Profile Aim
Tasker reads your calendar creating a home screen widget via Minimalistic Text. Reacting to a future ‘meeting’ entry, it queries Google to find out the route information and journey time. Using the journey time information and meeting start time, it calculates what time you will have to leave and loads Sav Nav with the preselected route 5 minutes before you are due to depart.
Now FULLY Functional
Whilst creating the ‘Ultimate Alarm Clock’ I wanted the speech engine to read out the details of my meetings for the coming day from my calendar. I was a little disappointed that Tasker did not yet have the functionality to do that and despite delving into the calendar data base files; I could not find a way to achieve it. Damn.
When Tasker is able to read calendar entries in future releases, the tasks described below can be easily adapted to make sure you have a ready to go profile, but in the mean time, and I hope as always, this tutorial is full of handy Tasker tips and tricks…
New to Tasker? Download your free trial here
MT Google Calendar Widget only
If you don't want the AutoNav, I've included a download below with just the MT widget in. There is therefore only limited preparation you'll need to perform:
* Download the Minimalistic Text (MT) Plugin free from the market.
* Following the simple instructions in this link and get the private url output of your calendar in xml format. Remove the https://www. from the beginning and test it in your device's browser.
* At the end of the URL after 'basic' put '?max-results=3&futureevents=true&orderby=starttime&sortorder=ascending' (without the ' ) and that should order the calendar by the next three events.
* Edit action #2, #3 & #4 in GCAppTime to replace the time-zone abbreviation with that relevant to your location. It currently splits at 'BST'. Check the output file googlecal.txt on your storage card if you're unsure.
Head to the download link!
Initial Full Preparation (very simple)
* A Gmail account and calendar.
* Download the Minimalistic Text (MT) Plugin free from the market.
V3 PREP: Following the simple instructions in this link and get the private url output of your calendar in xml format. Remove the https from the beginning and test it in your device's browser. Tasker will be extracting your calendar data from this.
At the end of the URL after 'basic' put '?max-results=3&futureevents=true&orderby=starttime&sortorder=ascending' (without the ' ) and that should order the calendar by the next three events.
So you don't have to change the all the icons I've used, download them directly to your device from here and unzip to folder level inside sdcard/Tasker/.icn
Overview
We are going to use the Google calendar private xml output to provide details of our up and coming calendar events. Tasker will react to a keyword of *meeting* within the title field and extract the relevant details to populate a widget and get your sat nav ready to take you there, loading up when you are due to leave.
First Shortfall (doh!)
Tasker does not yet have the functionality to trigger a profile when a created variable such as %MEETING_DEPARTURE_TIME = %TIME (current time). As a work-around, a new calendar entry is created to trigger the navigation to load.
Secondary Preparation (very simple)
We have to structure the content within the Google calendar so that it is constant. The XML feed will need to be split apart to extract the information we need. Tasker cannot adapt to changes in format, so until you are comfortable enough with the variable splits that take place, you’ll need to follow these instructions.
In the ‘title field’, put this text: Meeting - Bank Manager
In the ‘where field’ you want to put a location that is obvious to Google Maps and wouldn’t give you choices if you put the same query in a browser.
Example: in the ‘where field’, put: Oxford+UK
Do not leave spaces between the location information. Join them with ‘+’ symbols. Post codes work in the UK too, but I’m not sure about ZIP codes etc abroad. Just experiment in a browser first if needs be.
The ‘description’ field (although extracted) is not used in these profiles, so you can populate that how you like.
Ensure you have at least one of the above formatted events and another two calendar entries of any kind.
Installation
Download and import the following 12 tasks:
GCAppLoc
GCAppDesc
GCAppTime
GCAppTit (lol?)
GCGetJD
GCJD
GCJT
GCAT
GCJTMaths
GCNavMaths
GCEntry
GCMT
Download and import the following 2 profiles:
Google-Calendar
Google-AutoNav
The .zip folder also contains the file Google_calendar_mtpref. This should be dragged into the sdcard/MinimalisticTextPreferences folder. It can then be selected in the MT Preference Manager or by selecting the 'restore' option when creating a new MT widget.
Customisation
Set the profile GoogleCalendar to however often you wish to pull the feed.
Edit action #2 in GCgetDatato the URL of your private XML feed. Don't forget drop the https://www. from the beginning and add the URL extension detailed above to the end.
Edit action #4, #5 & #6 in GCAppTime to replace the time-zone abbreviation with that relevant to your location. It currently splits at 'BST'. Check the file Googlecal.txt if you're unsure
Edit action #5 in GCJD to replace the splitter ',UK' with your country. You may need to view this in a browser to see how Google handles this.
Edit action #22 in GCEntry to the calendar you wish to use for the reminder.
That’s it!
Testing
In each of the tasks after a STOP action, I've left in various 'flash' and 'list' actions that I used when creating the tasks. If anything goes wrong, you can drag these up the list to see where/why a task might be failing.
The tasks are numbered in the notification bar, so should something go wrong, you'll be able to see on which task the profiles failed.
Tick the profiles to active them and apply out of Tasker!
Make sure your data connection/wifi is turned on and ‘Use GPS satellites’ and ‘Use wireless networks’ is ticked under ‘Location & Security’ in settings. You’ll be getting a GPS fix, so get ready to hang out of a window!
