In this conclusion of our two-part series on field masks, engineer Wesley Chun shows viewers how to use field masks with update API requests. In the previous episode, you learned that when reading data from an API, field masks can be used as a “partial response” mechanism to control the amount of data that comes back in the response payload. For update requests, field masks have a different responsibility: to tell the API exactly which fields should be set (and perhaps which should be reset). We’ll conclude with tips to remember when using field masks for either API request type, including a double example where field masks not only designate values to update but also control the data returned in the API response. Also featured are JavaScript & Python code snippets for using field masks with the Google Sheets & Slides APIs.
Related links for this episode:
Blog post -
Updating spreadsheets field masks guide -
Field masks and Protocol Buffers documentation page -
Slides API field mask guide (READ+WRITE) -
“Setting up new Google API projects” DevByte video -
Google Developers Console -
Google APIs Client Libraries -
“Common Python code walkthrough” DevByte video -
G Suite Dev Show video series playlist -
Launchpad Online developer video series -
Google Developers YouTube channel -