Task changes on Palm synced through iCal to kGTD fail (using The Missing Sync 5.1)

Also, has anyone told MarkSpace? This is technically their bug and I’d like them to fix it.

Hi Guys, I’m looking for a GTD system, and based on the positive vibes I’m getting on the web regarding kGTD I’ve just downloaded a trial of OOP and install kGTD. I was just about ready to take it for a spin when I encountered these posts on the bugginess related to synching with iCal. Seamless roundtripping to my Palm is a requirement for me, so if this is broken, I’m afraid I won’t go further with kGTD for the moment. Just so I’m clear:

I am using 10.4.7 MissingSync 5.1

If I understand correctly from posts on this forum, this configuration is broken for roundtrip editing in kGTD at the moment, is that right? I’m really busy at the moment, and I don’t have the time to invest in the learning curve for a new GTD system if there’s a gotcha in the sync area…

Hi,

this combination works pretty well. I am also using kGTD, i Cal and MissingSync for my PDA running Windows Mobile 5. As far as I am concerned there is now problem. But be aware that you do not mix up the synchronizations. So do not make similar changes on your PDA and kGTD then everything will be alright.

Marcin, you’re saying you have a fix for this behavior? I think there are a lot of us who would very much like to get hold of that. Do you have a website or FTP you could post it to? I can’t see a way to actually attach files to the thread, maybe someone else knows if that can be done.

Thanks,

Heath

Applescript workaround for Palms and Missing Sync

While we wait for Marcin’s Python-based solution, I thought I’d offer a very quick and dirty Applescript-based one, that nevertheless works very well for me in 11 lines of code.

First, a warning. The following script works perfectly fine for me, but please, please backup your Kinkless scripts, OmniOutliner documents and iCal information before you use it. I take no responsibilty for any damage done or information lost!

That said, here we go:

Installing the Applescript Palm Sync hack

1) Browse to /YourHomeDIrectory/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniOutliner Pro/Kinkless

2) Take a moment to backup the sync script by copying it to a different location

3) Ctrl-Click the “Sync” file and select open with -> script editor

4) Paste the following code into the top of the document, before any comments:

tell application "iCal"
    repeat with allCals in calendars
        repeat with the_todo in todos of allCals
            if exists completion date of the_todo then
                set new_todo to properties of the_todo
                delete completion date of the_todo
                set completion date of the_todo to (completion date of new_todo)
            end if
        end repeat
    end repeat
end tell

5) Save and close the file.

6) Restart OmniOutliner Pro, sync up your Palm using Missing Sync, and hit the Sync button in your GTD document. You should find all todo items marked as done on your Palm are reflected in KGTD.

Why it works

I read a comment by stormy in this post http://kinkless.com/node/694 that said by checking and unchecking the todo in iCal, KGTD was prompted to pick up the change on the next sync. My ugly applescript simply does this automatically so you don’t have to, forcing the stamp date to update and allowing KGTD to see the changes when it syncs.

Other things to note

1) This is still in testing stages. Please let me know if it works for you by posting here.

2) The script doesn’t honour the “Use iCal synchronization” setting under KGTD settings. If you later decide you want to set this to “false” to stop iCal syncing, you should probably delete the Applescript you’ve added to the Sync file.

3) Only the checkbox of each todo is updated in KGTD when you sync your Palm. This means that if you alter the due date or add any notes to the todo on your Palm, they won’t get carried across to KGTD. Changing the due date or notes on your Mac and then syncing will still transfer to the Palm ok, but it doesn’t work the other way around — only the checkbox status works both ways with this hack at the moment.

Glad it works for you too. There is a quick and dirty way I could adapt it to update the existing todos with changes by updating the datestamp on every single todo, without bothering to check whether it’s changed.

The following script should datestamp all your todos, forcing KGTD to update every single one. I imagine this may result in a performance hit, depending on how many todos and notes you have but I’ve not tested this, so again: back everything up before you try it!

EDIT: After experimenting, this could cause potential problems - iCal information will always overide edits you’ve made in KGTD, which is no good. I’ve temporarily removed the Applescript I had posted here to avoid any nightmares.

