Problems calculating duration & distance after changing setAvoid() in DirectionFinder

Question

I receive the same duration & distance whether or not I am expecting to avoid highways or tolls

I suspect the issue is either in my order of operations, or the way I am calculating distance & duration

I have tried setting up setAvoid in two different ways (see code), as well as changed my if statements to accommodate what the HTML form (check box) might return.

I have also tried switching the if statement to "return formObject.avoid1" this showed me that the if statement is functioning properly - so either the .setAvoid is not working the way I have written it, or the distance & duration calculations are not considering the setAvoid

function processForm(formObject) {

  var allDestinations = [formObject.destination1, formObject.destination2, formObject.destination3, formObject.destination4];
  var allDest = [formObject.dest1, formObject.dest2, formObject.dest3, formObject.dest4];
  var numWaypoints = 0;
  var waypoints = [];

  for (var i=0; i<=allDestinations.length; ++i){
    if (allDestinations[i] == "TRUE"){
      numWaypoints ++;
      waypoints.push(allDest[i]);
      }
    }  

  var mapObj = Maps.newDirectionFinder();
  mapObj.setOrigin(formObject.origin)
        .setDestination('my address, never changes');

//the purpose of legOne is to get the distance & duration from me to the input origin. I will always be the first and last stop. I do it this way because the input origin always needs to be the first stop. This prevents 'optimize waypoints' from altering the input origin.

  var legOne = mapObj.getDirections();
  var totalDistance = legOne["routes"][0]["legs"][0]["distance"]["value"];
  var totalDuration = legOne["routes"][0]["legs"][0]["duration"]["value"];

  for (var cc=0; cc<numWaypoints; ++cc){
    mapObj.addWaypoint(waypoints[cc]);
    }

  if (formObject.optimize == "true"){
    mapObj.setOptimizeWaypoints(true);
    }

  if (formObject.avoid1 == "yes"){
    mapObj.setAvoid(Maps.DirectionFinder.Avoid.HIGHWAYS);
    }

  if (formObject.avoid2 == "yes"){
    mapObj.setAvoid("tolls");
    }

  var directions = mapObj.getDirections();
  var bestRoute = directions["routes"][0];
  var numLegs = bestRoute["legs"].length;

  for (var c=0; c<numLegs; ++c){
    var legNum = directions["routes"][0]["legs"][c];
    var legDistance = legNum["distance"]["value"];
    var legDuration = legNum["duration"]["value"];
    totalDistance += legDistance;
    totalDuration += legDuration;
    }

  var miles = totalDistance * 0.000621371;
  var driveTime = totalDuration / 60 / 60;
  var numPallets = formObject.numPallets;
  var parkTime = numWaypoints * (1/6);
  var onOffLoadTime = numPallets * .5;
  var totalTime = driveTime + parkTime + onOffLoadTime;
  var dataArray = [miles, totalTime, driveTime, numPallets, onOffLoadTime, numWaypoints, parkTime]; 
  return dataArray;  
}

If we are in fact avoiding highways, I expect the duration to increase, but I get the same duration whether or not we avoid highways

Answer 1

Only one mode of setAvoid() can be set at a time, i.e., it is possible to avoid highways OR tolls, but not both. Workarounds for this exist within the API, but from what I've tested don't seem to be available in Apps Script.

Some testing:

var directions = Maps.newDirectionFinder()
  .setOrigin('Times Square, New York, NY')
  .setDestination('Space Needle, Seattle, WA')
Logger.log(directions.getDirections().routes[0].legs[0].duration.text) //1 day 18 hours

directions.setAvoid("highways")
Logger.log(directions.getDirections().routes[0].legs[0].duration.text) //2 days 8 hours

directions.setAvoid("tolls")
Logger.log(directions.getDirections().routes[0].legs[0].duration.text) //1 day 20 hours

This implies that either your if statements should be:

  if (formObject.avoid1 == "yes"){
    mapObj.setAvoid(Maps.DirectionFinder.Avoid.HIGHWAYS);
  } else if (formObject.avoid2 == "yes"){
    mapObj.setAvoid(Maps.DirectionFinder.Avoid.TOLLS);
    }

(Prioritizes avoiding highways), or alternatively, your form should only include a single option for avoid (e.g., mapObj.setAvoid(formObj.avoid);). With your code as given, it's likely that avoid2 being "yes" causes setAvoid() to be set to avoid tolls, which may not be a factor along your route.