Add to my calendar script

Posted on by primaryt
I needed a simple one click method to create a calendar event that people could put straight into google calendars and outlook, this function supports outlook, google calendars is done w/ a simple google api function/call that should be treated separately.
I need to create these calendar events dynamically when a page is requested, I was looking for a free downloadable javascript or something that would have this bundled in but I couldn’t find anything for free that did what I wanted so here it is..
You have to pass it startdate, enddate & name in the right format, it’s not that complex to figure out..
In this example I’m getting the values from mysql and creating the code from that, a loto f this code is borrowed from http://sgowtham.net/blog/2008/05/26/php-mysql-ical-ics/ – he is mostly to thank.
You will need to modify the 1203 part too to create a unique file name but that should be easy with a little bit of php knowledge. Writing to the file system then reading it back was the only way I knew to do this, feel free to enlighten me of another way.
Here goes:

<?php
$id=$_GET[‘id’];
// MODIFY THIS LINE — I get $id as a param

include ‘mysql_connect.php’;
// MODIFY THIS LINE — include any files you need for mysql to query
?>

<?php
$ics_contents = “BEGIN:VCALENDAR\n”;
$ics_contents .= “VERSION:2.0\n”;
$ics_contents .= “PRODID:PHP\n”;
$ics_contents .= “METHOD:PUBLISH\n”;
$name = “Awesome”;
$ics_contents .= “X-WR-CALNAME:$name Holiday Dates\n”;

# Change the timezone as well daylight settings if need be
$ics_contents .= “X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York\n”;
$ics_contents .= “BEGIN:VTIMEZONE\n”;
$ics_contents .= “TZID:America/New_York\n”;
$ics_contents .= “BEGIN:DAYLIGHT\n”;
$ics_contents .= “TZOFFSETFROM:-0500\n”;
$ics_contents .= “TZOFFSETTO:-0400\n”;
$ics_contents .= “DTSTART:20070311T020000\n”;
$ics_contents .= “RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU\n”;
$ics_contents .= “TZNAME:EDT\n”;
$ics_contents .= “END:DAYLIGHT\n”;
$ics_contents .= “BEGIN:STANDARD\n”;
$ics_contents .= “TZOFFSETFROM:-0400\n”;
$ics_contents .= “TZOFFSETTO:-0500\n”;
$ics_contents .= “DTSTART:20071104T020000\n”;
$ics_contents .= “RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU\n”;
$ics_contents .= “TZNAME:EST\n”;
$ics_contents .= “END:STANDARD\n”;
$ics_contents .= “END:VTIMEZONE\n”;

$sql=”select * from sh_dates where id = ‘$id'”;
// MODIFY THIS LINE — obvious.

$result=mysql_query($sql);
while ($row=mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
$id=$row[“id”];
// MODIFY THIS LINE —

$term=$row[“term”];
// MODIFY THIS LINE —

$start_date=$row[“startdate”];
// MODIFY THIS LINE —

$end_date=$row[“enddate”];
// MODIFY THIS LINE —

$name = “Event at Awesome”;
// MODIFY THIS LINE —

// $id = $schedule_details[‘ID’];
// $start_date = $schedule_details[‘StartDate’];
// $start_time = $schedule_details[‘StartTime’];
// $end_date = $schedule_details[‘EndDate’];
// $end_time = $schedule_details[‘EndTime’];
// $category = $schedule_details[‘Category’];

// $location = $schedule_details[‘Location’];
// $description = $schedule_details[‘Description’];

# Remove ‘-‘ in $start_date and $end_date
$estart_date = str_replace(“-“, “”, $start_date);
$eend_date = str_replace(“-“, “”, $end_date);

# Remove ‘:’ in $start_time and $end_time
$estart_time = str_replace(“:”, “”, $start_time);
$eend_time = str_replace(“:”, “”, $end_time);

# Replace some HTML tags
$name = str_replace(“<br>”, “\\n”, $name);
$name = str_replace(“&”, “&”, $name);
$name = str_replace(“→”, “–>”, $name);
$name = str_replace(“←”, “<–“, $name);
$name = str_replace(“,”, “\\,”, $name);
$name = str_replace(“;”, “\\;”, $name);

