I have the below code to take a list of events in a Google Sheet and schedule them into a Google Calendar.
function addEvents(){
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
var calId = ss.getRange("C4").getValue();
var cal = CalendarApp.getCalendarById(calId);
var lr = ss.getLastRow();
var data = ss.getRange("B9:F" + lr).getValues();
for(var i = 0;i<data.length;i++){
cal.createEvent(data[i][0], data[i][1], data[i][2], {location: data[i][3], description: data[i][4]});
}
}
I've used this script before with no issues, but now I'm getting the following error message and can't for the life of me figure out what is going on:
TypeError: Cannot read property 'createEvent' of null
I ultimately would like to add an if statement to this code that grabs the newly created Event ID and puts it in the last column of the data on the sheet, and I would like to be asking for help with that, but at this point I just need step one to work.
Any thoughts?
As the title says, we're building out rotations for 8 different job roles for our agents. I have 3 seperate variables: Name, Time, and RoleType where time is a 2 week date range.
I was using AppScripts and made some headway but it's not really doing what I want.
Is there an easy way to create a google calendar event with the agents name, over that two week time frame and with the roletype info in the invite?
this is what I've built so far:
function myFunction() {
var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var calendarId = spreadsheet.getRange("A21").getValue();
var eventCal = CalendarApp.getCalendarById(calendarId);
var signups = spreadsheet.getRange("A2:X19").getValues();
for (x=0; x<signups.length; x++){
var shift = signups [x];
var startTime = shift [0];
var endTime= shift [1];
var dataValDor = shift [2];
eventCal.createEvent(dataValDor, startTime, endTime);
}
}
This was taken and modified from this tutorial
However I guess my data is laid out badly as it just created about 10 different entries for each agent.
I am currently using app script to sync my google sheet to google calendar. The process is quite simple, my script only takes a date and title from the spreadsheet and creates an all day event on that date with that title.
The problem I am facing is that if I accidentally key in the wrong date or I have to update one of the dates inside the spreadsheet, on running the scheduleShifts function again, all the events are created again which results in many duplicate events that I did not intend to be there. I'm trying to find a solution that helps either updates the title of the event or deletes the event and create a new one in the case where the date that is in the spreadsheet is wrong.
It also isn't very efficient to update the data in the spreadsheet and then update the calendar because in the event where quite a few dates or titles have to be changed, it would take quite a bit of time to change them all in the calendar. It would also be very troublesome to delete the current calendar, create a new one, copy that id into the spreadsheet and then update everything again.
This is what my current code looks like:
function scheduleShifts()
{
/*Identify calendar*/
var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var calendarId = spreadsheet.getRange("C1").getValue();
var eventCal = CalendarApp.getCalendarById(calendarId);
/*Import data from the spreadsheet*/
var signups = spreadsheet.getRange("C4:F73").getValues();
/*Create events*/
for (x=0; x<signups.length; x++)
{
var shift = signups[x];
var title = shift[0];
var date = shift[3];
eventCal.createAllDayEvent(title, date);
}
}
/*Make the script shareable for others to use*/
function onOpen()
{
var ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
ui.createMenu('Sync to Calendar')
.addItem('Schedule shifts', 'scheduleShifts')
.addToUi();
}
I have tried to avoid duplicating events by retrieving all the events with Advanced Calendar Service, pushing their titles into an array and then verifying with IndexOf. However, I am unsure if this method will work if the title stays the same while there is an update in the date of that event.
The code that I referenced from to do this:
var existingEvents=Calendar.Events.list(calendarId);
var eventArray=[];
existingEvents.items.forEach(function(e){eventArray.push(e.summary)});
for (x=0; x<signups.length; x++) {
var shift = signups [x];
var startTime = shift[0];
var endTime = shift[1];
var inspector = shift[2];
if(eventArray.indexOf(inspector)==-1){
eventCal.createEvent(inspector, startTime, endTime);
}else{
Logger.log('event exists already');
}
}
If anyone needs more info feel free to ask in the comments, your help would be greatly appreciated.
You have developed a script to create events using data from a sheet.
You want to be able to update previously created events while avoiding creating duplicates.
