GCal Binding

Note that the current state of the binding in unclear. The documentation at the end refers to the Google API change in November 2014 and also links to repo describing how to implement a temp fix. However the binding included in the main distribution has not been updated.

There is an alternative binding using CalDAV.

An alternative method to schedule events is to setup the my.openHAB binding and use the openHAB/Google Calendar channels on IFTTT to trigger openHAB.

Documentation of the Google Calendar IO-Bundle

Introduction

If you want to administer events in Google Calendar that will be executed by openHAB this bundle will do the job. See the following sections on how to configure the necessary data and how to obtain the GCal URL.

Calendar Event Configuration

The event title can be anything and the event description will have the commands to execute.

The format of Calendar event description is simple and looks like this:

start {
  send|update <item> <state>
}
end {
  send|update <item> <state>
}

or just

send|update <item> <state>

The commands in the start section will be executed at the event start time and the end section at the event end time. If these sections are not present, the commands will be executed at the event start time.

As a result, your lines in a Calendar event might look like this:

start {
  send Light_Garden ON
  send Pump_Garden ON
}
end {
  send Light_Garden OFF
  send Pump_Garden OFF
}

or just

send Light_Garden ON
send Pump_Garden ON

Obtain the calendar URL

openHAB must be configured with your google calendar of choice. The URL has to be configured in your openhab.cfg. The following cases are supported:

1. URL, username, password (Calendar Address)
2. URL (Private Address)

Alternative 1: To obtain the google calendar URL using username/password

• fill in gcal:url gcal:username, gcal:password in openhab.cfg
• login in to https://www.google.com/calendar/
• click "Settings" (under "My calendars") -> <your calendar>
• find the calendar URL in in heading "Calendar Address" -> "XML". The URL for will be something like this: https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/[email protected]/public/basic
• copy the given url and replace "basic" with "full". Note: if you want to write entries to your calendar (via gcal persistence for example), "public" must also be replaced with "private".

The final URL should be similar to: https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/[email protected]/private/full

Google added a new security feature which needs to be disabled for this method to work. Go to https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps and allow access for less secure apps.

Alternative 2: To obtain the google calendar URL without password (only for reading !!):

• only gcal:url should be used in openhab.cfg
• login in to https://www.google.com/calendar/
• click "Settings" (under "My calendars") -> <your calendar>
• find the calendar URL in in heading "Private Address" -> "XML". The URL for will be something like this: https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/[email protected]/private-da2412ef24124f151214deedbeef1234/basic
• copy the given url and replace "basic" with "full".

The final URL should be similar to: https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/[email protected]/private-da2412ef24124f151214deedbeef1234/full

Presence Simulation

The GCal persistence bundle can be used to realize a simple but effective Presence Simulation feature (thanks Ralf for providing the concept). Every single change of an item that belongs to a certain group is posted as new calendar entry in the future. By default each entry is posted with an offset of 14 days (If you'd like to change the offset please change the parameter gcal-persistence:offset in your openhab.cfg). Each calendar entry looks like the following:

• title: [PresenceSimulation] <itemname>
• content: > if (PresenceSimulation.state == ON) sendCommand(<itemname>,<value>)

To make use of the Presence Simulation you have to walk through these configuration steps:

• make sure that you are using the correct openHAB release (at least 1.0.0-SNAPSHOT)
• configure the gcal-persistence bundle by adding the appropriate configuration in your openhab.cfg. All entries start with gcal-persistence. You must at least add the username, password and url. Get the url using the 'alternative 1' method. The url must end with "/private/full".
• make sure your items file contains items that belong to the group PresenceSimulationGroup - if you would like to change the group name change it at gcal.persist.
• make sure your items file contains an item called PresenceSimulation which is referred by the scripts executed at a certain point in time - if you would like to change the group name please change the parameter gcal-persistence:executescript in your openhab.cfg`.
• make sure the referenced gcal calendar is writeable by the given user (google calendar website)

Note: you also need to configure the gcal-io binding (Google Calendar Configuration in 'openhab.cfg') to be able to read the entries from the calendar and act on it!

To activate the Presence Simulation simply set PresenceSimulation to ON and the already downloaded events are being executed. Your smartHome behaves like you did 14 days ago.

A sample gcal.persist file looks like this:

Strategies {
	default = everyChange
}

Items {
	PresenceSimulationGroup* : strategy = everyChange
}

Solving gcal persistence errors:

To solve any issues with any binding, increase the logging. For gcal, add these lines to your 'logback.xml'

<logger name="org.openhab.persistence.gcal" level="TRACE" />
<logger name="org.openhab.io.gcal" level="TRACE" />

• "GCal PresenceSimulation Service isn't initialized properly! No entries will be uploaded to your Google Calendar"

  The persistence configuration is not correct; username, password and url are required. Configuration entries must be prefixed by gcal-persistence:.

• "creating a new calendar entry throws an exception: Forbidden"

  This can have several causes:

  • The username/password might not be correct

  • The url is not correct. Get the url from your calendar settings, in the 'calendar details' at the 'Calendar Address'. Get the XML url. Always use 'https'. Make sure the url ends with "/private/full".

  • If your not using your own calendar, make sure the sharing settings are correct and the user has sufficient rights to create calendar entries.

Restrictions

Since the 17th of November Google has introduced API 3.0 which needs a modified authentication procedure. If you want to use this binding, use the instruction given in the google groups thread: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/openhab/google/openhab/LbqKLEdlDCk/FUy-Q1oNTEEJ

Also, see here for a step-by-step list to enable the Calendar again: https://github.com/fmoor/gcal-fix-openhab#gcal-fix-openhab