Spreadsheet Connection

In the last chapter, we added a survey form to the application home
page. When a visitor submits the form, we display an acknowledgment
message. To complete the implementation, we need a way to capture the
data for later analysis or review.

We’ve purposely chosen not to implement a database application so we can
keep this tutorial to a manageable length and focus on Bootstrap. Though
many Rails applications are backed by databases, a database adds
complexity to a Rails application. One of the requirements that adds
complexity is authentication and authorization. If data is stored in an
application database, we have to implement access control so only an
administrator can view it.

Fortunately, Google Drive (formerly known as Google Docs) gives us an
easy way to store and access our visitor data without a database. It’s
an elegant solution. We can use the Google Drive API (application
programming interface) to save form data to a spreadsheet that is stored
in Google Drive. We don’t have to implement authentication and
authorization in our application because Google Drive already manages
user access. Our application will send the data to a spreadsheet and you
(or colleagues or clients, if you wish) can access the data on Google
Drive.

Most computer-literate people have some experience with spreadsheets.
Making data available in a spreadsheet makes it easy for an
administrator or a website owner to analyze or review the data.
Assets Compiled for Heroku
Assets Compiled for Heroku (again)