STV Import: Google Calendar for SageMC (v0.4 / May 24, 2007)

[MeInMaui]

Here is the fruit of another joint effort between flachbar (Dirk) and myself. This STV Import for SageMC provides a front-end interface to your Google Calendar account from within SageTV. Dirk did most of the heavy lifting on this one. He created the java wrappers for the Google Calendar API as well as working his magic on additional java methods and various portions of the UI. I worked on the UI and the calculations for moon phase and sunrise/sunset. We hope you guys like it!

You can download the plugin here.

Requirements:

SageTV v6.x, Java 1.6 or higher, SageMC v6.3.x

Installation:

1. Unzip the download into your SageTV folder.
2. With SageTV shut down, open the sage.properties (or sageclient.properties) file and add the following lines and save:

google_calendar/user= ######
google_calendar/password= ######
(Enter your Google Calendar login information in place of the pound signs)

3. Start SageTV and navigate to Import STVi under the Setup menu in SageMC.
4. Import GoogleCalendar.xml (Important Note: Due to limitations in the import utilities, you can only perform the import on the server or on a true client. To use the calendar on and extender or placeshifter, you can then load the SageMC .xml file withthe calendar already imported.)
5. The calendar is accessible from the Calendar Icon added to the Main Menu. Alternately you can add a menu item for the calendar using an available Custom menu item or by using dynamic menus to link to the ‘Calendar’ internal screen.

Features:
1. Events in your Google Calendar are displayed.
2. Add/Modify all-day and time-specific events with a remote control or keyboard in the Daily Planner screen. (Accessed by selecting or clicking on the desired day in the calendar.
3. Display information from up to 3 additional calendars (Must be configured from your Google Calendar account through the web interface)
4. Calculates Sunrise and Sunset times based on the ZIP code you entered for the Weather setup. (Local latitude/longitude coordinates are read from ZIP_CODES.txt in the …\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3\SageMCE\ folder. If your zip code is not listed, you can manually add it and your latitude/longitude coordinates to the end of the file using the same format as the other listings.)
5. The phase of the moon is calculated and displayed for the focused day.
6. Separate assignable calendar cell color highlights for each active calendar’s events. (The initial setting for all calendars is 0x990099 (purple). In the screen shot, I changed the default calendar color to 0x009900 (green))

Navigation:
- Use arrows or mouse-over to move to any cell in the calendar.
- First and last Calendar cells have arrows. Navigating left from the first cell (with left arrow displayed) or right from the last cell (with right arrow displayed) moves you back or forward 1 month, respectively. Arrows can also be clicked.
- Skip fwd/back moves forward or back 1 month, respectively.
- Skip fwd2/back2 moves forward or back 1 year respectively.
- Navigating up from the top row of Calendar cells or mousing over the day headers, rolls out a navigation bar with Forward and Back buttons.
- Pressing the Options key brings up an Options menu where event data can be refreshed and calendar options can be accessed. (Calendar options are also available under the Extras section of the SageMC Options screen)
- Press select or click on a calendar cell to switch to the Daily Planner screen for that date.

Version History

v 0.1
Initial Release

v 0.2

STVi changes

Added parsing of events when downloaded in 24hr format
Added option for shortened inline event display (only displays start time and event description)
Disabled 'shrink to fit' for inline event text and made font size user configurable in options menu
Changed inline event display logic. Will now display more than one event per calendar (displays up to 6 total events inline at default font size).
Added heirarchy to options menu to allow for more options than can fit in two columns
Toggle info panel display (can be mapped to Info or Custom1-5 keys and also added to options menu)
Made Info Panel event font size user configurable
Added enable/disable option for each custom calendar
Added option to enable/disable sunrise/sunset display in info panel
Added option for time display on main menu icon
Added code to allow the user to move the main menu icon location. (Hit options key while icon is highlighted and use arrow keys to move the icon)
Made Daily Planner event font size user configurable
Changed display logic in Daily Planner so that only items in default calendar will be shown
Added date display to the start/stop times when adding/modifying and event in Daily Planner
Disabled video preview in Calendar and Daily Planner screens

calendar.jar changes (Thanks Dirk!)

Increased event download limit from 25 to 1000
Changed user/password properties to google_calendar/user= and google_calendar/password= (Note: The old user/password location is still recognized. There is no need to change this if already entered.)


Selectable Calendar Icon on Main Menu (upper left)


Main Calendar screen


Navigation Bar visible


Daily Planner screen


Event entry dialog

[nielm]

Wow. That looks impressive...
Do you have any plans to create something similar for the default STV?

