What you need:

• gcalcli (and prereqs) -  http://code.google.com/p/gcalcli/ (don’t worry. installing these aren’t as difficult as it seems)
• gmail/gcal account
• ical
• Script Editor (comes with your Mac)
• Calaboration – http://code.google.com/p/calaboration/

Install gcalcli using the instructions on the site – when you get it working, make sure you remember where you put the actual file “gcalcli.”

Now you need to get your google calendar and iCal synced up. Install Calaboration and run it after you have a good calendar set up. This will then configure iCal to work and sync with gCal. It should go fairly easily.

Here’s the juicy part. Google Calendar has a slick “quick add” feature that will parse through and interpret text that you enter. For example, if I type “meeting with boss on tues at 8am” it will set up an event called “meeting with boss” to occur at 8am the following Tues. In this case, it would be the 20th of January. You can also add things like “from 8am to 2pm,” and when you use the word “at,” it will even set up the location. Very cool stuff.

So we are going to create a very small Applescript to send such a bit of text to gcal with ease. Here’s the code:


on run

   repeat

      display dialog "Enter event information:" default answer ""

      set eventInfo to text returned of result

      do shell script "/usr/bin/gcalcli --user YOURUSERNAME --pw YOURPASSWORD quick \"" eventInfo & "\""

   end repeat

 

end run

You can test the script by hitting the “run” button and checking your google calendar.

The only important part here is that the stuff after “do shell script” has to be one line, though it is OK if it wraps. the /usr/bin part before “gcalcli” might change depending on where you installed it, and you will need to enter your username and password (no quotes). Fire up GCal when you test the script, and you should know if it is working. Then open iCal, and voila! It is stored locally too!

Once the script is working correctly, you can save it as an application in the “Save” dialog, and then launch it like any other application. I like to use spotlight to launch it, for quicker access.

If you have a bunch of events to add with chunks of the same text (like an event title that is the same but with changing dates), you should be able to just paste it into the script without a problem. Enjoy!