Press 'test' in the task GCGetData and you're off!
The icons in the notification bar tick down from 11 until the departure time is displayed and then check your calendar for the entry that will trigger the navigation to start!
If you are testing multiple times, you'll need to variable set %GCNAV to 1 each time. If this variable is set to 2, Tasker will ONLY update the MT calendar widget.
Job done….
Tutorial & Task Explanation
Google-Calendar
The initial profile is trigger is time based. You can set it to update how every frequently you want the Minimalistic Text widget to refresh.
GCGetData
First up, this task pulls the XML feed from your calendar. The output is written to a text file sdcard/Googlecal.txt. You can view the file in an explorer to see the data it pulls.
GCAppLoc
Splitting apart the XML feed (having transferred it to a created variable %GCFEED for good housekeeping), we extract the three appointment locations and place them in:
%GCLOC1
%GCLOC2
%GCLOC3
GCAppDesc
As above, this time extracting the description field to:
%GCDESC1
%GCDESC2
%GCDESC3
GCAppTime
As above, placing the calendar entry date and time into:
%GCTIME1
%GCTIME2
%GCTIME3
GCAppTit (lol?)
The final splitting task, that gets us the three titles:
%GCTIT1 (lol?)
%GCTIT2 (lol?)
%GCTIT3 (lol?)
You'll notice at action #18 there is a GOTO IF %GCNAV = 2. This variable is set to 1 when the navigation calendar entry triggers. IF it is still set to 2, then Tasker knows you already have a pending navigation entry and won't create another one. The GOTO skips all of the other tasks and goes straight to refreshing the MT widget with the above data, before stopping.
Assuming %GCNAV isn't set to 2, the task continues and checks if each of the %GCTITs (lol?) MATCHES 'Meeting*' (the '*' being a wild card to allow further body text after). If it does, it sets the main %GCTIT (lol?) to its contents and is told to perform the task %GCGetJD.
You'll note that IF %GCTIT1 (lol?) does match 'Meeting*' the perform task action has a STOP on, so Tasker will not get to consider the contents of %GCTIT2 (lol?) & %GCTIT3 (lol?). This avoids multiple requests for navigation entries.
GCGetJD
If Tasker did find 'Meeting*' in the title fields, a location request is actioned as your assumed starting point (this will change in V3). Once the location information is received, Tasker needs to know which of the three %GCLOC# variables it needs to include in the URL as the destination.
This is achieved by asking on each HTTP GET action, IF the corresponding %GCTIT# (lol?) entry contained 'Meeting*'. Using the same GOTO principle as above, the correct %GCLOC# can be set to %GCLOC and is therefore requested in the URL for the direction details.
The output file is written to SDCard/Journey.txt which you can view with a file explorer should you wish.
GCJD
This task reads from the file Journey.txt and splits it to populate %JOURD with the journey distance.
GCJT
Similar to the above, this time we populate %JOURT with the journey time.
GCAT
Using similar GOTO and IF actions to previous tasks, we establish which of the calendar events is the meeting and populate the information to %CALDTD so we can manipulate it.
The start time of the calendar entry is used for the arrival time and after some variable splits, is set again to %CALDTD
Note: Variable splits can be difficult to understand at first. Often when testing, I add a 'Variable List' action followed by a STOP action after each split. This way I can see what is happening to the data when I split it and the Variable List that appears details all of the parts I may either wish to use or clear for good housekeeping.
GCJTMaths
This is where it started to get a little tricky... As structured as the data is, there are of course many eventualities when it comes to the possible journey time:
Code:
# mins
1 hour
1 hour 1 min
1 hour # mins
# hours
# hours 1 min
# hours # mins
Using the method I described earlier of listing the variables after each split, I had to look for constants and newly created variables that I could use to cope with each eventuality.
For example, the first split I do is at the instance of 'hour'. Looking above you'll see that we could end up with the following:
Code:
# mins ~ will create no further variables
1 hour ~ will create no further variables
1 hour 1 min ~ will create a variable of '1 min'
1 hour # mins ~ will create a variable of '# mins'
# hours ~ will create a variable of 's'
# hours 1 min ~ will create a variable of 's 1 min'
# hours # mins ~ will create a variable of 's #mins'
Splitting further again by the instance of 'min':
Code:
# mins ~ no further variables ~ no further variables
1 hour ~ no further variables ~ no further variables
1 hour 1 min ~ a variable of '1 min' ~ a variable of '1'
1 hour # mins ~ a variable of '# mins' ~ variables of '#' & 's'
# hours ~ a variable of 's' ~ no further variables
# hours 1 min ~ a variable of 's 1 min' ~ a variable of '1'
# hours # mins ~ a variable of 's # mins' ~ variables of '# min' & others
Scrolling through the task, I had to establish which journey time eventualities would lead to which data being populated to which variables! It gave me brain ache, but eventually I cracked with the help of plenty of IF statements and a GOTO action.
The result was having journey time hours (%JOURTDH) and minutes (%JOURTDM) separated into created variables.
GCNavMaths
Knowing my arrival time and the journey time, next up was to calculate what time I would need to depart. Unfortunately, simply subtracting one from the other isn't a possibility. An example arrival time of 14:30 with a journey time of 2 hours and 38 minutes may have Tasker trying to get you to leave at 12:-8; if at any time at all!
