Thursday, May 3, 2007

Development Resumed

I'm back from my trip and have started my job at Google NY (which is a great place, in case you're wondering). For a variety of reasons, primarily because I want to use it, I've decided to continue development.

Recent changes:
  • Gcal Mobile now works with aps for your domain! (Which means that I can use it for my work calendar, since Google dogfoods apps as its main collaboration platform.)
  • Calendar seems to have changed its time format. Gcal Mobile now respects this.
Existing bugs I'm aware of and am currently working on fixing:
  • Time zone issues for adding events: something is wacky, and I'm not sure what yet.
  • Sorting: the agenda is not being sorted correctly but the times appear to be correct.
Look for more soon!

13 comments:

Dermatology said...

Hi Henry,
I'm really excited about this application because this is exactly what I've been looking for (I've been thinking about coding something myself, but then I ran across this site.) The only hesitation I have is that I need to provide my username and password for my google account, and I'm not sure if this will be sent securely -- and this information could be misused, and I'm paranoid about this because I have a good amount of important data in my account. Do you plan on releasing the source?

hbridge said...

Mark,

Believe me, I understand your hesitation. I do plan on releasing the source soon, but have been to embarrassed of it thus far :)

The reason you need to provide your google account login is for adding events -- downloading your feeds could be done with just the private address, but adding events could not.

You can be sure that your login information is sent securely, I don't think that Google supports unencrypted login: http://code.google.com/apis/accounts/AuthForInstalledApps.html

As for misuse, depending on your type of phone, you may at least be able to verify where the Gcal Mobile sends the information. For example, when I connect on my blackberry it prompts me first about making a https connection to www.google.com (for auth) and then about making an http connection to www.google.com (for downloading the feed).

This gives you some indication of where the info is going, but I'd be lying if I told you it ensures that it's not being misused -- I could be uploading your info to my google account, for example.

My recommendation for now would be to setup a new proxy google account and share feeds from your existing calendar with it as you see fit. This will limit the data you expose and prevent the application from doing damage to your valuable data (which could happen even if I'm not malicious). The only major downside is that you won't be able to add events directly to your main calendar -- they'll go into your proxy calendar. However, you could share your proxy with your main so that you at least see the events in your main calendar.

Hope this helps in the meantime, I'll have my hideous code up on sourceforge in the next couple of weeks. :)

Billy Coleman said...

Henry,

I'm glad to see that you are going to continue development on the calendar sync app. I am evaluating the Google Apps as a replacement for our 30 person office mail and calendaring tool. We have several users of Blackberries and the inability to sync with Google Calendar and Contacts is still a big hurdle to overcome.

I do have a problem with the 0.1.9.3 release (bleeding edge). I get a 401 error in the logs. Something about "Could not download feed list". I have tried this with my gmail account as well as my gApps account. Neither work. Neither account has public calendars available. Does this make a difference?

Congrats on your new employment! Keep up the good work.

hbridge said...

Billy,

Glad you've decided to try Apps for your Domain and Gcal Mobile! First a disclaimer: Gcal Mobile is not a sync solution for Google Calendar, it's a standalone application that lets you view and add events to your google calendar. If you're looking for a sync solution, check out the links section of my project page (http://gcalmobile.googlepages.com)

Sorry you're having trouble with Gcal Mobile. A 401 error is an "Unauthorized" error. Try going into "Settings" and re-entering your login info, then click the "Login" button (not "OK"!) Does a screen pop up and say your login information is correct or incorrect?

Billy Coleman said...

Henry,

The login is successful. It's just the feeds download that doesn't work. Is there something about calendar sharing that I may need to set? What is the URL that your app is trying to load? Oh, probably doesn't matter, but we our BB's run thru our BES.

I realize that this app does not sync calendars, just permits viewing and posting to the google calendar. Baby steps :)

My thought is that if our company went to gApps, then we would probably not need the Lotus Notes mail server nor the BES. However, using native BB apps vs web access is probably a requirement.

I don't think that the gApps is quite ready to replace what we currently use, but I do want to keep an eye on it.

owen said...

Do you know if there are problems with verizon blackberrys? I have tried putting my username and password in several times. when I hit login on the menu I get "Could not login. Please check your account info..."

are there any password characters that might not be compatible with your software? Are there any settings that I should check on my blackberry?

owen

owen said...

this is my Event Log

WindowManager initialized successfuly.
gCalFeedLocator: getting feeds...
gAuthenticator: could not authenticate.
gCalFeedLocator: login failure
gCalAgenda.update: feedList null
Agenda update failed. Agenda updateResult = -2

Unknown said...

The bleeding edge downloads are not allowing me to install. The links are good from my pc, but when I try and access it from my phone I get "Download Failed. This issue has been reported. Please try again later" This has been happening for the past couple of months.

jedipunk said...

When I transfer the jar from my pc to phone the file transfer but will not install. I have a Motorola RAZR. I believe it meet the requirements.

Arno said...

Hi,

seems there is no jad file at the downloads. How to get Gcal Mobile installed then?

Thanks

Arno said...

Ok. I see. Both (jar+jad) are linked under "latest from your phone or latest from your computer". ?

Elad said...

Hi,
Thanks for this great application!

I've downloaded today the latest version.
I own a Nokia N95 (v11.0.026).
I am able to login, and I see the list of my feeds.
However when I try to "refresh" I receive "Could not download agenda. Server respond :bad request".
The log has no error msg.
The last line is :"WindowManager initialized successfully".

Elad.

Beedge said...

hi
have you ceased development or just taking a break?