$location = str_replace(“<br>”, “\\n”, $location);
$location = str_replace(“&”, “&”, $location);
$location = str_replace(“→”, “–>”, $location);
$location = str_replace(“←”, “<–“, $location);
$location = str_replace(“,”, “\\,”, $location);
$location = str_replace(“;”, “\\;”, $location);

$description = str_replace(“<br>”, “\\n”, $description);
$description = str_replace(“&”, “&”, $description);
$description = str_replace(“→”, “–>”, $description);
$description = str_replace(“←”, “<–“, $description);
$description = str_replace(“<em>”, “”, $description);
$description = str_replace(“</em>”, “”, $description);

# Change TZID if need be
$ics_contents .= “BEGIN:VEVENT\n”;
$ics_contents .= “DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York” . $estart_date . “T”. $estart_time . “\n”;
$ics_contents .= “DTEND:” . $eend_date . “T”. $eend_time . “\n”;
$ics_contents .= “DTSTAMP:” . date(‘Ymd’) . “T”. date(‘His’) . “Z\n”;
$ics_contents .= “LOCATION:” . $location . “\n”;
$ics_contents .= “DESCRIPTION:” . $description . “\n”;
$ics_contents .= “SUMMARY:” . $name . “\n”;
$ics_contents .= “UID:” . $id . “\n”;
$ics_contents .= “SEQUENCE:0\n”;
$ics_contents .= “END:VEVENT\n”;
}

$ics_contents .= “END:VCALENDAR\n”;

# File to write the contents
$ics_file = ‘/var/www/ics/1203.ics’;
// MODIFY THIS LINE —

if (is_writable($ics_file)) {
if (!$handle = fopen($ics_file, ‘w’)) {
echo “Cannot open file ($ics_file)\n\n”;
exit;
}

# Write $ics_contents to opened file
if (fwrite($handle, $ics_contents) === FALSE) {
echo “Cannot write to file ($ics_file)\n\n”;
exit;
}

# echo “Success, wrote to <b>1203.ics</b><br>\n\n”;
// MODIFY THIS LINE —

fclose($handle);

} else {
echo “The file <b>$ics_file</b> is not writable\n\n”;
}
?>

<?php
//header( ‘Location: http://mywebsite.com/ics/1203.ics’ ) ;
// MODIFY THIS LINE —

echo $ics_contents;
?>

By clicking this php page a user will be presented with a downloable/clickable .ics file which can be imoprted into an outlook calendar.

The 7 year rule.

Posted on by primaryt

Over a 7 year period every cell in the human body is replaced. Unfortunately after a certain amount of years they begin to deteriorate but hey, technically speaking no one is older than 7 years old.

Next time you get asked “How old are you?!” by some condescending old moody bat. Pick a quiet, vulnerable pose and simply flip back “Which cell is it you are refering to? Maam?”

Shibboleth accounts from an MIS

Posted on by primaryt
Today I’m happy to announce that the project I am working on (Yet to be publicly announced) will allow schools (subscribed and unsubscribed to LA internet packages) to use an independant(Yet approved by Ja.Net) single sign on IDP that will automatically update accounts (cleanly) from the school MIS.
The package is extremely easy to install (2 clicks and type in an id, username and password) and you are done.
An official press release is due in a few weeks (once most of the development is done and beta testing has begun).
Shibboleth is a way that schools can type in their username and password once and access a range of services such as google apps, primary email and other great web services.

Wind Turbine parts arrive (Ebay purchase)

Posted on by primaryt

Many people think I’m a bit nuts for trying to harness the power of the wind, they may be right as instead of spending £20k on a big turbine I bought the bulk of the parts from Ebay. Initially I will be doing this purely as a science experiment. I don’t have any planning permission but my neighbours think its a great idea.

The idea is if I can generate enough power from this turbine to do a proof of concept then I am going to apply for a community grant for all 6 properties in this cluster with the aim of reducing electricty bills by 50-80% dependant on size of household.
Here are some pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnyma22/Wind1
Please help me out identifying the bits I don’t know 😛