org-mode and Google Calendar

org-mode and Google Calendar

[Cezar]

Hello,

  Is there any way to sync org-mode with google calendar ?
  And if not, is this planed/possible ?

Regards,
Cezar

Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Leo]

On 2007-09-28 08:12 +0100, Cezar wrote:
> Hello,
>
>   Is there any way to sync org-mode with google calendar ?
>   And if not, is this planed/possible ?
>
> Regards,
> Cezar

This can be very interesting. I'd also like to know.

-- 
.:  Leo  :.  [ sdl.web AT gmail.com ]  .:  [ GPG Key: 9283AA3F ]  :.

       Use the most powerful email client -- http://gnus.org/

Re: Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Rick Moynihan]

Leo wrote:
> On 2007-09-28 08:12 +0100, Cezar wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>>   Is there any way to sync org-mode with google calendar ?
>>   And if not, is this planed/possible ?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Cezar
> 
> This can be very interesting. I'd also like to know.
> 

Me too!  This was already mentioned in a thread here:

http://www.mail-archive.com/emacs-orgmode@gnu.org/msg02080.html

R.

Fwd: Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Tim O'Callaghan]

On 28/09/2007, Rick Moynihan <rick@calicojack.co.uk> wrote:
> Leo wrote:
> > On 2007-09-28 08:12 +0100, Cezar wrote:
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >>   Is there any way to sync org-mode with google calendar ?
> >>   And if not, is this planed/possible ?
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Cezar
> >
> > This can be very interesting. I'd also like to know.
> >
>
> Me too!  This was already mentioned in a thread here:
>
> http://www.mail-archive.com/emacs-orgmode@gnu.org/msg02080.html
>
> R.
>

I still use that hack to download stuff from my calendar. For syncing,
I was starting to look at g-client which is an implementation of
Googles version of the Atom API.

http://emacspeak.googlecode.com/files/g-client.tar.bz2

The author of which is coincidentally is also an org mode user.

Tim.

RE: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Egli Christian (KIRO 41)]

>  Is there any way to sync org-mode with google calendar ?
>  And if not, is this planed/possible ?

Funny you should mention this. Just this morning I fetched the ics file
from my google calendar and imported the ics file into my diary
(icalendar-import-file "/here/is/calendar.ics"
"/there/goes/ical-diary"). If you then set org-agenda-include-diary
properly, you'll get the events from the google calendar in your agenda.

Pretty straight forward actually. You could probably automate this with
cron. To avoid reimporting the same events again you could have a
separate diary file for the google calendar and drop it before each
import. #include it in the main diary file. org-mode probably handles
this (not tested) as it just uses the fancy diary display (which is
needed for #include).

Would be nice to write a detailed tutorial about this. Any volunteers?

HTH
Christian 

Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Bastien]

Cezar <cezar@mixandgo.ro> writes:

>   Is there any way to sync org-mode with google calendar ?
>   And if not, is this planed/possible ?

I'm not really *syncing* my Org agenda files with Google Calendar.

I don't use Google Calendar to add new events; I just use it to check
events that I have in my Org agenda files. So what I basically do, is
that I export my agenda files to a single .ics file, then ask Google 
to import this as a new calendar.

I've cron'ed this script: 

#!/bin/bash
/usr/local/bin/emacs --batch --eval \
"(progn (load-file \"~/elisp/testing/org/org.el\") \
        (load-file \"~/elisp/testing/org/org-install.el\") \
        (load-file \"~/elisp/config/org-batch-config.el\") \
        (setq org-combined-agenda-icalendar-file \"~/org/cal/org.ics\")
        (setq org-agenda-files (quote (\"~/org/bzg.org\"))))" \
    -f org-export-icalendar-combine-agenda-file

It keeps an updated version of org.ics on my computer. Then I rsync this
file with the web location Google is aware of.

For me it seems much easier to always modify events from Org and then
keep some web interface updated, than to try to achieve real syncing...

