Create a Google Calendar Event from Google Sheets Row - google-sheets

Question

I have a dataset in Google Sheets with each row being a job with columns for date, frequency, place etc.
Name # Email Phone Type Freq Date Start End Dur Place ID
Jim 1 xxxxx xxxxx Hourly Weekly 12/12 9am 10am 2 xxxxx Job 1
Bob 2 xxxxx xxxxx By Size Once 12/12 2pm 5pm 6 xxxxx Job 2
Tim 1 xxxxx xxxxx Hourly Monthly 12/12 1pm 3pm 4 xxxxx Job 3
A new job will populate a new row at the bottom. What I would like to automate is that for each new job that comes into the Google Sheet, a corresponding Google Calendar event is created. A couple of cavets:
Events must only be created for jobs with col # equal to 1
Event repeat frequency must be equal to col Freq
Event colour must be equal to #fbd75b
I want the format to be like below for the event (row 3 for example):
Summary
col ID Job 3
Description
col Type "job" Hourly Job
col Dur "Hours" 4 Hours
Col Freq Monthly
col Name Tim
col Email xxxxx
col Phone xxxxx
Location
Col Place xxxxx
Start Date & Time
col Date at col start 1pm
End Date & Time
col Date at col End 3pm
Is this possible using script editor?

Answer 1

Answer
Yes, it is possible
How to do it
Use an onEdit trigger to check if a new job is added
Use SpreadsheetApp to get the necessary information
Use CalendarApp to create the events
Notes
You can add a new column with a link to the event to track the jobs that have been processed.
If you add a sample spreadsheet I can test it and attach you the final code working.
Update
I have written a small code example to help you get started. In this, there are two functions, one to read all the lines of the sheet and one to process each line. This is because the problem has two subtasks: on the one hand to manage the new data in the sheet once it is written and on the other hand the processing of this data.
subtask 1: manage new data
I don't know if you enter the data manually or through some function or with a different method. Nor if it is important that the events are generated just when you enter the data, that's why there are different solutions:
Each time a new row is inserted, check all data and create events for those who have not yet filled in the new eventId column. For this it is convenient to use [triggers][10].
Execute a function at the desired time to check the data and create the remaining events. This can be called from the main sheet via a button.
There are more options, but depending on the workflow you have it will be more convenient one or another, if you explain it to me I can guide you.
subtask 2: create the event with a single line
On the other hand, once a line has been detected as valid to create an event from it, the necessary information must be obtained and processed to create the event.
In the code you can see how I process line by line once I have obtained all the values of the sheet. Most of the code simply obtains the desired values from an array and stores them in variables that will later be used to create the event. The information that requires a little more processing is in obtaining the dates and creating recursive or non-recursive events. Finally, the formatting (color) is applied and the description is added regardless of the type of event it is.
Code
function main() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet()
var values = ss.getDataRange().getDisplayValues()
var lc = ss.getLastColumn()
for (var i = 1; i < values.length; i++) {
var evId = processLine(values[i], lc) // create the event and get id of the event
ss.getRange(i, lc).setValue(evId) // write the id of the event in the last column of the sheet
}
}
function processLine(x, lc) {
var jobType = x[5]
var evId = x[lc-1]
// check job type
if (jobType == 1 && evId == '') {
// summary
var summary = x[4]
// description
var type = x[17]
var dur = x[14]
var freq = x[10]
var description = type + ' - ' + dur + ' - ' + freq
// location
var location = x[15]
// date
var start = x[12]
var end = x[13]
var date = x[11]
// formated date
var eStart = new Date(date + ' ' + start)
var eEnd = new Date(date + ' ' + end)
// options
var opts = {
location: location
}
// SINGLE EVENTS
if (freq == 'Once Off') {
var ev = CalendarApp.createEvent(summary, eStart, eEnd, opts)
} else {
// RECURRENT EVENTS
// CREATE RECURRENCE FREQUENCY
switch (freq) {
case 'Monthly':
var recurrence = CalendarApp.newRecurrence().addMonthlyRule().times(dur)
break
case 'Weekly':
var recurrence = CalendarApp.newRecurrence().addWeeklyRule().times(dur)
break
}
// CREATE EVENT
var ev = CalendarApp.createEventSeries(summary, eStart, eEnd, recurrence, opts)
}
// ADD PARAMETERS
ev.setColor(CalendarApp.EventColor.YELLOW)
ev.setDescription(description)
console.log(ev.getId())
return ev.getId()
}
}
Reference
Simple Triggers: onEdit
SpreadsheetApp
CalendarApp