It's necessary to first deal with possible minus numbers and such issues as 3 hours before 01:00 not being at time of -2.00
Here's a working example:
If the appointment time is #:30 and the journey minutes are 40, then the we are after a departure time of #:50 rather than -10 if Tasker was left to its own devices. Seeing that the journey minutes are greater than (>) the arrival minutes, this gives us a chance to prevent the minus number occurring by adding 60 to the appointment minutes. This of course has to take place after the appointment time has been split apart into hours and minutes...
Code:
30 + 60 - 40 = 50 ~ The desired departure minutes
Using IF statements to establish whether the above scenarios are true, gives us the opportunity to take the action of adding 60 only IF journey minutes are greater than arrival minutes.. IF not, the action is skipped.
IF we've had to add 60 to the minutes, we can therefore deduce that we need to reduce the hour by 1. The exact same IF action above tells Tasker whether to perform this or not.
When we are finally left with separate departure time hours and minutes we need to variable join them into a time format. As a note, Tasker uses #.# rather than #:# as a time separator. Joining the hours and minutes using '.' would just be too easy wouldn't it... If the departure time is 02.09 in the morning for example, Tasker currently has them stored separately as 2 and 9. Joining them in this state would give us 2.9 which is no good of course...
We solve this issue by joining the hours to a leading zero IF they are less than 10, giving us '02'. We join the minutes to '.0' IF they are less than 10, or just '.' otherwise. We now have 02.09 stored in the created variable %DEPTD. Sorted.
GCEntry
It would be fantastic if the departure time above (%DEPTD) could be triggered when it equals the inbuilt time variable %TIME, but alas, that's not yet implemented in Tasker. The work-around to this is to trigger the navigation to start when a calendar entry becomes active with the departure details contained inside it.
The problem to this is that Tasker only enables you to set a calendar entry using 'minutes from now', so yes our example of 02.09 above is currently useless. I'm sure this will change in future releases so I persisted with GoogleNavMaths despite this, but regardless, next we have to convert the departure time into the number of minutes from now... Oh joy...
It involves a similar practice to GCNavMaths where we split the hours and minutes of the actual %TIME along with our example of 02.09, convert them both into minutes and find the difference between them. For the example below, lets say the current time is 19.38.
Code:
02.09
02 * 60 = 120
120 + 09 = 129
19.38
19 * 60 = 1140
1140 + 38 = 1178
129 - 1178 = !ERROR!
You can see that if the departure time is earlier the next day than the current time, we'll end up with incorrect data. The answer to this was quite simple - IF the departure hours are less (<) than current hour, we add 24 to it.
Code:
02.09
(02 + 24) * 60 = 1560
1560 + 09 = 1569
19.38
19 * 60 = 1140
1140 + 38 = 1178
1569 - 1178 = 391 mins
391 = 6 hours and 31 minutes
6 hours and 31 minutes from 19.38 is indeed 02.09
In practice, it was actually easier to deal with the subtraction of the hours and minutes separately and add them together after, but the principle remains the same.
The end result was having the number of minutes stored in %DEPTDCAL which could be used in the insert calendar entry action, along with %GCTIT (lol?) and %GCLOC.
* Check post 3 for current limitations with this task
GoogleMT
Minimalistic Text is a great application that can display any Tasker variable you send to it. The MT calendar widget backup is included in the .zip file. Once you have it on your home screen, you'll have to edit the font sizes etc to make this look good for you - it's currently fugly.
This task splits out some of the useless data such as the current year and passes the variables you would look to use over to MT.
Google-AutoNav
The profile is triggered by the context of a calendar event becoming active with matching matching variables %GCLOC & %GCTIT (lol?).
GCAutoNav
Finally, this task loads up the navigation at the equivalent of %DEPTD with the destination of %GCLOC. It sets %GCNAV to 1 to let Tasker know it can set another navigation entry should it wish on the next refresh...
And off you trot...
Google_calendar_mtpref
This should be dragged into the sdcard/MinimalisticTextPreferences folder. It can then be selected in the MT Preference Manager or by selecting the 'restore' option when creating a new MT widget.
Download | Change Log | FAQ
Limitations and Shortfalls
1) Have to split via the current month – Needs to be edited every month or use 12 IF variables.
2) Gets current location – may not be where you’re departing from! Need to look at including departure location in 'where' field.
3) A profile cannot currently be triggered by %VARIABLE = %TIME. Pleaded with Tasker Dev.
4) Incoming *meeting* SMS will overwrite the previous data & the widget details. Need some kind of loop to avoid overwriting.
5) Buffer time - didn't include the fact that you may want to leave 15 minutes or so spare...
6) MT widget only receives *meeting* entries. Need to get non-meeting entries into the calendar for a useful widget.
7) Time in seconds until the departure time does not consider days. Python script required to convert date from XML feed format:
'Wed Jun 1, 2011' to '5-30-11' (which is %DATE %TIME). Any volunteers?!
FAQ
Q) I just want to use the calendar widget only. Can I do that?
A) Yes, there's a separate download below.
Q) I have many other Tasker questions, can I post them here??
