Here’s a snippet you can add to automatically refresh a cell that performs an IMPORTXML() lookup.
Key components - you need a blank cell somewhere in your Google Sheet that we can use for cache-busting.
For the example, let’s say it’s J24. Make sure J24 isn’t occupied by data. We’re going to write a random number to this field.
Next, create a cell that holds the URL you are fetching.
Important: format it like so: ="http://example.com/xmlfeed#"&J24
Note the trailing hash sign - that is just a throwaway parameter that we’ll use to refresh.
Now add the following in the script editor as a timed trigger.
/**
* From: http://stackoverflow.com/a/33875957/1677912
* Adapted by Davis E. Ford, May 5, 2017
*/
function RefreshImports() {
var lock = LockService.getScriptLock();
if (!lock.tryLock(5000)) return; // Wait up to 5s for previous refresh to end.
// At this point, we are holding the lock.
var id = "YOUR_SHEET_ID";
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.openById(id);
var sheets = ss.getSheets();
for (var sheetNum=0; sheetNum<sheets.length; sheetNum++) {
var sheet = sheets[sheetNum];
var dataRange = sheet.getDataRange();
var formulas = dataRange.getFormulas();
var tempFormulas = [];
for (var row=0; row<formulas.length; row++) {
for (col=0; col<formulas[0].length; col++) {
// See https://regex101.com/r/bE7fJ6/2
var re = /.*[^a-z0-9]import(?:xml|data|feed|html|range)\(.*/gi;
if (formulas[row][col].search(re) !== -1 ) {
// Use a blank cell here, set it to whatever you want
sheet.getRange("J24").setValue(Math.round(Math.random()*100000));
}
}
}
// After a pause, replace the import functions
Utilities.sleep(2000);
for (var i=0; i<tempFormulas.length; i++) {
var cell = tempFormulas[i];
sheet.getRange( cell.row, cell.col ).setFormula(cell.formula)
}
// Done refresh; release the lock.
lock.releaseLock();
}
}Google Spreadsheets will automatically update whenever a cell is updated on the sheet ;) If you set a five minute trigger, that’s the frequency your IMPORTXML() cell will update.