I have just done something which I hate to see -- the first post on an amazing new customization is a demand for some new feature for it... In mitigation, if you do not have plans for a default STV version, May I start work on it myself

[evilpenguin]

Wow! It looks fantastic, great work guys!

[technazz]

Nice!

Ill have to install this.. Good work..

technazz

[MTuckman]

Wow - That is impressive! It put what little I have been working on to shame!


Is this one of the things you were hinting at, that the two of you had been working on?

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by nielm

Wow. That looks impressive...
Do you have any plans to create something similar for the default STV?

I have just done something which I hate to see -- the first post on an amazing new customization is a demand for some new feature for it... In mitigation, if you do not have plans for a default STV version, May I start work on it myself

Hi Niel,

No worries about the feature request.

I had not thought about doing a default STV version. I'll take a look at it. Hopefully it won't be too hard to port over. In the mean time you are welcome to play with it. Just please be kind when you see the mess under the hood. I'm not a programmer. (Though Dirk is, so he has saved me from my most aggregious errors.)

Thanks!

Aloha,
Mike

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by MTuckman

Is this one of the things you were hinting at, that the two of you had been working on?

Yup. This is the big one we've been chipping away at. We started work on this back in mid-December.

Once the dust settles, we already have some ideas for the next project.

Thanks for all of the comments everyone!

Aloha,
Mike

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by nielm

Wow. That looks impressive...

DITTO :-)

[Morgan111]

Great job guys! I had started using google calendar a number of months ago and this will be a great way for us to check our schedules!

[JUC]

Having a slight problem. After I click on the calender I am getting ghosting/overlays. So it displays the calendar page and also my main menu page at the same time....any thoughts. Does it matter where I am pulling my background image from? I'll try reimporting and see what happens from there.

Very cool though! (the calendar part, not the ghosting/overlays)


edit. just tried again. Its actually overlaying over My Menu (i added the calendar link from there)....

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by JUC

Having a slight problem. After I click on the calender I am getting ghosting/overlays. So it displays the calendar page and also my main menu page at the same time....any thoughts. Does it matter where I am pulling my background image from? I'll try reimporting and see what happens from there.

Very cool though! (the caldendar part, not the ghosting/overlays)

It sounds like it can't find the background image file. The safest bet is to name your background image file to background.png and place it in the Images folder. Then make sure that is the file you are pointing to under the SageMC Options menu. I'll have a look at this as soon as I get the chance.

Aloha,
Mike

[JUC]

That did the trick. Apparently I had multiple background images in many places with my paths pointing all over the place. Cleaned it up and all is good. Very Nice!
Thanks,
Juc

[Madcoder]

Wow. Nice work. Unfortunately I can't allow myself to be duped into using a service that will catalog all my activities for everything they can get their grubby hands on. I like the search engine though.

[spike5884]

Originally Posted by Madcoder

Wow. Nice work. Unfortunately I can't allow myself to be duped into using a service that will catalog all my activities for everything they can get their grubby hands on. I like the search engine though.

Yes, according to a recent article you need to watch how you put stuff on your Google calendar.

Corporate data slips out via Google calendar

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by spike5884

Yes, according to a recent article you need to watch how you put stuff on your Google calendar.

Corporate data slips out via Google calendar

Google calendars are created in "Default" mode (which is private) by default. The guy mentioned in the article must have made it "Public" explicitly. Even the article says it's a clear case of user misuse. If you use any kind of public service you should be aware of the implications, this is not limited to Google.

Dirk

[Pretzelboy]

This is really nice. Thank you.

[Hyperbaric]

Wow! Great enhancement Will actually use Google Calendar now.

Wee point... After adding an event, it is shown next to "All day event" on the daily planner screen rather than next to the appropriate timeslot.

Also, any plans to implement reminder features?

[brewston]

I like it too

I've just discovered a free service called goosync that allows you to synchronise the calendar on your Nokia phone (series 60 OS) with google calendar

Is there any easy way to remove the ical alike icon on the front screen ? Id rather just access through one of the custom menus. I'm happy with remove the bits from the XML file and re-import if you can point me to the right bits

Cheers

Tim

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by brewston

Is there any easy way to remove the ical alike icon on the front screen ? Id rather just access through one of the custom menus. I'm happy with remove the bits from the XML file and re-import if you can point me to the right bits

Simply disable "Show Main Menu button" in the calendar options


Dirk

[brewston]

Originally Posted by flachbar

Simply disable "Show Main Menu button" in the calendar options


Dirk

Reminder to self - explore all options before posting on forums