Code sample

The following picker example illustrates an image selector/uploader page that could be opened from an Open or Upload Drive files button in a web app. This example demonstrates how to set the AppId value, and incorporates some useful picker features such as enabling multi-select, hiding the navigation pane, and choosing the user account with the app's current OAuth 2.0 token:

drive/picker/helloworld.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Picker API Quickstart</title>
  <meta charset="utf-8" />
</head>
<body>
<p>Picker API API Quickstart</p>

<!--Add buttons to initiate auth sequence and sign out-->
<button id="authorize_button" onclick="handleAuthClick()">Authorize</button>
<button id="signout_button" onclick="handleSignoutClick()">Sign Out</button>

<pre id="content" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></pre>

<script type="text/javascript">
  /* exported gapiLoaded */
  /* exported gisLoaded */
  /* exported handleAuthClick */
  /* exported handleSignoutClick */

  // Authorization scopes required by the API; multiple scopes can be
  // included, separated by spaces.
  const SCOPES = 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.metadata.readonly';

  // TODO(developer): Set to client ID and API key from the Developer Console
  const CLIENT_ID = '<YOUR_CLIENT_ID>';
  const API_KEY = '<YOUR_API_KEY>';

  // TODO(developer): Replace with your own project number from console.developers.google.com.
  const APP_ID = '<YOUR_APP_ID>';

  let tokenClient;
  let accessToken = null;
  let pickerInited = false;
  let gisInited = false;


  document.getElementById('authorize_button').style.visibility = 'hidden';
  document.getElementById('signout_button').style.visibility = 'hidden';

  /**
   * Callback after api.js is loaded.
   */
  function gapiLoaded() {
    gapi.load('picker', intializePicker);
  }

  /**
   * Callback after the API client is loaded. Loads the
   * discovery doc to initialize the API.
   */
  function intializePicker() {
    pickerInited = true;
    maybeEnableButtons();
  }

  /**
   * Callback after Google Identity Services are loaded.
   */
  function gisLoaded() {
    tokenClient = google.accounts.oauth2.initTokenClient({
      client_id: CLIENT_ID,
      scope: SCOPES,
      callback: '', // defined later
    });
    gisInited = true;
    maybeEnableButtons();
  }

  /**
   * Enables user interaction after all libraries are loaded.
   */
  function maybeEnableButtons() {
    if (pickerInited && gisInited) {
      document.getElementById('authorize_button').style.visibility = 'visible';
    }
  }

  /**
   *  Sign in the user upon button click.
   */
  function handleAuthClick() {
    tokenClient.callback = async (response) => {
      if (response.error !== undefined) {
        throw (response);
      }
      accessToken = response.access_token;
      document.getElementById('signout_button').style.visibility = 'visible';
      document.getElementById('authorize_button').innerText = 'Refresh';
      await createPicker();
    };

    if (accessToken === null) {
      // Prompt the user to select a Google Account and ask for consent to share their data
      // when establishing a new session.
      tokenClient.requestAccessToken({prompt: 'consent'});
    } else {
      // Skip display of account chooser and consent dialog for an existing session.
      tokenClient.requestAccessToken({prompt: ''});
    }
  }

  /**
   *  Sign out the user upon button click.
   */
  function handleSignoutClick() {
    if (accessToken) {
      accessToken = null;
      google.accounts.oauth2.revoke(accessToken);
      document.getElementById('content').innerText = '';
      document.getElementById('authorize_button').innerText = 'Authorize';
      document.getElementById('signout_button').style.visibility = 'hidden';
    }
  }

  /**
   *  Create and render a Picker object for searching images.
   */
  function createPicker() {
    const view = new google.picker.View(google.picker.ViewId.DOCS);
    view.setMimeTypes('image/png,image/jpeg,image/jpg');
    const picker = new google.picker.PickerBuilder()
        .enableFeature(google.picker.Feature.NAV_HIDDEN)
        .enableFeature(google.picker.Feature.MULTISELECT_ENABLED)
        .setDeveloperKey(API_KEY)
        .setAppId(APP_ID)
        .setOAuthToken(accessToken)
        .addView(view)
        .addView(new google.picker.DocsUploadView())
        .setCallback(pickerCallback)
        .build();
    picker.setVisible(true);
  }

  /**
   * Displays the file details of the user's selection.
   * @param {object} data - Containers the user selection from the picker
   */
  function pickerCallback(data) {
    if (data.action === google.picker.Action.PICKED) {
      document.getElementById('content').innerText = JSON.stringify(data, null, 2);
    }
  }
</script>
<script async defer src="https://apis.google.com/js/api.js" onload="gapiLoaded()"></script>
<script async defer src="https://accounts.google.com/gsi/client" onload="gisLoaded()"></script>
</body>
</html>

The AppId and the client ID, used for authorizing access to a user's files, must be contained in the same app. Within the API Console, AppId can be identified as the "Project number" on the "IAM &amp Admin" > "Settings" page, in the developer console.

After obtaining the file ID from the Google Picker when opening files, an application can then fetch the file metadata and download the file content as described in the reference documentation for files.get.