jrajav 14y ago
They've had "DrEdit," a plain text editor, as their example Drive app for a while now. Kind of ironic, since you still can't edit plain text files in the vanilla Google Drive web app.
- timothya 14y ago
  By the Google Drive web app I assume you mean the Google Docs editor? In which case, yeah, you can only edit Google Docs type files in their editor. That's the point of this SDK - if you want to edit other types of files, you can build an app to do so.
  - toomuchtodo 14y ago
    So I could integrate a web-based IDE into Google Docs, and commit code directly from Google Docs onto a webserver? Awesome.
    - timothya 14y ago
      Sure. There are already several web-based IDEs that are integrated with Google Docs.
    - valhallarecords 14y ago
      check out https://neutron-drive.appspot.com/ https://neutron-drive.appspot.com/
  - jrajav 14y ago
    Well, 1) It clearly wouldn't be difficult for them to do this, or even to integrate it with the existing Docs editor. The Docs editor can already view them, in fact, so it's kind of baffling why they stopped short of editing. 2) It would be preferable for both usability and performance to have it integrated with Drive rather than as an external app. 3) The Android Drive app can already edit text files.
    - timothya 14y ago
      1) It might not be difficult, but that doesn't mean they should do it. I don't really think it's "baffling" why they wouldn't build a bunch of extra functionality that probably wouldn't be used by many people. Most people editing documents want a wysiwyg editor like Google Docs, from which they can always download the file in the plain text format. People who actually edit plain text files regularly (programmers and such) probably have a preferred editor that they use, and wouldn't really want to edit in a little <textarea>, unless you are proposing they build a more advanced text editor (I assume that's not what you mean though, you said it wouldn't be difficult). 2) Sure, but again, just because they can add a feature doesn't mean they should. 3) Interesting, I didn't know that. Maybe they are planning to add the feature after all. Another option of course is to use the Google Drive desktop program, and edit your plain text files locally, which will be synced to your Drive.
esolyt 14y ago
They should have released this immediately after they released Google Drive.
- Andrex 14y ago
  For the most part you could piggyback off the Google Docs API and SDKs if need be.
- Bakkot 14y ago
  It likely didn't exist yet. These things take time.
- reg29 14y ago
  Actually it was released a few months ago. The Google Apps Challenge 2012 [1] which started on June 5, is about apps built on top of it. [1] http://www.google.com/events/gadc2012/ http://www.google.com/events/gadc2012/
- erok89 14y ago
  They did... Google Drive Release: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-google-drive-yes-really.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-google-dr... Google Drive SDK release: http://googledevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-google-drive-and-google.html http://googledevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-goo...
  - McGlockenshire 14y ago
    The thing that they made available back then was for web applications only. This isn't.
taligent 14y ago
Sorry but Google Drive is by far the worst out of all online storage/sync providers. Crashes constantly for Mac users and has awful upload/download speeds. And they have made zero effort to do anything about it for over a year. You only have to look through the forum to see their commitment in general is pretty lax.
- RobAtticus 14y ago
  Google Drive has been out for less than half a year, not over a year. Also I've had more issues with Dropbox not syncing on Linux machines than I have with GDrive on OSX.
- davorak 14y ago
  Really I have used it since it came out and I can not remember it crashing once. Are the crashes caused perhaps by use cases I have not run into, large file, rapid updating or something else?
  - taligent 14y ago
    Nothing out of the ordinary. And crashing is one thing but how on earth does Google have such bad download/upload speeds. http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!categories/drive/report-a-problem http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!categories/drive/rep...
51Cards 14y ago
This is somewhat off topic but I have found it mildly humourous lately that Google is building self driving cars but they chose "Google Drive" as the name for a completely unrelated product.
- gyom 14y ago
  Especially given that there was a link about the self-driving cars right following that link on Google Drive. My brain just cognitively squished the two of them together and went "whoaa ... they're opening the SDK for the car stuff already !"
  - cpeterso 14y ago
    I'm disappointed. I thought the same thing.
- mtgx 14y ago
  Maybe they'll call that Google Self-Drive.
- rogerbinns 14y ago
  Not to mention what exactly a "drive" is! In the olden days we knew what physical thing a drive was, and DOS/Windows made sure people knew what a drive letter was. But nowadays who knows or cares. To complete this branding they should use a floppy disk logo, or maybe an Iomega Zip "drive". Insert obligatory rant about lack of Linux client.
  - dpark 14y ago
    Most PCs still have an optical drive. Everyone I know has a couple of usb thumb drives. I don't think people are struggling with the concept of a "drive".
    - rogerbinns 14y ago
      I see the optical drives (a very geeky name) being called "burners" instead at Dell and many people call the thumb drives "sticks". I'm not saying people don't use the "drive" terminology just that it is on its way out. Laptops have been outselling desktops for several years, and thin/light ones don't have burners. iPads have been a phenomenal success. Many people already don't distinguish between transient (RAM) and permanent (HD/Flash) memory. (And that distinction is only something that developers should have to care about anyway.) So while some people may be aware of drives, it will increasingly go the other way.
hndl 14y ago
(Slightly off-topic) What I feel gives Google Drive a leverage over Dropbox is the fact that it works within email. There isn't another place I need to go to share something. I just go to the place I am at and share. The people who I want to share with are already there. This works for well for both, Google's general audience as well as those SMBs that use Google mail for their work mail (read: with a domain, so it even layers a "group thing" there).
malkia 14y ago
Why no "C" api?

