[Orgmode] Google calendar to org mode script and a feature request for agenda

[Eric S Fraga]

Hello,

I finally got myself an Android phone (and am loving it, especially
with an "all you can eat" data plan :-).  I have tried mobileorg for
Android but it's obviously early days and it's actually not really
what I want.

However, I am very happy with the Google syncing provided by the
phone, both for email and for the calendar.  This has caused me to
revisit the possibility of a smoother integration between Google's
calendar and org-mode.

First, I have created an awk script (yes, I'm dating myself: I do use
awk in preference to perl et al.) which allows me to convert the iCal
export from Google calendar to a sequence of org headlines (see
attached).  It's a preliminary version and seems to translate what I
need: simple day and timed events, mostly those that I will tend to do
on the phone as opposed to when I'm at my computer.  I'm not trying
for a comprehensive translation program here...  but I'm putting it on
the list in case anybody finds it useful.

I use this script as follows:

   wget [address specified by google for my calendar]  --> basic.ics
   awk -f ical2org.awk < basic.ics >> googlecalendar.org

this appends any entries in my specific google calendar to the given
org file.  When I go the other way (creating an ics file from org), I
import the org items into a different calendar on google.  When
entries have been synced, I typically delete the original entries
placed in google to avoid them being downloaded over and over again
[1].

* A feature request: time prompt for insert diary agenda function

Anyway, my increased use of google's calendar, has highlighted a
short-coming (?) of the agenda view (or more strictly speaking, the
iCal exporter): entries in which the time of appointment, say, is on
the headline but the date is on the following line, say, get converted
to "day" events as opposed to day+time events.  I.e. something like

   * 11am meeting with colleages
     <2010-06-30 Wed>

does not get exported as a timed event.  Obviously, the easy solution
is to put the time in the date stamp.  However, I like using the
"insert diary" function in the agenda view for defining appointments
and this doesn't allow the time to be specified other than in a
headline.  Would it be possible to enhance the insert diary function
to prompt for a time (and while we're at it, tags as well)?

Thanks,
eric


Footnotes: 
[1]  it may be possible to use the unique ID for each event to avoid creating 
duplicates... something to look at in the future.

ical2org.awk
Description: Text document

-- 
Eric S Fraga
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