Easy Google Calendar Integration with Python.

Ever wished you could automate your Google Calendar tasks using Python? Well, you’re in luck! In this beginner-friendly guide, we’ll explore the wonders of Google Calendar integration using a simple Python script.

Getting Started

Step 1: Set Up Your Environment

Before diving into the code, ensure you have the necessary tools installed. Open your terminal and run the following command:

pip install google-api-python-client google-auth-httplib2 google-auth-oauthlib

Step 2: Authentication

The first thing our script needs to do is talk to Google Calendar. To do this, we’ll use the googleapiclient library to authenticate our script.

from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials

# Define the scope
scopes = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar']

# Set up the authentication flow
flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file("client_secret.json", scopes=scopes)
credentials = flow.run_local_server()

# Save credentials for future use
import pickle
pickle.dump(credentials, open("token.pkl", "wb"))

Building the Calendar Service

Now that we’re authenticated, let’s build our connection to Google Calendar.

credentials = pickle.load(open("token.pkl", "rb"))
service = build("calendar", "v3", credentials=credentials)

Exploring Your Calendars

Let’s dip our toes into the world of calendars. The script fetches a list of your calendars, and we print out information about the second calendar in the list.

result = service.calendarList().list().execute()
calendar_id = result['items'][1]['id']
print(result['items'][1])

Checking Your Events

Next up, let’s see what events are happening in that calendar.

result = service.events().list(calendarId=calendar_id, timeZone="Asia/kolkata").execute()
latest_event = result['items'][-1]
print(latest_event)

Creating Your Own Event

Now comes the fun part! Let’s create our own calendar event. In this example, we’re scheduling a sports event.

from datetime import datetime, timedelta

start_time = datetime(2023, 9, 2, 15, 0, 0)
end_time = start_time + timedelta(hours=4)
timezone = 'Asia/Kolkata'

event = {
  'summary': 'Developer's event',
  'location': '800 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94103',
  'description': 'A chance to hear more about Google\'s developer products.',
  'start': {
    'dateTime': start_time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"),
    'timeZone': timezone,
  },
  'end': {
    'dateTime': end_time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"),
    'timeZone': timezone,
  },
  'attendees': [
    {'email': 'abc@gmail.com'}#fill your friend's email
  ],
  'reminders': {
    'useDefault': False,
    'overrides': [
      {'method': 'email', 'minutes': 24 * 60},
      {'method': 'popup', 'minutes': 10},
    ],
  },
}

event = service.events().insert(calendarId=calendar_id, body=event).execute()

Creating a Custom Event

Not into sports? No worries! Here’s a function that lets you create a generic event based on your preferences.

import datefinder

def create_event(start_time_str, summary, duration=1, description=None, location=None):
    matches = list(datefinder.find_dates(start_time_str))
    if len(matches):
        start_time = matches[0]
        end_time = start_time + timedelta(hours=duration)

    event = {
        'summary': summary,
        'location': location,
        'description': description,
        'start': {
            'dateTime': start_time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"),
            'timeZone': 'Asia/Kolkata',
        },
        'end': {
            'dateTime': end_time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"),
            'timeZone': 'Asia/Kolkata',
        },
        'reminders': {
            'useDefault': False,
            'overrides': [
                {'method': 'email', 'minutes': 24 * 60},
                {'method': 'popup', 'minutes': 10},
            ],
        },
    }
    return service.events().insert(calendarId='primary', body=event).execute()

create_event("2 September 2 pm", "Meeting")

Wrapping Up

And there you have it! A simple Python script that can interact with your Google Calendar. Feel free to customize it, add your events, and explore the world of automation.

Happy coding! 🚀