mtgx 14y ago

What has bothered me most about Google Drive lately, is that when I try to open an epub file from Drive, even if I make it available offline, it doesn't want to open the file in the selected book reader. Is that Google's fault or the book reader app's fault (it supports epub, obviously). This is on Android.

bduerst 14y ago
Was it working before it was set in offline mode?
- mtgx 14y ago
  No, it never worked. Normally when you try to open something you get that Android dialog that asks you to choose an app. And I would assume it's supposed to work like that with the stuff from inside Google Drive since it's downloading them to the phone anyway, but it doesn't work like that. It tries to open it with the app, but doesn't.
  - mdwrigh2 14y ago
    It sounds like an app problem then.
  - bduerst 14y ago
    Just wondering why you specified offline mode. That is definitely the third party app problem.

jrajav 14y ago

They've had "DrEdit," a plain text editor, as their example Drive app for a while now. Kind of ironic, since you still can't edit plain text files in the vanilla Google Drive web app.

timothya 14y ago
By the Google Drive web app I assume you mean the Google Docs editor? In which case, yeah, you can only edit Google Docs type files in their editor. That's the point of this SDK - if you want to edit other types of files, you can build an app to do so.
- toomuchtodo 14y ago
  So I could integrate a web-based IDE into Google Docs, and commit code directly from Google Docs onto a webserver? Awesome.
  - timothya 14y ago
    Sure. There are already several web-based IDEs that are integrated with Google Docs.
  - valhallarecords 14y ago
    check out https://neutron-drive.appspot.com/ https://neutron-drive.appspot.com/
- jrajav 14y ago
  Well, 1) It clearly wouldn't be difficult for them to do this, or even to integrate it with the existing Docs editor. The Docs editor can already view them, in fact, so it's kind of baffling why they stopped short of editing. 2) It would be preferable for both usability and performance to have it integrated with Drive rather than as an external app. 3) The Android Drive app can already edit text files.
  - timothya 14y ago
    1) It might not be difficult, but that doesn't mean they should do it. I don't really think it's "baffling" why they wouldn't build a bunch of extra functionality that probably wouldn't be used by many people. Most people editing documents want a wysiwyg editor like Google Docs, from which they can always download the file in the plain text format. People who actually edit plain text files regularly (programmers and such) probably have a preferred editor that they use, and wouldn't really want to edit in a little <textarea>, unless you are proposing they build a more advanced text editor (I assume that's not what you mean though, you said it wouldn't be difficult). 2) Sure, but again, just because they can add a feature doesn't mean they should. 3) Interesting, I didn't know that. Maybe they are planning to add the feature after all. Another option of course is to use the Google Drive desktop program, and edit your plain text files locally, which will be synced to your Drive.

esolyt 14y ago

They should have released this immediately after they released Google Drive.