-- 
Bastien

Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Leo]

On 2007-09-28 15:35 +0100, Bastien wrote:
> Cezar <cezar@mixandgo.ro> writes:
>
>>   Is there any way to sync org-mode with google calendar ?
>>   And if not, is this planed/possible ?
>
> I'm not really *syncing* my Org agenda files with Google Calendar.
>
> I don't use Google Calendar to add new events; I just use it to check
> events that I have in my Org agenda files. So what I basically do, is
> that I export my agenda files to a single .ics file, then ask Google 
> to import this as a new calendar.
>
> I've cron'ed this script: 
>
> #!/bin/bash
> /usr/local/bin/emacs --batch --eval \
> "(progn (load-file \"~/elisp/testing/org/org.el\") \
>         (load-file \"~/elisp/testing/org/org-install.el\") \
>         (load-file \"~/elisp/config/org-batch-config.el\") \
>         (setq org-combined-agenda-icalendar-file \"~/org/cal/org.ics\")
>         (setq org-agenda-files (quote (\"~/org/bzg.org\"))))" \
>     -f org-export-icalendar-combine-agenda-file
>
> It keeps an updated version of org.ics on my computer. Then I rsync this
> file with the web location Google is aware of.
>
> For me it seems much easier to always modify events from Org and then
> keep some web interface updated, than to try to achieve real syncing...

This won't work if you have someone also adding events for you, for
example your secretary.

-- 
.:  Leo  :.  [ sdl.web AT gmail.com ]  .:  [ GPG Key: 9283AA3F ]  :.

       Use the most powerful email client -- http://gnus.org/

Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Bastien]

"Egli Christian (KIRO 41)" <christian.egli@credit-suisse.com> writes:

> Funny you should mention this. Just this morning I fetched the ics
> file from my google calendar and imported the ics file into my diary
> (icalendar-import-file "/here/is/calendar.ics"
> "/there/goes/ical-diary"). If you then set org-agenda-include-diary
> properly, you'll get the events from the google calendar in your
> agenda.

So this is how to *import* the calendar information from Google.

A straightforward syncing solution would be to do this, and to export an
ics file created by Org to a web location that Google knows (see details
in my previous email.)

But I have a strong feeling we won't avoid duplicated entries at some
point... 

-- 
Bastien

Re: Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Bastien]

Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> writes:

>> For me it seems much easier to always modify events from Org and then
>> keep some web interface updated, than to try to achieve real syncing...
>
> This won't work if you have someone also adding events for you, for
> example your secretary.

Com'on, I'm sure your secretary knows everything about Emacs+Org. 
A good opportunity to do some collaborative Org'ing!

-- 
Bastien

Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Cezar]

Bastien <bzg@altern.org> writes:

>>> For me it seems much easier to always modify events from Org and then
>>> keep some web interface updated, than to try to achieve real syncing...
>>
>> This won't work if you have someone also adding events for you, for
>> example your secretary.
>
> Com'on, I'm sure your secretary knows everything about Emacs+Org. 
> A good opportunity to do some collaborative Org'ing!

A sync would be much better, if possible.

This will be a *really* cool thing to have in org, I think we can all
agree on it. :D

You can sync your PDA's WM5/6 calendar using OggSync with google's
calendar so that means, you can have org-mode sync'ed with your PDA's
calendar. ;;)

P.S. There is also iGoogle.com that has TODOs (which I guess the
calendar doesn't).

Regards,
Cezar

Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Vagn Johansen]

Bastien <bzg@altern.org> writes:

> Cezar <cezar@mixandgo.ro> writes:
>

[...]

> I'm not really *syncing* my Org agenda files with Google Calendar.
>
> I don't use Google Calendar to add new events; I just use it to check
> events that I have in my Org agenda files. 

Me too 

>So what I basically do, is
> that I export my agenda files to a single .ics file, then ask Google 
> to import this as a new calendar.
>
> I've cron'ed this script: 

[...]

I have my org file on an ftp server so I can access it anywhere. I
then use the builtin support for FTP in Emacs (ange/tramp) to
read/write it and the corresponding ics file. Because the org file is
on a FTP server "C-c C-e i" will automatically write the ics file on
the FTP server.

