Need alternative to .makeCopy in Google Apps Script to decrease run time - performance

Question

I wrote a mail merge script that works great, but execution transcripts revealed that the .makeCopy task alone consumed 60% of the 6 minute run time. I am trying to re-write the script in a way that enables me to:
Open a document template
populate the body of the template with spreadsheet data
create a new document
copy the body of the populated template to the new document
save the new document as a PDF, attach it to an email and send it
delete the new document (I don't need to retain a copy)
At present, I am receiving a "TypeError" appendtoDoc is not a function, it is undefined." Error in line 72.
//Creates the custom menu in the spreadsheet "Run Script"
function onOpen() {
var ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
ui.createMenu('Run Script')
.addItem('Create Certs', 'menuItem1')
.addToUi();
}
//Nest the createDocument function within the menuItem1 function for execution
function menuItem1() {
function createDocFromSheet() {
}
//Defines the start row and calculates the number of rows to be processed
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var startRow = Browser.inputBox("Enter Start Row");
var endRow = Browser.inputBox("Enter End Row");
var numRows = (endRow - startRow) + 1;
var dataRange = sheet.getRange(startRow, 1, numRows, 7);
//defines the variables and the email body
var data = dataRange.getValues();
for (var i = 0; i < data.length; ++i) {
var row = data[i];
var date = row[0];
var nic = row[1];
var course = row[2];
var lastname = row[3];
var firstname = row[4];
var middle = row[5]
var email = row[6];
var docname = lastname+" "+nic+" PME Cert";
var subjectTxt = "NWC "+ course +" Online PME Course Certificate";
var fullBody = "PME COURSE COMPLETION CERTIFICATE" + "\n\n";
fullBody += "Your " + course + " course completion certificate is attached." + "\n\n";
fullBody += "Regards," + "\n\n";
fullBody += "Professor Steve Pierce" + "\n";
fullBody += "U.S. Naval War College "+ "\n";
fullBody += "Online PME Program Team" + "\n\n";
fullBody += "Learn more about NWC's Online PME Program at the link below:" + "\n";
fullBody += "http://www.usnwc.edu/Academics/College-of-Distance-Education/PME-(1).aspx" + "\n";
// The old makeCopy code
// var docId = DriveApp
// .getFileById("1CjdoldpJmPskkqStpmBk3dRznFyURgY5mMsfVHfIGz4")
// .makeCopy(docname).getId();
// Open the document template
//function createDocFromSheet(){
var templateid = "1CjdoldpJmPskkqStpmBk3dRznFyURgY5mMsfVHfIGz4"
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var data = dataRange.getValues();
for (var i = 0; i < data.length; ++i) {
//create the new document
var newDoc = DocumentApp.create(lastname+" "+nic+" PME Cert");
var newDocId = newDoc.getId()
var file = DriveApp.getFileById(newDocId)
// fill in the template with data
for (var i in data){
var row = data[i];
// opens the template and populates it with data from the sheet
var docid = DriveApp.getFileById(templateid).getId();
var doc = DocumentApp.openById(docid);
var body = doc.getActiveSection();
body.replaceText('fname', firstname);
body.replaceText('lname', lastname);
body.replaceText('midname', middle);
body.replaceText('course', course);
body.replaceText('date', date);
doc.saveAndClose();
// appends data from the template to the new document
var body = doc.getActiveSection();
var newBody = newDoc.getActiveSection();
appendToDoc(body, newBody);
DocsList.getFileById(docid).setTrashed(true); //deletes the temp file
}
}
function appendToDoc(src, dst) {
for (var i = 0; i < src.getNumChildren(); i++) {
appendElementToDoc (dst, src.getChild(i));
}
}
function appendElementToDoc (doc, object) {
var type = object.getType();
var element = object.copy();
if (type == DocumentApp.ElementType.PARAGRAPH) {
if (element.asParagraph().getNumChildren() != 0 && element.asParagraph().getChild(0).getType() == DocumentApp.ElementType.INLINE_IMAGE) {
var blob = element.asParagraph().getChild(0).asInlineImage().getBlob();
doc.appendImage(blob);
}
else doc.appendParagraph(element.asParagraph());
}
MailApp.sendEmail(email, subjectTxt, fullBody, {attachments: Newdoc.getAs("application/pdf")});
SpreadsheetApp.flush ();
DriveApp.getFileById(docId).setTrashed(true);
}}}

