Meeting created by automatic scheduler not yet in Google Calendar

[Peter DeGregorio]

Hi,

I updated regular meeting schedule and as expected the next meeting was automatically scheduled. However the meeting is not appearing in Google Calendar (after several minutes)

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=h7s1cgh0ogf6jb8gq3obhr9v5i0cdndn%40import.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

This is for http://www.mytowngovernment.org/01085 and specifically http://www.mytowngovernment.org/board?board=ahNzfnRvd25nb3Zlcm5tZW50LWhychcLEgpCb2FyZE1vZGVsGICAgOT7054JDA

(Side question: I've seen board pages have this long hash and also seen them referred to as just a number ... is this documented?)

On the town calendar all the future meetings seem to be populated. On the board page only the next meeting is populated. I want to get at least the next meeting into Google Calendar. What am I doing wrong / not understanding here?

Thank you,

Pete

[Joshua Smith]

On Mar 1, 2016, at 3:35 PM, Peter DeGregorio <peter.de...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

I updated regular meeting schedule and as expected the next meeting was automatically scheduled. However the meeting is not appearing in Google Calendar (after several minutes)

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=h7s1cgh0ogf6jb8gq3obhr9v5i0cdndn%40import.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

The calendar spec is a pull-based system. That means that google has to come back and ask the site for a calendar, and then we generate it.

Google doesn’t ask very often. So you should not expect an update like that to show up any time soon.

See this, for example: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/calendar/VNHydDCukDU

This is for http://www.mytowngovernment.org/01085 and specifically http://www.mytowngovernment.org/board?board=ahNzfnRvd25nb3Zlcm5tZW50LWhychcLEgpCb2FyZE1vZGVsGICAgOT7054JDA

(Side question: I've seen board pages have this long hash and also seen them referred to as just a number ... is this documented?)

Most URLs will have the long string of letters and numbers. There is a numeric interface for boards, specifically to allow them to be embedded on a web site more easily.

On the town calendar all the future meetings seem to be populated. On the board page only the next meeting is populated.

Meetings are only actually created one at a time. So the next meeting is the only one that actually exists. On the “Calendar” page, we also show predicted meetings, so people can plan.

I want to get at least the next meeting into Google Calendar. What am I doing wrong / not understanding here?

They are all in there, so again, this is just a matter of you expecting google to refresh too soon.

If you want to see what’s actually in there, since you’re a coder, just do:

$ curl "http://www.mytowngovernment.org/01085/calendar.ics"

And you’ll see what will show up in Google Calendar eventually. You’ll see that the later meetings are labeled (“regular meeting, not yet scheduled”)

-Joshua

[Peter DeGregorio]

Could this have something to do with the Google Calendar having the setting "Anyone can: See nothing"? Does this mean the calendar needs to be made public? How to do so? 

[Joshua Smith]

On Mar 1, 2016, at 3:49 PM, Peter DeGregorio <peter.de...@gmail.com> wrote:

Could this have something to do with the Google Calendar having the setting "Anyone can: See nothing"? Does this mean the calendar needs to be made public? How to do so? 

*shrug*

I guess that’s a question you’ll have to research on google’s side.

All I do is produce an “ICS” file according to the specification.

What a given program does with those ICS files is outside my control.

-Joshua

[Peter DeGregorio]

Oh I thought the site was using Google Apps Engine and therefore Google Calendar. The ICS address and ID / API key suggested to me that a google calendar back there. It's not something I have any control over is it?

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Peter DeGregorio

(Mobile)

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[Joshua Smith]

On Mar 1, 2016, at 4:09 PM, Peter DeGregorio <peter.de...@gmail.com> wrote:

Oh I thought the site was using Google Apps Engine and therefore Google Calendar.

It uses “Google App Engine” which is a “platform as a service” offering from google that has nothing at all to do with “Google Apps” the office suite.

Google just named two completely different things with almost the same name.

The ICS address and ID / API key suggested to me that a google calendar back there.

I generate ICS files because lots of calendar programs know how to read them. You can drop that ICS URL into the Mac calendar app, for example. Or directly into outlook.

It's not something I have any control over is it?

If you want to embed a calendar, I’d actually recommend that you embed the one from the site in an IFRAME. Just grab the link from the left navigation for your town.

But if you want to use a different calendar program, the ICS feed is pretty much the only game in town.

-Joshua

[Peter DeGregorio]

Oh OK.  I guess this explains why the Southampton town website, which has impressive calendar integration also has a disclaimer which advises going to mytowngovernment.org to be sure. 

The Google Calendar ICS was an easy way to do it. So far WordPress is not doing ifframes for me easily I need to learn that better. 

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Peter DeGregorio

(Mobile)