自定义功能会定期重新运行

Question

I've created a google spreadsheet that uses a custom function to call a paid API service and parse that results based on a few input parameters. I am able to call and parse the data successfully using an activation button (A1 is a cell that if its value is "ON" the script is called).

My issue is that if I leave the data parsed by leaving the activation button "ON", the custom function re-runs itself. If I were to change an input parameter I would understand it re-running itself, but I can sit there staring at the screen, and it will once again show "Loading..." and parse the data again, as if I had set the button to "OFF" and "ON" again. This seems to happen at random - it can be 5 minutes or 2 hours.

I'm attaching the function below, as well as the logic of the spreadsheet

///  This function injects the variables into the HTTP service and if the data can be parsed returns an array.
function getCategory (category,key){
  var apiurl = "https://SERVICE/"+category+"/Country?Format=JSON&id="+key
  var result = []
  try {
    var category_data = parse(apiurl)
    var data_dictionary = category_data.TopCountryShares
    for (var i in data_dictionary){
      result.push(data_dictionary[i].CountryCode)
    } 
  }
  catch(e) {
    result.push("No Data")
  }
  return result
}

////  This is the function that parses the data above
  function parse(url){
    var parsing_url = url
    var fetchapi = UrlFetchApp.fetch(parsing_url)
    Utilities.sleep(2000)
    var data=JSON.parse(fetchapi)
    return data
  }

In the Spreadsheet I would have A1 as the ON/OFF button, and A5 down as individual categories (ie A5 = Games, A6 = Shopping, etc). The below excel formulas would be used:

B5 would be =IF(AND($A$1="ON",ISBLANK(A5)=FALSE),TRANSPOSE(getCategory(A5,'API KEY'!$B$6)),"")

B6 would be =IF(AND($A$1="ON",ISBLANK(A6)=FALSE),TRANSPOSE(getCategory(A6,'API KEY'!$B$6)),"")

In case I didn't explain it correctly, a scenario would be as follows:

1. Button is set to OFF
2. I enter 20 categories into A5:A25
3. I turn Button ON
4. Loading...
5. Data is parsed for each category from BF
6. I don't touch anything else in the document and on occasion I see "Loading..." again as the script is re-running

Number 6 seems to happen at random time intervals, and I can confirm that the "Recalculation" is set to "On Change" (found in File -> Spreadsheet Settings -> Calculation)

The above is a sample script, but the real script returns JSONs that can be quite large, so caching isn't an option based on what I've read of the current limitations.

Any help would be appreciated - I'm at my wits end trying to figure this out!

Answer 1

I assume if you set the button to off to doesn't refresh? Would it be an option to add a line of code to the end of your script to set the button to off after the script has finished?

sheet.getRange('A1').setValue('OFF');