Answer 1

I modified your script to do it differently: I took a template, did replaceText then created a pdf from the changed template and sent the email; then I did replaceText again, pdf, email etc etc. I could email 10 certs in 15 secs this way. I didn't try a bigger number, and didn't check for errors.
function creatCertPdfAndEmail() {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.openById('1fDe0ju0zkDr0cdA5hWBC4RsxZgFv6mIFn6W1WU-0S0w').getSheets()[0]; //I created a separate spreadsheet for testing purposes.
var startRow =2;
var endRow =10 ;
var numRows = (endRow - startRow) + 1;
var dataRange = sheet.getRange(startRow, 1, numRows, 7);
var counter =0;
var data = dataRange.getValues();
var templateid = "1DizlNa2ENpEMTUGhM78J0ozgh8A8Sc9fI1q1XmhvuLk"
var docid = DriveApp.getFileById(templateid).getId();
var dateOld;
var courseOld;
var allTheNameOld;
for (var i = 0; i < data.length; ++i) {
var doc = DocumentApp.openById(docid);
var body = doc.getActiveSection();
var row = data[i];
var date = new Date().getTime() - new Date(row[0]).getTime(); //like this for testing to get a different value on each pdf
var nic = row[1];
var course = row[2];
var lastname = row[3];
var firstname = row[4];
var middle = row[5]
var email = row[6];
// var docname = lastname+" "+nic+" PME Cert"; //not used in this version
var subjectTxt = "NWC "+ course +" Online PME Course Certificate";
var fullBody = "PME COURSE COMPLETION CERTIFICATE" + "\n\n";
fullBody += "Your " + course + " course completion certificate is attached." + "\n\n";
fullBody += "Regards," + "\n\n";
fullBody += "Professor Steve Pierce" + "\n";
fullBody += "U.S. Naval War College "+ "\n";
fullBody += "Online PME Program Team" + "\n\n";
fullBody += "Learn more about NWC's Online PME Program at the link below:" + "\n";
fullBody += "http://www.usnwc.edu/Academics/College-of-Distance-Education/PME-(1).aspx"
+ "\n";
var row = data[i];
var allTheName = firstname+' '+middle+' '+lastname
if(counter ==0){
body.replaceText('allTheName',allTheName); // body.replaceText('Congratulations .*?\.',allTheName);
body.replaceText('coursex', course);
body.replaceText('datex', date);
}
else {
body.replaceText(allTheNameOld,allTheName);
body.replaceText(courseOld, course);
body.replaceText(dateOld, date);
}
dateOld = date;
courseOld = course;
allTheNameOld = allTheName
counter ++
doc.saveAndClose()
var attachment = doc.getAs("application/pdf")
MailApp.sendEmail(email, subjectTxt, fullBody, {attachments: attachment});
}
}

Answer 2

I tried to re-create your basic code structure in a simpler format, trying to reproduce the error.
//Nest the createDocument function within the menuItem1 function for execution
function menuItem1() {
function createDocFromSheet() {}
for (var i = 0; i < 2; ++i) {
//create the new document
Logger.log("First Loop ran i = " + i);
for (var i = 0; i < 2; ++i) {
Logger.log(' Inner For loop: i = ' + i)
appendToDoc();
}
}
function appendToDoc() {
Logger.log('appendToDoc ran!');
for (var i = 0; i < 2; ++i) {
Logger.log('appendToDoc For Loop i=' + i);
appendElementToDoc();
}
}
function appendElementToDoc() {
Logger.log('appendElementToDoc ran!');
Logger.log('');
}
}
That code actually runs for me, and is able to access the appendToDoc function when I run the menuItem1() function.
It looks like you have a function function createDocFromSheet() {} with nothing in it. I don't understand that.