A) To avoid clutter, probably best to use this official Google group
Q) Where can I learn more about Tasker?
A) The manual and Profiles and step-throughs on the Tasker wiki and you’ll be up to speed in no time.
Change Log
V2
Code:
* Private XML calendar feed used, rather than SMS service.
* Full Google Calendar widget via Minimalistic Text
* Calendar provides default alarm 'buffer time' to navigation start.
* Renamed most tasks
* More intelligent tasks to handle multiple 'meeting' event.
* Prevented multiple navigation entries on refresh by using [B]%GCNAV[/B] set to 2.
V3 - Coming Soon!
Code:
* Profile triggered by [B]%VARIABLE[/B] = [B]%TIME[/B].
* Read departure location from calendar rather than assuming current location
* Python script to navigation events more than 24 hours away
Future Requests
None as yet.
Installation Instructions
Download and import the following 12 tasks:
GCAppLoc
GCAppDesc
GCAppTime
GCAppTit (lol?)
GCGetJD
GCJD
GCJT
GCAT
GCJTMaths
GCNavMaths
GCEntry
GCMT
Download and import the following 2 profiles:
Google-Calendar
Google-AutoNav
The .zip folder also contains the file Google_calendar_mtpref. This should be dragged into the sdcard/MinimalisticTextPreferences folder. It can then be selected in the MT Preference Manager or by selecting the 'restore' option when creating a new MT widget.
Credits: RichardKemp for prompting me to go RSS hunting.
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The thanks meter lets me know I'm appreciated!
Wow!
You're on a roll!!!
Don't need this profile but I'll take a look for inspiration and new ideas.
Check it :-]
Archon810 said:
Check it :-]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Love the Skynet reference! Thank you
At 12:37am BST on May 24th 2011, Tasker became self aware....
leftAlone said:
You're on a roll!!!
Don't need this profile but I'll take a look for inspiration and new ideas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any testers and feedback appreciated!
Sweet, thanks for sharing, I will have a good hunt through this later when I have a moment.
I used to have something similar set up by using google apps script to make a publicly accessible spreadsheet containing my calendar entires, and download that spreadsheet (as a csv) using tasker. Unfortunately this stopped working when Google forced the use of https on all Docs, as neither Tasker nor any other way I could find to do it (I tried curl and wget) would allow https. Any suggestions for this? I would prefer not to use the sms version you mention so as not to clog up my inbox. Another way that almost works is getting the daily email agenda google offers, except Tasker can't access email bodies (only subjects, grr).
I was half considering writing some sort of app to make future calendar data accessible easily to tasker. I may do this over summer.
richardkemp said:
Sweet, thanks for sharing, I will have a good hunt through this later when I have a moment.
I used to have something similar set up by using google apps script to make a publicly accessible spreadsheet containing my calendar entires, and download that spreadsheet (as a csv) using tasker. Unfortunately this stopped working when Google forced the use of https on all Docs, as neither Tasker nor any other way I could find to do it (I tried curl and wget) would allow https. Any suggestions for this? I would prefer not to use the sms version you mention so as not to clog up my inbox. Another way that almost works is getting the daily email agenda google offers, except Tasker can't access email bodies (only subjects, grr).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a quick google on your suggestion and came up with a couple of applications here and here. You've also got me thinking that I must be able to pull a queried RSS feed from the calendar that would support the 'widgets' on the iGoogle home page for example. I'll dig a little further into this, as same with you, I failed when first looking at the 5am agenda email.
EDIT: Your prompting has lead me to this page which has resulted in me being able to get a private url of my agenda in xml or html output! Thank you! Looks like I have another evening of variable splits in front of me.....
I was half considering writing some sort of app to make future calendar data accessible easily to tasker. I may do this over summer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard a few people screaming out for task and agenda synchronisation from outlook without exchange server use. I don't know if someone has cracked this yet, but a CSV export would surely be pretty easy to convert?
This is cheeky, but any chance of getting this to work with TfL?
sabret00the said:
This is cheeky, but any chance of getting this to work with TfL?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which aspect of it? Do you mean train times as opposed to by car?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App
Version 2 Up!
Change Log
V2
Code:
* Private XML calendar feed used, rather than SMS service.
* Full Google Calendar widget via Minimalistic Text
* Calendar provides default alarm 'buffer time' to navigation start.
* Renamed most tasks
* More intelligent tasks to handle multiple 'meeting' event.
* Prevented multiple navigation entries on refresh by using [B]%GCNAV[/B] set to 2.
V3 - Coming Soon!
Code:
* Profile triggered by [B]%VARIABLE[/B] = [B]%TIME[/B].
* Read departure location from calendar rather than assuming current location
* Python script to navigation events more than 24 hours away
FAQ
Q) I just want to use the calendar widget only. Can I do that?
A) Yes, there's a separate download link.
Let me know it works folks!
Glad to have helped in some small way! Also incredibly grateful you actually found a way to make this work, once my exams are over I'll get on it and adapt this to my needs
As a suggestion for further uses for this calendar data, what I use it for is automatically setting the time I need to wake in the mornings. Basically, when I go to sleep I run a task which dims the screen, quiets the phone, etc etc. It also sets my alarm time to 7 hours in the future, *or two hours before my first appointment of the day*, whichever is sooner. Currently this uses a series of alarm profiles/tasks in Tasker, but I switch to Gentle Alarm when Tasker support works.
