Create 加油 ("jiā yóu") Calendar

Google Web app for creating a calendar of recurring events that cycles the words "J Day," "I Day," "A Day," "Y Day," "O Day," and "U Day," except on weekends and holidays. Modify as needed, and back up your calendars before you run the app. Without an app script one would need to create these events manually.

Visual Example

Form for creating "JIA YOU" calendar of events. (Username is hidden.)

"JIA YOU" calendar of events was created.

Prerequisite

Access to Google Apps Script

Getting Started

1. Go to Google Apps Script, and create a new project.
2. Copy and paste the script into the editor, and save the file.
3. Run the script to acquire authorization.
4. Create an HTML file, and name it "Index."
5. Copy and paste the markup text into the editor, and save the file.
6. Deploy the project as a Web app, and open the assigned URL.
7. Check the username to ensure that you opened the URL in the correct account.
8. Modify the calendar name and time zone.
9. Add any exceptions to the U.S. holiday schedule, any half-days, and any extra holidays. (Exceptions tell the app script to create events on these holidays; half-days tell the app script to skip this day; and extra holidays tell the app script not to create events on these non-holidays.)
10. Modify the start and end months. (If the start month is greater than the end month, then the calendar will roll over to the new year.)
11. Optionally perform a dry run to test the Web app before running it in production. Consult logs for output.
12. Press submit. (Requires another authorization. Note also that creating calendars is subject to a use limit.)

Next Steps

• If you deploy the Web app such that it executes as User accessing the web app where Anyone with Google account can access it, then you can share the URL for them to create a calendar in their own account. (You may wish to hide the dry run option.)
• Trim the calendar (e.g., delete letter days after Jun 12, if a school calendar ends on Jun 12)
• Consult the Web app for adding events.
• You can extend the app script to create a calendar cycling any letters or words and in any language. Feel free to fork, too!
• You can also export the calendar directly from Google Calendar and can import it into another calendar on your smartphone. ('Whatever way makes it easier for you to keep track of today's letter...)

Known Issue

While you can drag and drop single events of a series to another day or edit the day of a single event of a series, you cannot drag and drop single and subsequent events as a series to another day or edit the day of them all at once. Google Calendar does not handle changing days of these events (i.e., events chained by date) properly. So, treat letter days as fixed days. If you need to adjust the calendar, delete the letter days in Google Calendar, and re-create the calendar using this Web app.

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Made with ♥ in Visual Studio Code

A special thank you to James Armstrong for adding recurring events and regular expressions.