Step 1. Avoid creating duplicates:
In order to avoid creating duplicates, you could make the script write the corresponding eventId when each event has been created. This way, next time the script runs, it can check whether the eventId is populated (in which case the event already exists), and only create the event if it doesn't exist. It could be something like this (in this sample, the eventIds are written to column G):
function scheduleShifts() {
const spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
const calendarId = spreadsheet.getRange("C1").getValue();
const eventCal = CalendarApp.getCalendarById(calendarId);
const signups = spreadsheet.getRange("C4:G7").getValues();
for (let x = 0; x < signups.length; x++) {
const shift = signups[x];
const title = shift[0];
const date = shift[3];
const eventId = shift[4];
if (eventId == "") { // Check the event doesn't exist
const newEvent = eventCal.createAllDayEvent(title, date);
const newEventId = newEvent.getId();
spreadsheet.getRange(4 + x, 7).setValue(newEventId); // Write new eventId to col G
}
}
}
Step 2. Update events:
Regarding the update process, I'd suggest you to install an onEdit trigger, either manually or programmatically. This this action requires authorization, a simple onEdit trigger would not work here (see Restrictions).
This way, you can use the event object to only update the event corresponding to the row that was edited, thus avoiding having to update all events every time, which would make the process very inefficient. The update process itself would consist on calling setTitle and setAllDayDate.
The function fired by the onEdit trigger could be something like this:
function updateEvent(e) {
var editedRow = e.range.getRow();
var editedData = e.source.getActiveSheet().getRange(editedRow, 3, 1, 5).getValues()[0];
var eventId = editedData[4];
try {
var event = CalendarApp.getEventById(eventId);
event.setTitle(editedData[0]);
event.setAllDayDate(editedData[3]);
} catch(err) {
console.log("There was a problem updating the event. This event might not exist yet.");
}
}
Notes:
You may not want to manually set the range (C4:G73) if the number of events might vary. You can use methods like getLastRow() no make this range dynamic, based on the spreadsheet content.
The eventId that are used here, corresponding to Class CalendarEvent, are not identical to the API Event resource. Take this into account in case you use the Advanced Service.
I've been reading a few questions and help on managing a google sheet then transferring info to google calendar via email.
I'm using the below code which i pulled from various places and its working really well however a couple of things i'm struggling with:
every time i run the script it duplicates the events, how do i stop this from happening every time the script is run - but still allow for say, addition of new email addresses down the line or update the calendar entry?
cant quite get the starttime and endtime to work nicely - the script is run off a tab in a google sheet that pulls its data from another tab (data entry)to make life easier for my users; is there a trick to the format for yyyy-mm-dd-hh:mm:ss?
possible to setup a line of code as part of this to send out automatic reminders say 7 days out from the event?
Appreciate any and all help on this!
Code thats working right now:
function CreateEvent() {
var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var calendarId = spreadsheet.getRange('***<LINKTOCELLTHATHASCALENDARID>***').getValue();
var eventCal = CalendarApp.getCalendarById('***CALENDARID<DELETED>***');
var lr = spreadsheet.getLastRow();
Logger.log(lr);
var count = spreadsheet.getRange("A2:F"+lr+"").getValues();
for (x=0; x<count.length; x++) {
var shift = count[x];
var title = shift[0];
var startTime = shift[1];
var endTime = shift[2];
var guests = shift[3];
var description = shift[4];
var location = shift[5];
var event = {
'location': location,
'description': description,
'guests':guests +',',
'sendInvites': 'True',
}
eventCal.createEvent(title, startTime, endTime, event)
}
}
function CreateEvent() {
var sh=SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var calendarId=sh.getRange('***<LINKTOCELLTHATHASCALENDARID>***').getValue();
var eventCal=CalendarApp.getCalendarById('***CALENDARID<DELETED>***');
var drg=sh.getRange(2,1,sh.getLastRow()-1,7);
var dA=drg.getValues();
var crg=sh.getRange(2,7,sh.getLastRow()-1,1);//save that event was created in column G
var cA=crg.getValues();
for (i=0;i<dA.length;i++) {
var shift=dA[i];
var title=shift[0];
var startTime=shift[1];
var endTime=shift[2];
var guests=shift[3];
var description=shift[4];
var location=shift[5];
if(!shift[6]) {
var event={'location': location,'description': description,'guests':guests +',','sendInvites': 'True'}
eventCal.createEvent(title, startTime, endTime, event)
cA[i][0]="CREATED";//keeps this event from being created again
}
}
crg.setValues(cA);
}
Situation
I have a calendar with a lot of events on it (staff appraisals).
