How to set Google Tasks Due Date

Question

How do you set the due date for a task with the google tasks service in apps script?

Tasks Service

Trying to set this value to a given date, but this seems to only update the local value not the server value as tehhowch suggests

task.due = new Date();

How do you update the server? Here is what I tried

var x = {
    due: new Date()
};
Tasks.Tasks.update(x, "MDE2NzI3NTAzNjc5NTQ1ODY5MTY6MDow", task);

but it throws the error

Invalid value for: Invalid format: "Tue Apr 10 20:45:26 GMT-04:00 2018"

---

Completed Project

I used this code to create this project for keeping Google Tasks up to date:

Keep Google Tasks Updated

https://github.com/CTOverton/Keep-Google-Tasks-Updated

Answer 1

In accordance with the Google Tasks API documentation for the Task resource, the due parameter must be an RFC 3339 timestamp. So instead of "Tue Apr 10 20:45:26 GMT-04:00 2018" it should be "2018-04-11T0:45:26.000Z". See related question: Generate an RFC 3339 timestamp similar to Google Tasks API?

This is the same format used by other datetime properties of the task, so if one were to log the task:

console.log(Tasks.Tasks.get(listId, taskId));

Then the due, completed and updated properties, if present, would indicate the required format.

From a native Javascript Date in Google Apps Script, this is easiest done as:

function getExtension(listId, taskId) {
  var now = new Date();
  var deadline = new Date(Date.UTC(now.getUTCFullYear(), now.getUTCMonth(), now.getUTCDate() + 7));
  var newTask = {
    due: Utilities.formatDate(deadline, "GMT", "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'")
  };
  // Since we supply only a partial resource, call .patch() rather than .update()
  Tasks.Tasks.patch(newTask, listId, taskId);
}

Answer 2

Go ahead and give @tehhowch the check but here's a routine made up from the tutorials found in the Task API which is found here which goes through all of your tasks and adds one day to their due date if their current due date is in the past. I've never used the Task API before so the tehhowch's getExtension example was very helpful.

function addOneDayToDueDates(){
  var seconds=1000;
  var minutes=60*seconds;
  var hours=60*minutes;
  var days=24*hours;//this is just my simple minded way of get the millisecond in a day
  var nowValue=new Date().valueOf();
  var taskLists=Tasks.Tasklists.list();
  if(taskLists.items){//loop through all lists
    for(var i=0;i<taskLists.items.length;i++){
      var taskList=taskLists.items[i];
      var tasks=Tasks.Tasks.list(taskList.id);
      if(tasks.items){
        for(var j=0;j<tasks.items.length;j++){//loop through all task in list
          Logger.log('i=%s,j=%s\n',i,j);
          var task=tasks.items[j];
          var dueValue=new Date(task.due).valueOf();
          if(dueValue<nowValue){//date comparison
            var newDue = new Date(new Date(task.due).valueOf() + 1*days);
            Logger.log('newDue=%s,Due=%s',newDue,task.due);
            var newTask = {due: Utilities.formatDate(newDue, "GMT", "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'")};
            Tasks.Tasks.patch(newTask, taskList.id, task.id);
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

@tehhowch I spent some time trying to use the pageToken idea you suggested. I was finally able to see the iterations goto to two after getting upto about 350 tasks spread over 35 lists.

Here's my code: (btw I wish the Apps Script documentation was a little more user friendly. I'm using this reference page and the API Explorer to try to figure it all out. If you see any obvious errors I'd appreciate a comment as I'm always trying to learn more)

 function listTasks() {
  var taskToken;
  var iteration=0;
  var opts={pageToken:taskToken,maxResults:100};
  do{
    iteration++;
    var myLists=Tasks.Tasklists.list(opts)
    if(myLists.items){
      for(var i=0;i<myLists.items.length;i++){
        var item=myLists.items[i];
        Logger.log(item.title + '\n' + item.id + '\n');
        var myTasks=Tasks.Tasks.list(item.id)
        if(myTasks.items){
          for(var j=0;j<myTasks.items.length;j++){
            Logger.log(myTasks.items[j].title + '\n');
          }
        }else{
          Logger.log('No tasks for ' + item.title + '\n');
        }
      }
    }
    Logger.log('Get Page Token ' + 'Iterations: ' + iteration);
    opts.pageToken=myLists.nextPageToken;
  }while(opts.pageToken);
  Logger.log('End of Function');
}