I just point google calendar to this file. The only problem I have had
is with google calendars timezone handling.

-- 
Vagn Johansen

Re: Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Bastien]

Vagn Johansen <gonz808@hotmail.com> writes:

> I just point google calendar to this file. The only problem I have had
> is with google calendars timezone handling.

Same here. I remember Carsten already tried to tackle this issue, and I
guess Google is messing things up here.

X-WR-TIMEZONE:CEST in the .ics file is correct for me.

Since the difference between expected time information and the time info
displayed by Google is of 2 hours, and since it's the default duration
for an event, maybe Google is mixing DTSTART and DTEND in some way. 

I'm not sure how I can digg this further. But this is really annoying.

-- 
Bastien

Re: Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Bastien]

Bastien <bzg@altern.org> writes:

>> I just point google calendar to this file. The only problem I have had
>> is with google calendars timezone handling.

Talking about the .ics export, I find the new DESCRIPTION very useful.

But maybe org-trim could be used here, so that leading and trailing
whitespaces are stripped away?

  DESCRIPTION: \nAAAI Spring Symposium - March 26-28, 2008, Stanford
  University,\nCalifornia - Submission deadline:

And maybe this description field could also skip timestamps that are not
SCHEDULED or DEADLINE. I often use such timestamps and the description
shows them, which looks weird:

  DESCRIPTION:     <2007-12-19 mer>

Last but not least: now that we have properties, it would be very nice
to be able to export a :LOCATION: property into the LOCATION vCal field.
Having to store the location in the description is okay, but I think the
location property is quite usual -- what do people think on this?

-- 
Bastien

Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[T. V. Raman]

For possible ways of syncing with Google Calendar, see gcal.el --
which is part of my emacs-g-client package
http://emacspeak.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/lisp/g-client

Note that the above code is independent of Emacspeak --- but  has
only been tested under Emacs 22.

>>>>> "Vagn" == Vagn Johansen <gonz808@hotmail.com> writes:
    Vagn> Bastien <bzg@altern.org> writes:
    >> Cezar <cezar@mixandgo.ro> writes:
    >> 
    Vagn> 
[...]
    Vagn> 
    >> I'm not really *syncing* my Org agenda files with Google
    >> Calendar.
    >> 
    >> I don't use Google Calendar to add new events; I just use
    >> it to check events that I have in my Org agenda files.
    Vagn> 
    Vagn> Me too
    Vagn> 
    >> So what I basically do, is that I export my agenda files
    >> to a single .ics file, then ask Google to import this as a
    >> new calendar.
    >> 
    >> I've cron'ed this script:
    Vagn> 
    Vagn> [...]
    Vagn> 
    Vagn> I have my org file on an ftp server so I can access it
    Vagn> anywhere. I then use the builtin support for FTP in
    Vagn> Emacs (ange/tramp) to read/write it and the
    Vagn> corresponding ics file. Because the org file is on a
    Vagn> FTP server "C-c C-e i" will automatically write the ics
    Vagn> file on the FTP server.
    Vagn> 
    Vagn> I just point google calendar to this file. The only
    Vagn> problem I have had is with google calendars timezone
    Vagn> handling.
    Vagn> 
    Vagn> -- Vagn Johansen
    Vagn> 
    Vagn> 
    Vagn> 
    Vagn> _______________________________________________
    Vagn> Emacs-orgmode mailing list Remember: use `Reply All' to
    Vagn> send replies to the list.  Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
    Vagn> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode

-- 
Best Regards,
--raman

      
Email:  raman@users.sf.net
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Re: Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Carsten Dominik]

On Sep 29, 2007, at 16:21, Bastien wrote:

> Bastien <bzg@altern.org> writes:
>
>>> I just point google calendar to this file. The only problem I have 
>>> had
>>> is with google calendars timezone handling.
>
> Talking about the .ics export, I find the new DESCRIPTION very useful.
>
> But maybe org-trim could be used here, so that leading and trailing
> whitespaces are stripped away?

ok.

