Hacker News Google Sheets & Excel Spreadsheet Add-on

Hacker News is an online platform that enables its users to submit links, create content, and have discussions about technology topics. This Hacker News spreadsheet integration for Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel enables you to import news and posts from Hackers News. This add-on will enable you to integrate on-demand, refreshable news stories without leaving your spreadsheet.

For example, with this Excel and Google Sheets add-on you can:

• Import the most recent Hacker News comments matching a search term, including story title and URL, commenter and comment.
• Extract the most recent news stories matching a search term, including story title, URL, author, points and creation date.
• Import the most relevant Hacker News comments matching a search term, including story title and URL, commenter and comment.
• Extract the most relevant news stories matching a search term, including story title, URL, author, points and creation date.

Here are some examples:

=FLEX("YOUR_TEAM_NAME/hackernews-search-stories", "spacex")

=FLEX("YOUR_TEAM_NAME/hackernews-search-comments", "spacex")

Prerequisites

The Hacker News spreadsheet functions utilize Flex.io. To use these functions, you'll need:

• A Flex.io account to run the functions
• A Flex.io Add-on for Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to use the functions in your spreadsheet

Installing the Functions

Once you've signed up for Flex.io and have the Flex.io Add-on installed, you're ready to install the function pack.

You can install these functions directly by mounting this repository in Flex.io:

1. Sign in to Flex.io
2. In the Functions area, click the "New" button in the upper-left and select "Function Mount" from the list
3. In the function mount dialog, select "GitHub", then authenticate with your GitHub account
4. In the respository URL box, enter the name of this repository, which is "flexiodata/functions-hackernews"
5. Click "Create Function Mount"

If you prefer, you can also install these using the Flex.io Hacker News Integration.

Using the Functions

Once you've installed the function pack, you're ready to use the functions.

1. Open Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
2. Open the Flex.io Add-in:
   • In Microsoft Excel, select Home->Flex.io
   • In Google Sheets, select Add-ons->Flex.io
3. In the Flex.io side bar, log in to Flex.io and you’ll see the functions you have installed
4. For any function, click on the “details” in the function list to open a help dialog with some examples you can try at the bottom
5. Simply copy/paste the function into a cell, then edit the formula with a value you want to use

Documentation

Here are some additional resources:

• Hacker News Function Documentation. Here, you'll find a list of the functions available, their syntax and parameters, as well as examples for how to use them.
• Flex.io Add-ons. Here, you'll find more information about the Flex.io Add-ons for Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, including how to install them and use them.
• Flex.io Integrations. Here, you'll find out more information about other spreadsheet function packs available.

Help

If you have question or would like more information, please feel free to live chat with us at our website or contact us via email.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.