Using this great answer, I've managed to alter it to create a script to export events from a Google Spreadsheet to Google Calendar.
Create Google Calendar Events from Spreadsheet but prevent duplicates
I then got some great advice, and worked out that it wasn't populating the eventID column due to the error I was getting - "Exceeded maximum execution time" - due to the large number of rows (up to 1000).
Create Google Calendar events from a Google Spreadsheet - script is creating duplicates
I've been looking through answers to try and work out a way to get around this, but can't seem to work out an answer! Apologies - I'm quite new to all this.
Can anyone point me in the right direction, as to how I can either force the script to process beyond the 5 minutes, or anything else?
function onOpen() {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var entries = [{
name : "Export Events",
functionName : "exportEvents"
}];
sheet.addMenu("Calendar Actions", entries);
};
/**
* Export events from spreadsheet to calendar
*/
function exportEvents() {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var headerRows = 2; // Number of rows of header info (to skip)
var range = sheet.getDataRange();
var data = range.getValues();
var calId = "pma5g2rd5cft4lird345j7pke8@group.calendar.google.com";// use default claendar for tests
var cal = CalendarApp.getCalendarById(calId);
for (i in data) {
if (i < headerRows) continue; // Skip header row(s)
var row = data[i];
var date = new Date(row[12]); // WHC
var title = row[18]; // WHC Title
var tstart = setTimeToDate(date,row[15]);// start time
var tstop = setTimeToDate(date,row[16]);// end time
Logger.log('date = '+date+'tstart = '+tstart+' tstop = '+tstop);
var id = row[17]; //EventID WHC
// Check if event already exists, update it if it does
try {
var event = cal.getEventSeriesById(id);
event.setTitle('got you');// this is to "force error" if the event does not exist, il will never show for real ;-)
}catch(e){
var newEvent = cal.createEvent(title, tstart, tstop); // create a "normal" event
row[17] = newEvent.getId(); // Update the data array with event ID
Logger.log('event created');// while debugging
var event = cal.getEventSeriesById(row[17]);// make it an event Serie
}
event.setTitle(title);
}
// Record all event IDs to spreadsheet
range.setValues(data);
}
function setTimeToDate(date,time){
var t = new Date(time);
var hour = t.getHours();
var min = t.getMinutes();
var sec = t.getSeconds();
var dateMod = new Date(date.setHours(hour,min,sec,0))
return dateMod;
}
The idea is to count the time the script is taking inside the main function and to interrupt it when we reach the limit.
We have to store the row number where we interrupt the script and continue from there on the next run.
Since we don't want to do that manually (how lazy we are :-) we'll set up a trigger to run it every 5 minutes.
Below is a full script.
It will send you an email on each run to tell you the progress... you'll have to remove this line after your test of course (unless you like receiving emails every 5 minutes from yourself !)
You will have to change the calendar ID, the row distribution (I tested it on a sheet with less column than yours) but that will be fairly easy.
function createEventsWithBatch() {
// check if the script runs for the first time or not,
// if so, create the trigger and PropertiesService.getScriptProperties() the script will use
// a start index and a total counter for processed items
// else continue the task
if(PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().getKeys().length==0){
PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().setProperties({'itemsprocessed':0});
ScriptApp.newTrigger('createEventsWithBatch').timeBased().everyMinutes(5).create();
}
// initialize all variables when we start a new task, "notFinished" is the main loop condition
var itemsProcessed = Number(PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().getProperty('itemsprocessed'));
var startTime = new Date().getTime();
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var headerRows = 1; // Number of rows of header info (to skip)
var range = sheet.getDataRange();
var data = range.getValues();
var calId = "h22nevo15tm0nojb6ul4hu7ft8@group.calendar.google.com";
var cal = CalendarApp.getCalendarById(calId);
for (var i = itemsProcessed ; i < data.length ; i++){
if (i < headerRows) continue; // Skip header row(s)
var row = data[i];
var date = new Date(row[0]); // First column
var title = row[1]; // Second column
var tstart = setTimeToDate(date,row[2]);
var tstop = setTimeToDate(date,row[3]);
// Logger.log('date = '+date+'tstart = '+tstart+' tstop = '+tstop);
var loc = row[4];
var desc = row[5];
var type = row[6];
var times = row[7]
var id = row[8];
// Check if event already exists, update it if it does
try {
var event = cal.getEventSeriesById(id);
event.setTitle('got you');
}catch(e){
var newEvent = cal.createEvent(title, tstart, tstop, {description:desc,location:loc});
row[8] = newEvent.getId(); // Update the data array with event ID
// Logger.log('event created');
var event = cal.getEventSeriesById(row[8]);
}
event.setTitle(title);
event.setDescription(desc);
event.setLocation(loc);
if(type=='PM'){
var recurrence = CalendarApp.newRecurrence().addMonthlyRule().times(times);
event.setRecurrence(recurrence, tstart, tstop);
}else if(type=='PW'){
var recurrence = CalendarApp.newRecurrence().addWeeklyRule().times(times)
event.setRecurrence(recurrence, tstart, tstop);
}
data[i] = row ;
Logger.log(i+' '+new Date().getTime()-startTime)
if(new Date().getTime()-startTime > 240000){ // if > 4 minutes
var processed = i+1;// save usefull variable
PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().setProperties({'itemsprocessed':processed});
range.setValues(data);
MailApp.sendEmail(Session.getEffectiveUser().getEmail(),'progress sheet to cal','item processed : '+processed);
return;
}
}
range.setValues(data);// this time we are done !
killTrigger();// delete the trigger
PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().deleteAllProperties(); // clean up properties
}
function setTimeToDate(date,time){
var t = new Date(time);
var hour = t.getHours();
var min = t.getMinutes();
var sec = t.getSeconds();
var dateMod = new Date(date.setHours(hour,min,sec,0))
return dateMod;
}
function killTrigger(){
var trigger = ScriptApp.getProjectTriggers()[0];
ScriptApp.deleteTrigger(trigger);
}
There are various GAS libraries that help you get past the 5 minute execution timeout, using the same idea as @Serge suggested. I personally use the Continuous Batch Library.