Andrex 14y ago
For the most part you could piggyback off the Google Docs API and SDKs if need be.
Bakkot 14y ago
It likely didn't exist yet. These things take time.
reg29 14y ago
Actually it was released a few months ago. The Google Apps Challenge 2012 [1] which started on June 5, is about apps built on top of it. [1] http://www.google.com/events/gadc2012/ http://www.google.com/events/gadc2012/
erok89 14y ago
They did... Google Drive Release: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-google-drive-yes-really.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-google-dr... Google Drive SDK release: http://googledevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-google-drive-and-google.html http://googledevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-goo...
- McGlockenshire 14y ago
  The thing that they made available back then was for web applications only. This isn't.

taligent 14y ago

Sorry but Google Drive is by far the worst out of all online storage/sync providers. Crashes constantly for Mac users and has awful upload/download speeds. And they have made zero effort to do anything about it for over a year. You only have to look through the forum to see their commitment in general is pretty lax.

RobAtticus 14y ago
Google Drive has been out for less than half a year, not over a year. Also I've had more issues with Dropbox not syncing on Linux machines than I have with GDrive on OSX.
davorak 14y ago
Really I have used it since it came out and I can not remember it crashing once. Are the crashes caused perhaps by use cases I have not run into, large file, rapid updating or something else?
- taligent 14y ago
  Nothing out of the ordinary. And crashing is one thing but how on earth does Google have such bad download/upload speeds. http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!categories/drive/report-a-problem http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!categories/drive/rep...

51Cards 14y ago

This is somewhat off topic but I have found it mildly humourous lately that Google is building self driving cars but they chose "Google Drive" as the name for a completely unrelated product.

gyom 14y ago
Especially given that there was a link about the self-driving cars right following that link on Google Drive. My brain just cognitively squished the two of them together and went "whoaa ... they're opening the SDK for the car stuff already !"
- cpeterso 14y ago
  I'm disappointed. I thought the same thing.
mtgx 14y ago
Maybe they'll call that Google Self-Drive.
rogerbinns 14y ago
Not to mention what exactly a "drive" is! In the olden days we knew what physical thing a drive was, and DOS/Windows made sure people knew what a drive letter was. But nowadays who knows or cares. To complete this branding they should use a floppy disk logo, or maybe an Iomega Zip "drive". Insert obligatory rant about lack of Linux client.
- dpark 14y ago
  Most PCs still have an optical drive. Everyone I know has a couple of usb thumb drives. I don't think people are struggling with the concept of a "drive".
  - rogerbinns 14y ago
    I see the optical drives (a very geeky name) being called "burners" instead at Dell and many people call the thumb drives "sticks". I'm not saying people don't use the "drive" terminology just that it is on its way out. Laptops have been outselling desktops for several years, and thin/light ones don't have burners. iPads have been a phenomenal success. Many people already don't distinguish between transient (RAM) and permanent (HD/Flash) memory. (And that distinction is only something that developers should have to care about anyway.) So while some people may be aware of drives, it will increasingly go the other way.

hndl 14y ago

(Slightly off-topic) What I feel gives Google Drive a leverage over Dropbox is the fact that it works within email. There isn't another place I need to go to share something. I just go to the place I am at and share. The people who I want to share with are already there. This works for well for both, Google's general audience as well as those SMBs that use Google mail for their work mail (read: with a domain, so it even layers a "group thing" there).

malkia 14y ago

Why no "C" api?