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ttist25

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Automatically import ical file in Google Calendar

Hello.  

I'm using a piece of software called ThinkingRock.  It's a Java application for managing GTD methodology.  The software will export to an ical format file which can be imported into my Google Calendar.  

I have done this successfully manually, but wondered if there might be a way to do this automatically.

Now - which category does this fit neatly into ....... hmmmmm???  I'm open to suggestions on where this might better be posted.

TIA
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scrathcyboy
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See these to auto sync them --

gcaldaemon.sourceforge.net/usage13.html
gcaldaemon.sourceforge.net/usage16.html
www.timegnosis.com/content.php?importing
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ttist25

ASKER

Thanks scratch.  I've downloaded and installed it and tried to wing the setup.  I got a bunch of errors when when I ran the sync bat.  

The last few lines have the following:
ERROR | Unable to load calendar!
java.lang.exception: Invalid iCal file: http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/example%40gmail.com/private- and then a bunch of gibberish I'm assuming is an encrypted login or something then /basic.ics

THen it says "synchronization finished" but (not surprisingly)  the Google calendar is not updated.

Have you personally used the combination of GCALDaemon and ThinkingRock (v2) together?  

Thanks again for your response.
No I haven't sorry, but from what I have heard, many have got it to work.  It looks like the problem is simply in your systems ability / inability to upload with the java applet -- all of this uploading happens with Java applets.    I think just updating the JAVA install on your machine will solve this, that is my best guess.  It is not easy to find where to get these new JAVA versions -- basically SUN makes them, and I do know they come with a download of the free open office package -- www.openoffice.org -- you can also get them from www.sun.com -- kinda hard to find, but they are there.  It won't just to update JAVA, set a restore point before you do if you are uncertain.  THen try it again.  Maybe Thinking rock has the latest Java update, I don't know, you could check the version against what google requires.

It simply might not be possible to automate this.  Most of these apps require a point and click mentality, and google is as bad as the rest, they assume everything is done by point and click, and automate nothing.
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ASKER

I managed to get Google Calendar to pull from a file on my hosted shared web server.  I think if I could use some sort of FTP daemon that would upload the iCal file every 10 minutes or so I'd bee happy.

Have any ideas how I could do that - maybe even with a batch file?
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scrathcyboy
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Here's what I ended up doing:

I'm using WebSynchronizer (open source from sourceforge.net) to upload my .ics file to my FTP server.  WebSynchronizer has a built in scheduler and I've got it set to upload every 10 minutes.

In Google calendar I added a new calendar using "Add --> Add by URL" and typed in the URL to the .ics file.  Seems to be working well thus far.  

Although I'm just overwriting the remote file right now, WebSynchronizer has the ability to synchronize remote to local as well as local to remote.  I might try tht later.  I might also try using FireDaemon to run WebSynchronizer as a service.  

Thanks for the help!
excellent solution !!   It will help lots of people in the future, these questions go into a database that can be searched by others down the line.  WEbSynchronizer sounds like a great program.  Good luck.