I've made a load of modifications (changing the length of the event etc.) but the invitations are going to people who have a lotus notes calendar (poor people).
This means that unless I trigger what would be called "Send notification?" in the click-with-your-mouse version of things, they have no way of knowing that the event has been updated.
(Similar Q)
In this example, the event I'm trying to trigger is the same one as is triggered when the Send Update? modal is accepted with send.
Code
Here's some example code that gets all the events on the Appraisals calendar and changes their location to 'the moon'.
function fixInvitations(){
//get the callendar named "Appraisals"
var cApp = CalendarApp.getCalendarsByName("Appraisals")[0];
var events = cApp.getEvents(new Date(), new Date("Dec 30 2014"));
for (eIndex in events){
var event = events[eIndex];
event.setLocation("the moon");
}
}
Question
How do I trigger an update to all parties invited to an event so that the changes are reflected in their calendars?
Currently these events are now on the moon, but the update hasn't told people who are on non-Google calendars about the change.
Helpful, but not that helpful fact
The update email that manually triggering sends contains a .ics file (Gist of the contents). This contains a VCALENDAR and a VEVENT. From the Wikipedia page on VEVENTs
For sending an UPDATE for an event the UID should match the original UID. the other component property to be set is:
SEQUENCE:<Num of Update>
I.e., for the first update:
SEQUENCE:1
So if there was a way to manually build an email with a .ics attachment it would solve the problem, but that feels like massive overkill. This is mentioned here but not resolved.
The Google Calendar API supports the flag sendNotifications for event updates:
https://developers.google.com/google-apps/calendar/v3/reference/events/update
I would file a feature request for App Script to expose the flag and in the meantime use the Calendar API directly for updating events just like an external API:
https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/services/external
I was struggling with this one a bit and got some help from ekoleda+devrel#google.com: Ability for Calendar to send email invitation to users added via addGuest http://code.google.com/p/google-apps-script-issues/issues/detail?id=574
A couple of pointers to hopefully save people some time:
Note that CalendarApp and the Advanced Calendar service use different
event ID formats:
CalendarApp returns event IDs with "#google.com" at the end ex. b3gv...a5jrs#google.com
The Advanced Calendar service/Calendar API expects an event ID that does not have #google.com ex. b3gv...a5jrs
Here's some working code:
function sendInvite(calendarId, eventId, email) {
var event = Calendar.Events.get(calendarId, eventId);
if(event.attendees) {
event.attendees.push({
email: email
});
} else {
event.attendees = new Array({email: email});
}
event = Calendar.Events.patch(event, calendarId, eventId, {
sendNotifications: true
});
}
One final note for those following along - you won't receive an email notification if you're the event owner and you're trying to add your own email address. This makes sense in the calendar world since you wouldn't go into your own calendar event, add yourself as an attendee, and expect to be prompted as to whether or not you want to inform yourself. However, it's probably a common way for people to try and test things (I don't have a domain test account and I can't always reliably test things with my personal gmail account). So if you're testing with your own account and thinking that things aren't working please keep this in mind. Once you try things with a non-event owner account the invite will be sent via email.
I think one solution is to create a spreadsheet with the column headers: Event ID, Event Name, Description, Start Time, End Time, Location,Guest List, and then add this script to the spreadsheet. calendarImport() will import all of your calendar events and write them to the sheet. Then, you can modify the event in the spreadsheet line (change location to the Moon), and run calendarCreateEvent to create a new event based on the changes you made. It will automatically send out notifications to all old attendees to accept the new event, as it is a new invitation.
I am pretty close to that solution, but I have a hangup, now, on accessing the calendar to create a new event. I think it's because I'm calling it from an onEdit event function. It's getting late, but if you rewrite the third part of the script to get the events data range, then a for/if loop to check the added versus modified date, then you should be able to create a new event, and delete the old event. This would push a notification of the change in event details to everyone who had accepted the old event already.
I think, given the code example you put up in the beginning, you probably already know how to do that, but if you don't, I could probably throw something together tomorrow night to search for old events that have been recreated and delete them.
