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In the last 2 weeks or so, I've suddenly started getting reports of users getting an error in our application saying "Expected response code 200, got 400. Unable to convert document." This is code that has been in place for years without any issue. We are using Zend Framework (GData) in conjunction with Google Docs (AuthSub).

We are logging the issue to a text file when it happens. When it gets logged, the user often tries multiple times (sometimes separated by a few seconds, other times separated by longer times) and it continues to fail. The code in question just creates a new Google document in the user's account and gives it a title (no body content).

Originally, I used this code:

// Create new document
$data = new Zend_Gdata_Docs_DocumentListEntry();
$data->setCategory(
  array(new Zend_Gdata_App_Extension_Category(
          "http://schemas.google.com/docs/2007#document",
          "http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#kind"
)));
$data->setTitle(new Zend_Gdata_App_Extension_Title($title, null));

// Add document to your list
$test = $sharedocs->insertDocument($data, Zend_Gdata_Docs::DOCUMENTS_LIST_FEED_URI);

To experiment and see if there was an issue with that particular function, I tried creating a blank word doc and changing the code to:

$test = $sharedocs->uploadFile('/mypath/empty.doc', $title, null, Zend_Gdata_Docs::DOCUMENTS_LIST_FEED_URI);

However, I'm still seeing the "Unable to convert document" errors. They are relatively infrequent, and I am not able to reproduce the issue on my own computers here. The $title variable does not contain anything unusual (special characters, etc.).

This code was all working fine before -- is there a known issue with the Google Docs API right now? What else can I try?

NOTE: Please see my follow-up comments below, where I have identified the reproducible scenario in which this error occurs.

Anony Mouse
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  • I've not used this particular API, but 400 is "Bad request" - can you log the body of the response the API provides? It might contain a specific error message or reason for the failure. – Tim Fountain Dec 23 '12 at 20:14
  • Here is the response from the API request when it fails: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KM2-GgZl-rMsEL9tdqO4cP5YEC4GZ2Sw9i_pu0217do/edit – Anony Mouse Dec 31 '12 at 18:25
  • One other note -- I am logging the error each time it happens, and it is happening quite frequently (once every couple of minutes). In addition, when it fails for a particular user, I often see them try again several times over the next few minutes, and it continues to throw the error for them. – Anony Mouse Jan 08 '13 at 20:18
  • I was able to reproduce this. If I create a new Google account but I don't go into Google Drive at all (just create the account and leave), then when I attempt to insert the document via the API into that Google account, it fails with the "Unable to Convert Document" error. If I go back into the Google account and just open up Google Drive once, then go back into my own program, now it works! How do I work around this? – Anony Mouse Jan 10 '13 at 19:33
  • Also, if I switch over to use oauth2 authentication and the new gdrive API instead of using Zend gdata and do the same thing (try to insert a document into a google drive account where the user hasn't actually entered Google Drive yet), I get an error as well: An error occurred: Error calling POST https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v2/files: (500) Internal Error – Anony Mouse Jan 11 '13 at 04:13

1 Answers1

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I had exactly the same problem, but I noticed that I could use the api to save a presentation if not a document... so, it is a terrible hack, but I try to save the document (works if the account has already been accessed)... if that fails, I save and delete a presentation and retry to save the document, which then works. Horrible, horrible, horrible hack

Adam Sargant
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