Create recurring calendar events in mobile calendars

Based on user inputs, I want them to be able to create recurring events that they can add to their native mobile calendar. Is this possible with glide?

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I was literally about to ask the same question :slight_smile:

At this point in the evolution of Glide that is not something that can be done. There is no real back end calculation logic that would make this possible now in Glide. Yes it can do math and create virtual columns of data based on this math but not actually create new rows of data. That leaves any logic back in Google Sheets. Maybe someone has figured out a way to do this with just sheet formulas but I think it would be difficult and have limitations. I can think of a few options but each would require some Google script code to pull off.

First would be to send all created calendar events to a Google calendar and let the Google calendar deal with these reoccurring events. The resultant events from the Google calendar would be imported back into a sheet which would be the one displayed in the app. I have not done the export myself yet, but do import nightly from a Google calendar into one of my Glide apps. The export logic wouldn’t be that much different from the import and there are a lot of cross functions available to connect the sheet to the calendar.

Second would be to write all of the calendar and reoccurring logic, again using Google scripting (javascript), in the script attached to the spreadsheet. This logic would create those reoccurring events. The would be significantly more difficult that the first option.

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Thanks, George. Do you know if this is in the Glide roadmap for any time soon?

Sorry I have no idea if it is or not. If it is however I would believe it is at the bottom of the list, but again I’m just speculating.

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Hi guys. I have been hoping that 2-way calendar sync is on the roadmap as it’s a key feature I need.

Abix - Would you be able to create a video of how you have structured your spreadsheet/app as your solution looks like a potential work around for now. I haven’t used columns before.

With the app that I have that needs 2-way sync I know I have all of the details available within the app. I.e.
User email address
User Google calendar URL (you can get this from within Google Calendars to allow input.
Appointment title
Appointment UID (from Glide)
Appointment start time
Appointment duration

I am sure a piece of Google script could be written to be running in the background to sync new and any changes but I have no idea where to start as I’m not a programmer (hence using Glide apps!).

Thanks

George,

Would you be able to share some more details of how you achieve the import/export.

Assume I know nothing about programming and you’d be near my level of understanding!

Thanks

I just did a Google search and found this article https://opensource.com/article/19/1/automate-calendar. When I did a pull from a Google Calendar to a sheet I googled it and found some code that I modified.

Sharing more detail about code to someone who has no understanding of programming is kind of an oxymoron. Coding is all about details, which would not be understood by someone how has no knowledge. In any event take a look at the article and see if they do a good or bad job of dumbing it down to understand. If it’s too deep, do another search and keep looking at examples. I’m sure there are 100’s if not thousands of them. Good luck!

I was just thinking of this the other day too. Using Zapier, managed to at least import new calendar events from Google calendars to sheets (for all future events)…but if the repeating event is canceled the sheet still retains the rows that were created.

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Thanks George. I had found the same article actually and yes - It’s beyond me!

I’ll keep digging.

Thanks

Hello,

By any chance, would there have been an evolution since that makes it possible to add recurring dates (Birthdays for example) in the same calendar. I was told how to automatically generate anniversary dates for the following years: 2023, 2024, 2025 but this adds the dates in new columns and I don’t know how to insert them into the calendar.

Can I create a column that aggregates several dates for the same event: anniversary date 2022, anniversary date 2023, anniversary date 2024 and use this grouped column as a “date” field for my calendar. If yes, how to do please?
Thanks

This is doable, but I have a question: do you actually need the dates for multiple years to show up in the calendar at the same time? Or would it be good enough to just show the anniversary dates (dynamically generated) for the current year? Either way would be possible, but the approach for each might be slightly different.

Hello Darren,
Indeed, I would like to be able to offer a view on the current year and if possible on the following 2 years, therefore 2022, 2023 and 2024 for birthdays, wedding anniversaries in particular.
Is there a solution to take into account all these upcoming dates in the calendar?
Thank you
Florence

What I would suggest is just show one year at a time, and use a choice component to switch years.

I made a small demo app to demonstrate how I would do it. You can make a copy and see if that would work for your use case.

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Thank you very much Darren, it indeed works :slight_smile:
The problem is that I don’t only have birthday dates to integrate into this calendar, I also have “punctual” dates.
When the user wants to add an event:

  • either he adds a date of birth (DOB) = a birthday date that will be recurrent
  • or he adds a “single” date (date-event) like wedding, baptism, etc… in this case the event will not be repeated in the calendar thereafter.

I tried to create a new column “All-date” with this rule “if DOB is empty, then Date-event”, “else mth/date-selected-year” but display calendar by year 2022 / 2023 / 2024 does not work anymore. Do you see a solution ?

yes :wink:

  • Add a boolean column for the user to indicate if the event is recurring or not (true == yes)
  • Add a math column to extract the year from the event date
  • Add an if-then-else column to decide if the row should be visible or not:
    – If recurring is true, then true
    – If event year equals selected year, then true
  • Use the if-then-else column values as a filter for the calendar

I’ve made the above changes to the demo app.

Many thanks Darren, I managed to solve this part thanks to you, finally I believe :wink: Another question, and not least, is it possible with this new configuration to add a “+” button so that the user can add new dates to his calendar? I don’t see the option “Allow users to add items” anymore
Thanks
Florence

[image]

yeah, that’s because I used a Details layout instead of a List layout in order to accomodate the choice filters. All you need to do is add a button - floating button works well - with a Show Form Screen action.

I just added that to the demo so you can see.

Perfect Darren, it works !
Thanks so much for your help