Again, when exams are over I'll (possibly) write up my 'Alarm in Tasker' solution and post here, with comments on how to integrate with your calendar stuff.
richardkemp said:
Glad to have helped in some small way! Also incredibly grateful you actually found a way to make this work, once my exams are over I'll get on it and adapt this to my needs
As a suggestion for further uses for this calendar data, what I use it for is automatically setting the time I need to wake in the mornings. Basically, when I go to sleep I run a task which dims the screen, quiets the phone, etc etc. It also sets my alarm time to 7 hours in the future, *or two hours before my first appointment of the day*, whichever is sooner. Currently this uses a series of alarm profiles/tasks in Tasker, but I switch to Gentle Alarm when Tasker support works.
Again, when exams are over I'll (possibly) write up my 'Alarm in Tasker' solution and post here, with comments on how to integrate with your calendar stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You certainly gave me a nudge in the right direction!
I'll look forward to your write up and interested to see how you get the alarm to trigger. Good luck in your exams!
Seems like the download for calendar only is 0 bytes. At least for me. I tried 5 times
Jufis said:
Seems like the download for calendar only is 0 bytes. At least for me. I tried 5 times
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just tried and the file won't open for me either. Strange... Thanks for letting me know, I'll repost later when I have access to the files.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App
Jufis said:
Seems like the download for calendar only is 0 bytes. At least for me. I tried 5 times
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Replaced the download - should work now. Thanks again for letting me know
The alarm trigger is a bit hackish.. basically there's two profiles, one runs each hour if the night variable is set, splits %TIME and checks if %TIME1 matches %ALARMHOUR. If so, it turns on another profile which runs every 5 mins, doing a similar thing to check if %TIME2 is greater than %ALARMMINUTES. If true, turn off profile and run the alarm task.
Prior to that version I was using another little trick Pent recommended me (not quite as good though), I had a profile with the context %TIME > %ALARMTIME, but obviously it didn't check the variables and didn't fire. TO solve this there was another profile which every 15 mins (when %NIGHT is set) would set %ALARMTIME to %ALARMTIME. Apparently re-setting the variable like that triggers the check. The first one I mentioned is a bit more efficient. I have considered switching to using calendar event based triggering, but it wasn't immediately obvious to me how I could edit the alarm event's time once set, short of literally editing the event on the calendar.
hi Brandall,
already read me elsewhere isn't it?
FAQ
Q) I just want to use the calendar widget only. Can I do that?
A) Yes, there's a separate download link.
Let me know it works folks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so I can tell that it works about var and MT but... as i am franch speaking and so GC is french xml tags are to be corrected on splitting task ... where - event status and so one... CEST instead BST for continental (gmt+1)
Also as mentionned early in that thread should use some convenience fullfiling the appointment so could easly to get splitting process....
i'm actually on it .
I stay tuned as soon as it is corrected for french speaking I would give back report about mod I have done...
tks a lot very good way to learn how splitting process works
richardkemp said:
The alarm trigger is a bit hackish.. basically there's two profiles, one runs each hour if the night variable is set, splits %TIME and checks if %TIME1 matches %ALARMHOUR. If so, it turns on another profile which runs every 5 mins, doing a similar thing to check if %TIME2 is greater than %ALARMMINUTES. If true, turn off profile and run the alarm task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not too hackish! I like it... Hadn't thought of doing that - At worst it triggers the alarm a few minutes late, and doesn't use an additional calendar entry... I'm really hoping the next release will have the context %VAR = %TIME...
Prior to that version I was using another little trick Pent recommended me (not quite as good though), I had a profile with the context %TIME > %ALARMTIME, but obviously it didn't check the variables and didn't fire. TO solve this there was another profile which every 15 mins (when %NIGHT is set) would set %ALARMTIME to %ALARMTIME. Apparently re-setting the variable like that triggers the check. The first one I mentioned is a bit more efficient. I have considered switching to using calendar event based triggering, but it wasn't immediately obvious to me how I could edit the alarm event's time once set, short of literally editing the event on the calendar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer what you've done to using a calendar entry - It felt messy doing that, although I suppose it can have the appointment title, destination time etc etc in...
I've been using todo.txt touch developed by Gina Trapani and one of its shortcomings would be the lack of reminders whenever a todo is being added. Therefore I have devised a method to have tasker notify you every 30minutes any outstanding todos in todo.txt.
Step 1: Have tasker read todo.txt
We will first create a profile in tasker, lets name it todo. Next add time context (I have mine set to from 10.00 to 20.00 repeat every 30minutes) this would depend on how frequent you want tasker to "read" todo.txt for any todos.
Next add a task lets name it read. Now todo.txt has a file in your sdcard that stores all created and completed todos located at /sdcard/data/com.todotxt.todotxttouch/todo.txt
so we will now add new task>file>read line> location:/sdcard/data/com.todotxt.todotxttouch/todo.txt ; line leave it empty; Var set to:%TODO, click done.
Now for this function, if line is left empty, tasker will read the line after what was being 'read' by tasker in the previous run. If the end of the file is read %TODO will be set to EOF, we don't want that. Also, a completed todo shows up as 'x ddmmyyyy (name of todo)' we don't want that 'read' either.