>
>   DESCRIPTION: \nAAAI Spring Symposium - March 26-28, 2008, Stanford
>   University,\nCalifornia - Submission deadline:
>
> And maybe this description field could also skip timestamps that are 
> not
> SCHEDULED or DEADLINE. I often use such timestamps and the description
> shows them, which looks weird:
>
>   DESCRIPTION:     <2007-12-19 mer>

Not sure about that, how to decide what is important and what not?

>
> Last but not least: now that we have properties, it would be very nice
> to be able to export a :LOCATION: property into the LOCATION vCal 
> field.
> Having to store the location in the description is okay, but I think 
> the
> location property is quite usual -- what do people think on this?

Yes, now is the time, and this will be in 5.11.

Thanks.

- Carsten

Re: Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Bastien]

Carsten Dominik <dominik@science.uva.nl> writes:

>> And maybe this description field could also skip timestamps that are
>> not
>> SCHEDULED or DEADLINE. I often use such timestamps and the description
>> shows them, which looks weird:
>>
>>   DESCRIPTION:     <2007-12-19 mer>
>
> Not sure about that, how to decide what is important and what not?

Yes, no need to skip timestamp when getting the description. I just
discovered I could use timestamps in properties like this:

  :PROPERTIES:
    :TIMESTAMP: <2007-10-04 jeu>
    :SCHEDULED: <2007-10-04 jeu>
    :DEADLINE: <2007-10-04 jeu>
    :ARCHIVE:  archives/patres_archive::
    :CATEGORY: patres
  :END:

This way the description doesn't contain the timestamp.

Maybe a :DESCRIPTION: would also be useful to explicitly specify the
short description. This short description would override the one that
Org tries to guess from the first line of the subtree. 

But eh, I've got my :LOCATION: so I won't be pushy on this one :)

-- 
Bastien

Re: Re: Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Giovanni Ridolfi]

On Thu, Oct 04, 2007 at 11:44:34AM +0100, Bastien wrote:
> Maybe a :DESCRIPTION: would also be useful to explicitly specify the
> short description. This short description would override the one that
> Org tries to guess from the first line of the subtree. 
> 
> But eh, I've got my :LOCATION: so I won't be pushy on this one :)

May I ask to have the :DESCRIPTION: filed?  :-)

I will find it really useful, when importing timelines to webcalendar.

Thanks & Cheers,

Giovanni

Re: Re: org-mode and Google Calendar

[Adam Spiers]

On Sat, Sep 29, 2007 at 03:30:23PM +0200, Bastien wrote:
> Vagn Johansen <gonz808@hotmail.com> writes:
> 
> > I just point google calendar to this file. The only problem I have had
> > is with google calendars timezone handling.
> 
> Same here. I remember Carsten already tried to tackle this issue, and I
> guess Google is messing things up here.
> 
> X-WR-TIMEZONE:CEST in the .ics file is correct for me.
> 
> Since the difference between expected time information and the time info
> displayed by Google is of 2 hours, and since it's the default duration
> for an event, maybe Google is mixing DTSTART and DTEND in some way. 
> 
> I'm not sure how I can digg this further. But this is really annoying.

Did you ever figure this out?  I am ramping up usage of google
calendar now, and have noticed this issue.  I am doing
org-export-icalendar-combine-agenda-files and then scp'ing the
resulting .ics file to a webserver with a secret filename, and created
a new google calendar via 'add by URL' which points to this secret
URL.  The file begins:

  BEGIN:VCALENDAR
  VERSION:2.0
  X-WR-CALNAME:OrgMode
  PRODID:-//Adam Spiers//Emacs with Org-mode//EN
  X-WR-TIMEZONE:BST
  CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
  BEGIN:VEVENT

and I have google calendar set to Europe/London, but it time-shifts
all events in this calendar later by one hour.  Other calendars
streaming from scheduleworld.com work just fine.

I have tried tweaking it to 

  X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London

but I think I will have to wait for google to re-poll the URL before I
know whether this works - there is no way to force it to reload.