Embedding script for Google Calendar text description - google-calendar-api

Question

I am trying to set the description of a Google Calendar event to have a different selected presenter that is chosen in a rotatory manner (it is a slide deck that needs to be presented by a different person each week). The Python script specifying the rationale would work as the following
import datetime
people = ['Person 1', 'Person 2', 'Person 3']
year, week, day = datetime.date.today().isocalendar()
print(people[week_of_year % len(people)])
the resulting person from this calculation would show up in the calendar event description. Is there any tool to do that?

Answer 1

I was not able to find a way to create a recurrent event with different descriptions for each event.
However, I found a workaround for you using Events: patch. You first create an event using Events: insert, get the ID of the event you created with Events: list, and after that, then get the ID of the recurrences using Events: instances. Lastly, you use Events: patch to add the new description.
It might sound long, but I'm adding a sample with explanations on how to use it.
# impor the libraries that you will use for the calendar API
from __future__ import print_function
import os.path
from google.auth.transport.requests import Request
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from googleapiclient.errors import HttpError
# The scopes that we need to use based on the Google documentation
# I added the information in the reference at the end of the answer
SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar',
'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar.events']
# creation of the credential, I use as a base the Google Documentation "Python quickstart"
def main():
creds = None
if os.path.exists('token.json'):
creds = Credentials.from_authorized_user_file('token.json', SCOPES)
if not creds or not creds.valid:
if creds and creds.expired and creds.refresh_token:
creds.refresh(Request())
else:
flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file(
'credentials.json', SCOPES)
creds = flow.run_local_server(port=0)
with open('token.json', 'w') as token:
token.write(creds.to_json())
try:
service = build('calendar', 'v3', credentials=creds)
# The list of people that will be use in each event
peoples = ['Person 1', 'Person 2', 'Person 3', 'Person 4']
number_week = 0
event = {
# Event title
'summary': 'Testing create description',
# A test description will be replaced later, so you can add anything you want to it.
'description': 'test',
# The start and end dates need to be in ISO-8601 date format
# and the time zone needs to be formatted as an IANA Time Zone Database name, e.g. "Europe/Zurich
'start': {
'dateTime': '2022-10-28T09:00:00-07:00',
'timeZone': 'America/Los_Angeles',
},
'end': {
'dateTime': '2022-10-28T17:00:00-07:00',
'timeZone': 'America/Los_Angeles',
},
'recurrence': [
# You can change the recurrence of the event
# for this example is a weekly event, and it has 4 recurrences
'RRULE:FREQ=WEEKLY;COUNT=4'
],
# The list of attendees
'attendees': [
{'email': 'test#email.xyz'},
{'email': 'test2#email.xyz'},
],
'reminders': {
'useDefault': False,
'overrides': [
{'method': 'email', 'minutes': 24 * 60},
{'method': 'popup', 'minutes': 10},
],
},
}
# We use insert to create the event
event = service.events().insert(calendarId='primary', body=event).execute()
# You can use the print in the next line to see the information about the event while you are testing
# print('Event created: %s' % (event.get('htmlLink')))
page_token = None
# Search for the event, using the method list and the event title q='Testing create description'
# you can use any other search key to get the event ID
events = service.events().list(calendarId='primary', pageToken=page_token, q='Testing create description').execute()
# get the ID of the event
for event in events['items']:
# print(event['id'])
id_event = event['id']
# Will search the ID of the recurrences of the event using the method instances
# e.g. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_20221028T160000Z
while True:
recurrences_for_events = service.events().instances(calendarId='primary', eventId=id_event,
pageToken=page_token).execute()
# run the dictionary of each iteration
for recurrence_instance in recurrences_for_events['items']:
id_to_update = recurrence_instance['id']
# I used the next print just to review the IDs of each event
# print(id_to_update)
# Create the new body of the event with the name of the people in the list of peoples
# instead of using year, week, day = datetime.date.today().isocalendar(). I use a simple counter to iterate on the list
body = {
'description': peoples[number_week],
}
# update the event description with patch
updated_event = service.events().patch(calendarId='primary', eventId=id_to_update, body=body).execute()
# print(updated_event['description'])
# next patch in case you have a large recurrence of the event
page_token = events.get('nextPageToken')
number_week += 1
# This will reset the counter, in case the number of people is less than the recurrences of the event
if number_week >= len(peoples):
number_week = 0
if not page_token:
break
except HttpError as error:
print('An error occurred: %s' % error)
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
If the recurrent event has already been created, you only need to use the imports until the number_week = 0, and the part from:
events = service.events().list(calendarId='primary', pageToken=page_token, q='Testing create description').execute()
To the end, you might need to modify the for loop to only run once per recurrence.
Reference:
Python quickstart
Events: insert
Events: list
Events: instances
Events: patch
ISO 8601