Import ics duplicates

[adambarnett52]

Hi

I am using gcalcli to sync from a ics file to gmail
I export from my current systems the full calendar and then import using gcalcli. This creates duplicates, is there a way to avoid this

thanks

[jcrowgey]

Thank you for the report! I haven't used the import system very much. I did a little debugging of it once before when I was converting some code to python3. Can you provide an ics file which makes repro easy? Also, can you verify the version of gcalcli you're using?

Edit: Upon a closer reading, I'm not sure if I understand the issue. Are you saying that you are importing back into the calendar you exported from and you want gcalcli to detect the duplication?

[adambarnett52]

Hi, I am running gcalcli v4.2.0 (Eric Davis, Brian Hartvigsen, Joshua Crowgey) In terms of the ICS, i am downloading it from my local client, it is from zimbra, and then uploading using gcalcli. I was uploading the same ICS twice so it the event will be added twice, but i was wondering if there is way for gcalcli to check if the event is already in the gsuite calendar and then not re-add it

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On Wed, Oct 23, 2019 at 3:21 AM Joshua Crowgey ***@***.***> wrote: Thank you for the report! I haven't used the import system very much. I did a little debugging of it once before when I was converting some code to python3. Can you provide an ics file which makes repro easy? Also, can you verify the version of gcalcli you're using? — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#492?email_source=notifications&email_token=ABKXAE2AZN7WSGU63D4ZJUTQP6YJPA5CNFSM4JBZSTAKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEB7ZZPI#issuecomment-545234109>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABKXAE7KK4SNOSACBUSH6OLQP6YJPANCNFSM4JBZSTAA> .

-- Adam Barnett

[jcrowgey]

Ok, switching the tag to enhancement. Thanks for the idea!

[derandiunddasbo]

I don't know the exact mechanism gcalcli is using for its ics import, but if gcalcli is parsing ics files and creating events from that data, it could easily avoid creating duplicates by first checking if an event with a given iCal UID already exists in google calendar: GC keeps the events UID in the 'iCalUID' attribute of an event. Thus, gcalcli could only create new events, if it doesn't already exist while only updating existing events.

Regarding importing ics files twice:

Actually there is a "good" reason for wanting this. When importing ics files via the google calendar web UI, there exists (at least since 2016) an annoying bug that discards notifications on first import. They are only re-added when importing the same ics a second time:

https://support.google.com/calendar/forum/AAAAd3GaXpEPiOJn4HOJwI/?hl=fi

As gcalcli seems to be affected by the same bug, I wonder, if it's using the same import mechanism as used in the GC Web UI, but then again I don't understand, why duplicates are created at all, because the Web UI import takes the UID into account and doesn't create duplicates for events with the same UID.