Step 2: Have next line or first line read if %TODO is EOF/starts with x
Now add another task under read >tasker>stop select IF %TODO!~EOF/x* this would allow tasker to stop 'reading' todo.txt if %TODO~an outstanding todo.
Add another task >tasker>goto action select 1 , this would allow tasker to read the next line or read the first line again if EOF is reached or a completed todo line is 'read' until a %TODO output containing an outstanding todo is reached.
Step 3: preventing loop actions in the absence of oustanding todos
In the absence of any outstanding todos, the file will contain either x ... or EOF, so the task will run in an infinite loop if there is no further condition applied.
We will be using a counter to stop any infinite loops
First add a task>variables> variable clear set to clear %COUNTER, place this task at the top above the task that reads /sdcard/data/com.todotxt.todotxttouch/todo.txt . (position 1)
Next add another task > variables>subtract value set to %COUNTER value=2 if %TODO ~x* place it below the read /sdcard/data/com.todotxt.todotxttouch/todo.txt task (position 3)
Add another task>variables>subtract value> set to %COUNTER value=1 if %TODO~EOF. Place it at position 4 before the stop task.
Add another task>variables>add value>set to %COUNTER value=2 Do not select any if variables. Place it at position 6 after the stop task.
Finally alter the Goto task at position 7 to run action 2 instead of 1 and select IF %COUNTER<2.
The previous step basically prevents the task to continue in an infinite loop by limiting the number of loops to go through the todo.txt file twice.
Now the task list should look like:
1. clear %COUNTER
2. read /sdcard/data/com.todotxt.todotxttouch/todo.txt to %TODO
3. subtract value= 2 to %COUNTER if %TODO~x*
4. subtract value= 1 to %COUNTER if %TODO~EOF
5. stop if %TODO!~EOF/x*
6. Add value= 2 to %COUNTER
7. goto action 2 if %COUNTER<2
click done
Step 4 Create Notification
Last but not least we need a notification to get this working. Create another profile name it reminder (or as you please) set context to when %TODO is set.
For the tasks we will first add a stop function if %TODO~EOF/x*, this prevents your notification from popping up when a completed todo is read or EOF is reached.
Next add in the type of notification under add task>alert>notify sound select to display %TODO and play a custom sound. You may add in notify vibrate if you wish.
click done.
And apply your changes!
**you may wish to test your tasks out before applying**
And thats it!
Have fun todo-ing!
Monk.
can u make tutorial how to use tasker with WhatsApp app
-juanito- said:
can u make tutorial how to use tasker with WhatsApp app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Juanito!
How do you want Whatsapp to work with tasker? I need more information about the task that you want to run.
Thanks and regards
monk.
Would be possible to make location remainders? Location => context of a task
wow i am starting to think tasker is under rated. i love how it replaces so many apps. i have a bunch of profiles and i was missing/wanted a reminder profile. i couldnt find it till now. i hope this works as i want it to!
hi.Heathcliff74 released the wp7RootToolsSDK 0.2.1.0 alpha，i want to test ShellExecute(string a).i post the GUID of App (or the name of app )to the argument,but it doest work.
SO anybody konws the meanings of ShellExecute or the
use of it?
ShellExecute is usually used to "open" a file. Basically, if the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT defines a way to handle a given filetype (for example, .PDF files or HTTP: URIs), ShellExecute can be used to invoke the defalt action on that file or URI or whatever.
It's possible to use it for launching apps, but it's not so easy as what you're trying. There's another API (CreateSession, I think) which is specifically for launching built-in or third-party tasks (apps, essentially).
sorry,there isn't a API named CreateSession ~~~~
You're right, it's actually SHLaunchSessionByUri. It's in aygshell (like many things). It appears to be totally undocumented, but it's what the DllImport project uses.
Of course, I could probably easily enough write an app that handles the "app://" URI scheme; the app would get started and then it would use LaunchSessionByUri to start whatever you were trying to call in the first place. This would also be a way to launch apps from the browser...
I installed the MotoBlur style Atrix Clock HD skin for the EZ Weather app. It works pretty great, except the actual weather application sucks. So using tasker, i intercept the app being opened and i force it closed and then open an app of my choice. Peachy.
Well, all the other apps suck too. The one i like the most is the overlay that comes with HD Widgets.
That said, I'd like to make it so that the HD Widgets' overlay comes up instead of the default app. As you read above, I already know how to do this. The problem is that i can't find the right "activity" (don't know if this is the proper jargon) to launch when i want to do this override. I made a video which shows that i can't find the "activity" that i want. I can select them, but these are all just configuration activities and not the weather activity.
Knowing that a press on the widget produces the weather app, but also knowing that none of the activities reflect that particular desirable screen are showing up when i search them, how can i find the correct activity so that i can point to it using tasker? Or is it something else i should be doing?
no way!! no one knows this stuff???
Angry Black Man said:
no way!! no one knows this stuff???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You want to find the activity of the app coming on ? What is the weather activity you're looking for ? you don't know the name , what does it do ?
The main activity is what's used when the app first opens
It's all there in the video and my description. Keep in mind, I don't know what I'm trying to do which is why I'm asking the question. Carefully read my post and it describes exactly what I'm trying to do and my video shows the impediment to that.
