Service Account - Uploaded PPTX files not showing in my Google Drive - php

Question

This should be strange moment when uploading files with Service account to my google drive is not showing inside the google drive.
I read somewhere the service account files will not show in my google drive. then what is the point of service account ? and how can i upload files in my google drive account via service account ?
<?php
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
ini_set('display_startup_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
putenv('GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=credentials.json');
$client = new Google\Client();
if (getenv('GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS')) {
// use the application default credentials
$client->useApplicationDefaultCredentials();
} else {
echo missingServiceAccountDetailsWarning();
return;
}
$client->setApplicationName("Client_Library_Examples");
//$client->setScopes(Google_Service_Drive::DRIVE_METADATA_READONLY);
$client->addScope("https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive");
$service = new Google_Service_Drive($client);
//Insert a file
$file = new Google_Service_Drive_DriveFile();
$file->setName('test-1.pptx');
$file->setDescription('A test document');
$file->setMimeType('application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation');
$data = file_get_contents('test-1.pptx');
$createdFile = $service->files->create($file, array(
'data' => $data,
'mimeType' => 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation',
'uploadType' => 'multipart'
));
echo '<pre>';
var_dump($createdFile);
// Print the names and IDs for up to 10 files.
$optParams = array(
'pageSize' => 10,
'fields' => 'nextPageToken, files(id, name)'
);
$results = $service->files->listFiles($optParams);
var_dump($results);

Answer 1

Service accounts are dummy users. They have their own google drive account. When you upload a file by default it will go to the service accounts Google drives account.
Now if you want to upload a file to your personal drive account. what you can do is share a folder on your google drive account with the service account basically take the service accounts email address the one with a # in it and share the directory with it though the web app like you would any other user.
Now the service account will instantly have access to it this is called preauthorized. By preauthorizing the service account there will be no need for user interaction to access that folder.
You appear to be trying to create a new file all you need to do is set the parent folder of the file in the metadata before you upload it.
$file->setParents('FolderIdFromYourDrive');
Do a file.list first on the service accounts drive account if you want to find out what folder is is or you can just look at the top in the url bar.
Service accounts are nice if your application has some static data that it needs to access. This can be done by placing the files on drive and then granting the service account access to those files. Service accounts are great because they are preauthorized and you dont need the consent screen to access private user data.
You can also upload the files to the service accounts drive account and share them with your personal google account and you will have access that way.

Answer 2

Answer
A service account is a special kind of account used by an application or a virtual machine (VM) instance, not a person.
Option 1: Use Domain-Wide Delegation
Service accounts can access user's data without any manual authorization on their part using Domain-Wide Delegation of Authority.
With that being said, you can upload files into your Google Drive using a service account. Follow the steps in the documentation to create the service account and credentials. It has three main points:
Create the service account in the Google Cloud Console
Enable the domain-wide delegation in the Google Admin console
Instantiate a Drive service object. Check the second last line:
$client = new Google_Client();
$client->useApplicationDefaultCredentials();
$client->setApplicationName("Client_Library_Examples");
$client->addScope("https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive");
$client->setSubject('email#domain.com');
$service = new Google_Service_Drive($client);
Option 2: Share the file with your main account
...
$service = new Google_Service_Drive(client)
$role = 'writer';
$userEmail = 'user#gmail.com';
$fileId = 'The ID of the file to be shared';
$userPermission = new Google_Service_Drive_Permission(array(
'type' => 'user',
'role' => $role,
'emailAddress' => $userEmail
));
$request = $service->permissions->create(
$fileId, $userPermission, array('fields' => 'id')
);
Reference
Service accounts
Domain-Wide Delegation of Authority
Google Cloud Console