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Google services

Sign in/Create a Google account#

If you have a Google account to use for your project, go ahead and sign in.

If you do not have a Google account to use with your project, create one by following the link referenced on the Getting Started page.

Utilizing Gmail

Creating a google account for your project/business will create a Gmail account, and this can be displayed on the CamML app to promote user feedback.

Create a Google Cloud Project#

To create a new project:#

  1. Navigate to the Google Cloud Console
  2. At the top of the page, click the Select a project button, and click New Project in the top-right of the popup window.
  3. Name your project, and click Create. Once the project has been created, select your new project from the Select a project button at the top of the page.

Create a service account#

The CamML app will use a service account associated with the Google Account to write info and images to Google Sheets and Google Drive.

To create service account:#

  1. In the top-left of the page, expand the Navigation Menu and select the IAM & Admin tab.
  2. Select the Service Accounts tab on the left sidebard, and click the + Create Service Account button at the top of the page.
  3. For Step 1 of popup, name the service account something meaningful, such as the project name or "writing". Click Create and continue
  4. For Step 2 of the popup called Grant this service account access to project (optional), select the Editor role for the service account (Quick Access > Basic > Editor). Click Continue.
  5. For Step 3 of the popup called Grant users access to this service account (optional), leave everything blank and click Done
Email address of service account

To make things easier later, copy the email address to a notes document so you have it handy.

Download service account key#

CamML apps use service account key authetication to sign into Google Sheets and Drive. To do this, you need a private key for your service account so the app can be authenticated and write to the Google Account's resources.

To download the service account key:#

  1. Click on the service account email in the list of Service Accounts.
  2. You will see multiple tabs at the top of the page, select the Keys tab.
  3. Click the Add Key button, and Create New Key. Select JSON as the key type, and click Create. The key will be saved to your Downloads folder on your computer.

Copy the key to the CamML directory#

The key JSON file needs to live in the /keys directory of the CamML folder and be renamed to google_key.json. The CamML shiny app will look inside this folder and use the google_key.json file to authenticate the app.

To add the file to the CamML directory:#

  1. Find the key JSON file in your Downloads folder and copy the file
  2. Navigate to the folder of your GitHub repository for the project and look inside for the /keys folder.
  3. Paste the key JSON file into the /keys folder, and rename the file to google_key.json
Keeping keys secret 🔒

It is extremely important to keep this key JSON file secret.

The .gitignore file in the CamML code template ignores all files within the /keys folder, but it doesn't hurt to double check before you post a commit to GitHub.

Next, we will create the Sheets file and Drive folder to collect data & images from the CamML app.

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