I don't know what it is. The things I see are.
Package ,
cloudytv.hdwidgets
Activity ,
cloudtv.hdwidgets.activities.MainActivity
Component ,
ComponentInfo{cloudtv.hdwidgets/cloudtv.hdwidgets.activities.MainActivity}
@Angry Black Man,
I know precisely what you're asking for, and it's actually surprisingly difficult. Here's the best and most convenient method I've come across for finding the names of the activities in packages.
1. Download and install (even if temporarily) this version of ADW Launcher.
2. Follow this sequence of taps: Menu > Add > Custom shortcut > Pick your activity > Activities.
3. You are now on a screen with a list of all the apps you have installed on your device. This includes in /data/app and /system/app.
4. Find the app that you need the activity name for and tap on its small downward-pointing arrow on the far left side.
5. This opens a list of all of the activities available for the app. Using the labels and your logical reasoning, find out which activity is the one you need.
6a. From here, you have two choices. Choice 6a. (this one) is to tap on that activity, tap "OK", and make a shortcut on your homescreen directly to the activity. Or...
6b. Choice 6b. is to memorize/write down the activity you want to execute in the terminal (remember the period "."), exit the Custom shortcut dialog, open up the terminal and execute this:
Code:
su
am start -n [package name found in /data/app or /system/app]/[activity name you memorized/wrote down]
For example, to execute the activity to start Developer Options, I would use this:
Code:
su
am start -n com.android.settings/.DevelopmentSettings
Hope this helps!
Thank God. Someone with some actual technical understanding! Well, I dove in, but I just couldn't crack this egg. I did see more activities than I was able to get to in my video, but in adw, I keep getting " app not installed" errors. I then installed secure settings for tasker and got to the activities and was able to get one of my Samsung weather activities to work, but I simply can't find the hd widgets activity. I tried weirdly named activities within hd widgets that works crash immediately.. Are there " hidden" activities?
Angry Black Man said:
Thank goodness. Someone with some actual technical understanding! Well, I dove in, but I just couldn't crack this egg. I did see more activities than I was able to get to in my video, but in adw, I keep getting " app not installed" errors. I then installed secure settings for tasker and got to the activities and was able to get one of my Samsung weather activities to work, but I simply can't find the hd widgets activity. I tried weirdly named activities within hd widgets that works crash immediately.. Are there " hidden" activities?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, there aren't - ADW without a doubt provides the full list. However, many activities are dependent upon other ones. They just f/c if you start them individually, but if used in conjunction with other activities, they work properly.
Only problem with that is that the only real way to launch multiple activities at the same time is to launch the entire package (app). This is even harder with widgets, however, because of how they work differently than regular apps. That's why you're getting the "App not installed on your phone" error - because the Android system gets finicky when it tries to launch a widget activity.
I figured out a solution!!!!!
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got it
Okay, so understanding that I had the right "jargon" (the word "activity") i focused my search on this type of word. I even went to far as to ask the developers directly how to trigger the intent:
[email protected] said:
Hi Aaron,
I believe this is tied to an action (my apologies as I don't know the exact code terminology) - the weather app will launch only when you tap on your weather hotspot. Opening the app from the icon will only open the editor. To link this in another app, you'll need to replicate the action of tapping on the hotspot in order to link directly to weather.
Thanks,
Sol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...which didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Useless.
So i keep plugging along. I installed "Secure Settings" which as I mentioned exposed "more" activities in apps, but led to my question of finding "hidden" activities (one's that i simply couldn't find in a menu someplace). Every time i searched "activity logger" on google, i kept finding stuff about keyloggers and *actual* activity loggers. ARGH!
I decided then to search for "adb activity logger" to try and make the search very specific to app design. I ended up at this stackexchange discussion titled "View the Task's activity stack". The accepted solution (God bless stack exchange for not polluting the internet with useless, non-peer reviewed information) suggested using adb to dump all the activities on the device. Further (thank you stackexchange solution comments!!!!!) someone suggested grepping only the information i needed.
