README.md

gcal-mm-status

This application reads events from Google Calendar and, according to defined patterns, updates the user status and nickname on Mattermost. It allows for handling multiple users within one Mattermost server, where each one can have their own calendar and settings.

Requirements

1. Python 3.7 or higher and pip in the corresponding version.
2. Access to Google API and Mattermost API.
3. Patience. The installation process may be a bit cumbersome, because we need to integrate with Google API, Mattermost and then authenticate the Google user.

Instalation

1. Run pip install -r requirements.txt from the app directory to install all required Python packages.
2. Obtain a file with Google API credentials (from here) and store it in credentials/google.json.
3. Provide Mattermost configuration in credential/mattermost.json in this format:

   {
     "server": "chat.server.com",
     "token": "API token goes here"
   }
   

4. Configure the application by editing settings.json in its root directory, according to instructions below.
5. Upon the first execution, the access to each Google user whose calendar is being accessed may be requested.

Start the application by running ./run.sh (in Linux, otherwise run python __init__.py from the src directory)

Configuration

The configuration file settings.json should have the following structure:

{
  "user_settings": {

    "$USER_NAME": {
      "mattermost_login": "$MATTERMOST_USER_NAME",
      "gcal_token_file": "$USER_TOKEN_FILE",

      "patterns": [
        {
          "pattern": "$REGEX_PATTERN",
          "flags": [
            "IGNORECASE"
          ],
          "suffix": "$SUFFIX",
          "status": "$STATUS"
        },

        ...

      ],
      "default_chat_state": {
        "suffix": "$SUFFIX",
        "status": "$STATUS"
      }
    },

    ...

  }
}

• $USER_NAME: Identifier of the entry. It is suggested to keep it the same as $MATTERMOST_USER_NAME.
• $MATTERMOST_USER_NAME: Name of the user on the Mattermost server.
• $REGEX_PATTERN: Pattern that will be applied on the calendar event's summary, and if it matches, it becomes actionable. Be mindful about backslashes, they need to be doubled in JSON: "^work.*\\(dnd\\).*"
• $SUFFIX: A suffix that will be added to the Mattermost nickname like nickname|suffix when applying the chat state.
• $STATUS: Mattermost status: on|away|dnd|off.