Here's my spreadsheet and code in action.
function calendarImport(){
//http://www.google.com/google-d-s/scripts/class_calendar.html#getEvents
// The code below will retrieve events between 2 dates for the user's default calendar and
// display the events the current spreadsheet
var cal = CalendarApp.getDefaultCalendar();
var calId = cal.getId();
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var sheetName = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().setName(calId +" Calendar Data");
var events = cal.getEvents(new Date("March 9, 2014"), new Date("March 14, 2014"));
for (var i=0;i<events.length;i++) {
//http://www.google.com/google-d-s/scripts/class_calendarevent.html
Logger.log(events);
var details=[[events[i].getId(),events[i].getTitle(), events[i].getDescription(), events[i].getStartTime(), events[i].getEndTime(),events[i].getLocation()]];
var guestList = events[i].getGuestList();
var guestArray = [];
for (var n in guestList){
var guestEmail = (guestList[n].getEmail());
guestArray.push(guestEmail);
Logger.log(guestArray);
}
var row=i+1;
var range=sheet.getRange(row+1,1,1,6);
range.setValues(details);
var guestRange = sheet.getRange(row+1,7,1,1);
guestRange.setValues([guestArray]);
var dateAdded = Utilities.formatDate(new Date(), "GMT-6","MM/dd/yy HH:mm:ss");
var dateAddedRange = sheet.getRange(row+1,8,1,1);
dateAddedRange.setValue(dateAdded);
}
}
function onEdit(event){
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var calId = CalendarApp.getDefaultCalendar().getId();
var sh = ss.getSheetByName(sheetName);
var actSht = event.source.getActiveSheet();
var actRng = event.source.getActiveRange();
var index = actRng.getRowIndex();
Logger.log(index);
var dateCol = actSht.getLastColumn();
var calId
var lastCell = actSht.getRange(index,dateCol);
var date = Utilities.formatDate(new Date(), "GMT-6", "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
lastCell.setValue(date);
var modifiedRow = sh.getRange(index,1,1,ss.getLastColumn()).getValues();
Logger.log(modifiedRow[0][7])
if (modifiedRow[0][7] < modifiedRow[0][8]){
var firstAdded = modifiedRow[0][7];
var dateModified = modifiedRow[0][8];
calendarCreateEvent(index,firstAdded,dateModified,calId);
}
}
function calendarCreateEvent(index,firstAdded,dateModified,calId){
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var added = firstAdded;
var modified = dateModified;
var startRow = index; // First row of data to process
var calId = calId;
Logger.log(calId);
Logger.log(startRow);
Logger.log(added);
Logger.log(modified);
if (modified - added > "0"){
var numRows = 1; // Number of rows to process
var dataRange = sheet.getRange(startRow, 1, numRows, 9);
var data = dataRange.getValues();
var cal = CalendarApp.getCalendarById(calId);
for (i in data) {
var row = data[i];
var eventId = row[0]
var title = row[1]; // First column
var desc = row[2]; // Second column
var tstart = row[3];
var tstop = row[4];
var loc = row[5];
var guests = row[6];
//cal.createEvent(title, new Date("March 3, 2010 08:00:00"), new Date("March 3, 2010 09:00:00"), {description:desc,location:loc});
var newEvent = cal.createEvent(title, tstart, tstop, {description:desc,location:loc, guests:guests});//.addGuest(guests);
var newEventId = newEvent.getId();
Logger.log(newEventId);
}
}
}
I got an email from Gooogle today saying that they've added a feature to app script that makes this possible.
Updates:
Status: Fixed
Owner: ekoleda+devrel#google.com
Labels: -Priority-Medium
Comment #11 on issue 574 by ekoleda+devrel#google.com: Ability for Calendar to send email invitation to users added via addGuest
http://code.google.com/p/google-apps-script-issues/issues/detail?id=574
This is now possible using the Advanced Calendar service:
https://developers.google.com/apps-script/advanced/calendar
You can use Calendar.Events.patch() to add attendees, and if you set the optional parameter sendNotifications to "true" the attendees will get an invite.
https://developers.google.com/google-apps/calendar/v3/reference/events/patch
I'm going to try to solve this problem today and then edit this response to reflect that.