On windows, the grep equivalent is "find", so i just made the necessary modifications to the command:
Code:
adb shell dumpsys activity | find /i "cloudtv"
which shat out:
Code:
* PendingIntentRecord{4368c4e0 cloudtv.hdwidgets broadcastIntent}
* PendingIntentRecord{436dfdf8 cloudtv.hdwidgets broadcastIntent}
* PendingIntentRecord{4477ecb0 cloudtv.hdwidgets startActivity}
#19: BroadcastRecord{43cd02a8 u0 cloudtv.UPDATE_TIME}
act=cloudtv.UPDATE_TIME flg=0x10
#19: act=cloudtv.UPDATE_TIME flg=0x10
-> 15158:cloudtv.hdwidgets/u0a259 s1/1 u0/0 +5h16m5s671ms
* ServiceRecord{440b7d68 u0 cloudtv.hdwidgets/.services.WidgetUpdaterService}
app=ProcessRecord{430c05b0 15158:cloudtv.hdwidgets/u0a259}
* Recent #4: TaskRecord{45de8b40 #90 A=cloudtv.hdwidgets U=0 sz=0}
Proc #14: cch+4 B/ /S trm: 0 15158:cloudtv.hdwidgets/u0a259 (cch-started-ui
-services)
C:\Users\User>adb shell dumpsys activity | find /i "cloudtv"
* PendingIntentRecord{4368c4e0 cloudtv.hdwidgets broadcastIntent}
* PendingIntentRecord{436dfdf8 cloudtv.hdwidgets broadcastIntent}
* PendingIntentRecord{4477ecb0 cloudtv.hdwidgets startActivity}
#3: BroadcastRecord{45f650f8 u0 cloudtv.hdwidgets.WEATHER_UPDATED}
act=cloudtv.hdwidgets.WEATHER_UPDATED flg=0x10 (has extras)
#4: BroadcastRecord{45f65008 u0 cloudtv.hdwidgets.WEATHER_UPDATED}
act=cloudtv.hdwidgets.WEATHER_UPDATED flg=0x10 (has extras)
extras: Bundle[{activityState=create, activityPackageName=cloudtv.hdwidgets}
]
#43: BroadcastRecord{43cd02a8 u0 cloudtv.UPDATE_TIME}
act=cloudtv.UPDATE_TIME flg=0x10
#43: act=cloudtv.UPDATE_TIME flg=0x10
-> 15158:cloudtv.hdwidgets/u0a259 s1/1 u0/0 +5h16m28s216ms
* ServiceRecord{440b7d68 u0 cloudtv.hdwidgets/.services.WidgetUpdaterService}
app=ProcessRecord{430c05b0 15158:cloudtv.hdwidgets/u0a259}
TaskRecord{45ef1980 #93 A=cloudtv.hdwidgets U=0 sz=1}
Intent { act=cloudtv.hdwidget.weather.SHOW_WEATHER_ACTIVITY flg=0x10000000
cmp=cloudtv.hdwidgets/.activities.MainActivity (has extras) }
Hist #0: ActivityRecord{443bdf18 u0 cloudtv.hdwidgets/.activities.MainAc
tivity t93}
Intent { act=cloudtv.hdwidget.weather.SHOW_WEATHER_ACTIVITY flg=0x1000
0000 cmp=cloudtv.hdwidgets/.activities.MainActivity bnds=[23,1179][248,1336] (ha
s extras) }
ProcessRecord{430c05b0 15158:cloudtv.hdwidgets/u0a259}
TaskRecord{45ef1980 #93 A=cloudtv.hdwidgets U=0 sz=1}
Run #0: ActivityRecord{443bdf18 u0 cloudtv.hdwidgets/.activities.MainAct
ivity t93}
mResumedActivity: ActivityRecord{443bdf18 u0 cloudtv.hdwidgets/.activities.M
ainActivity t93}
mFocusedActivity: ActivityRecord{443bdf18 u0 cloudtv.hdwidgets/.activities.Mai
nActivity t93}
* Recent #0: TaskRecord{45ef1980 #93 A=cloudtv.hdwidgets U=0 sz=1}
Proc # 0: fore F/A/T trm: 0 15158:cloudtv.hdwidgets/u0a259 (top-activity)
and there, in all that junk, i found:
Code:
Intent { act=cloudtv.hdwidget.weather.SHOW_WEATHER_ACTIVITY flg=0x10000000
A quick search on how to fire activities from tasker, and i had finally solved the problem!
ИΘΘK¡€ said:
@Angry Black Man,
Code:
su
am start -n [package name found in /data/app or /system/app]/[activity name you memorized/wrote down]
For example, to execute the activity to start Developer Options, I would use this:
Code:
su
am start -n com.android.settings/.DevelopmentSettings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does the -n do ? I can start it without using that and don't see anything that it does.
I enter , am start ,
and it shows list of commands for that, I don't see what -n is for.
@ryan012, I actually don't know for sure, but the syntax listed says [-n <component>] about the "-n" tag. You can look for more info here.
Hello friends,
i would like to present my new application: Beacon Locator
it is developed under apache open source license , source code available in my github:
github.com/vitas/beaconloc
The application can scan, locate and track bluetooth LE beacons (Eddystone, iBeacons or AltBeacons) allows you to define actions that will be triggered when a specified event occurs.
So, you need beacons and android with bluetooth 4.0 LE support.
These events are supported:
- Beacon enters a region (beacon in range)
- Beacon leaves the region (beacon is out of range)
- Beacon is near you
For each event you can define unlimited number of actions :
- Start an application
- Open url
- Get current location
- Broadcast intent action
- Set Normal / Silent mode
- Execute tasker app for unlimited action possibilities
For example, you may set a silent mode entering your bedroom...and set normal sound profile leaving it.
More features are coming soon in next release.
Please, do hesitate to contact us if you have some ideas about new features or want to contribute.
Hello,
is it possible to start scanning with a task in tasker?
How can i use the Action Type "Tasker" with "Action parameter" in Tasker? I always get the message "Failed to execute broadcast Task" Thank you
Schatn said:
Hello,
is it possible to start scanning with a task in tasker?
How can i use the Action Type "Tasker" with "Action parameter" in Tasker? I always get the message "Failed to execute broadcast Task" Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, you cannot start scan from tasker. the idea was to execute a tasker's task by beacon action.
you need to provide the name of task from tasker as action parameter.