Possible solution?

The iCal Applescript dictionary shows that each todo has a property called “sequence,” which stores the version of the todo. Each time the todo is updated, this version number increases. As far as I can see, Missing Sync/iSync correctly updates this version number when changes are made, even though it fails to date stamp it. My thinking at present is that by altering the KGTD sync script to use the version number variable to determine which is the latest version, rather than using the date stamp might work in our favour. Will have to save that for another day — I’m off to bed!

Works for me too. Thanks so much for doing this, it’s a fantastic improvement!!!

Once again, nice work Nick.

Applescript workaround Version 2 for Palms and Missing Sync

MarkSpace haven’t gotten back to me yet, so in the meantime, here’s an update to my first workaround. V2 allows you to also change the due dates, notes etc of Todos on your Palm, (as well as the completion status from the V1 script) and have all this synced up with KGTD. It requires just a tiny bit of work on your part.

Same warning applies — back all your data up first. This stuff is experimental right now!

The new script

Browse to and save the new sync script from here. Then follow the instructions as before to add this to the KGTD sync script, being sure to replace the original version.

How to use it

The script works the same as before. If you add, delete, or check off an event on your Palm, you simply hotsync it and press sync in KGTD to sync everything up.

The new addition is this: if you change anything else in the event on your Palm, like the due date or adding a note etc, you need to add 3 asterisks to the note of the Todo. The asterisks can appear anywhere in the note — the script just looks for these as a sign that it’s been updated on the Palm. This sounds like a pain in the arse, but it soon becomes second nature, and it’s pretty rare to change a due date or add notes to Todos anyway. Once you sync in KGTD, you’ll then be ask to hotsync again to remove the triple asterisk tag on the Palm. You can remove them manually from your Palm events if you like, but you must do one or the other. .

Why I’ve done it this way

Unfortunately, Missing Sync/iSync neither datestamps nor increases the version number of Todos when they’re updated on the Palm. This renders the changes completely invisible to KGTD and other third-party Applescripted apps. The two options are:

1) Create our own flat file db or “truth database” of synced events, and check them before and after syncing in KGTD. This is essentially the method proposed by Marcin above. It’s great, but requires a lot of work and effort on the part of the programmer, and we’re duplicating information that already exists in Apple’s Sync Database. We can’t access this database directly via Applescript (only via a Cocoa API), so our only other option is to:

2) Quickly tag events whose notes or due dates we update on the Palm ourselves. This is how I came up with the triple asterisk system, and it’s been working well for me for a couple of days now. Note you can happily edit the tag you use from triple asterisks to something else by editing the “set tagString to…” line in my Applescript.

Hope that helps some folks and makes sense. Questions or comments welcome as always.

No problem MB. Thanks for the shortcut tip — I’m relatively new to this stuff, so didn’t even know you could do that. Turns out that Treo users have had the shortcut menu removed from the machine, but this free app fixes that.

I don’t think so, sadly Kaderan. I’ve been running 5.1.1 since before I wrote the hack, and it still failed to update — I think the problem may well turn out to lie with iSync, not Missing Sync. It could be a while before we see iSync updated — I imagine most of Apple’s resources are focussed on the Leopard launch.

No problem stormy - it was your innocent suggestion in the other post that sparked the idea. I hope my fix is only a temporary solution, but it seems to work for now.

To confirm your suspicions: I have a Treo 650 and have absolutely no problem at all with Missing Sync 5.1.1 (save for the hiccups that the above Applescript was written to combat). To me, it’s worth the money simply because it categorises my events and todos — something which has always been beyond iSync…

Gents and Gals,

I must apologize for not having posted my Python script yet, but I am getting married this Saturday and as you can imagine I have been swamped getting things done for the wedding.

Looks like there have been interesting interim solutions posted, which just shows that there is plenty of us using Kinkless GTD and Palm.

Marcin

Thanks!

Dr. J www.bonehead.us

I’m no programmer and can barely understand this stuff. Can ical and Kinkless sync with my Treo 750? Can someone explain how to do this? where to go to learn, who to hire to teach me? Thanks

jmorris

Sweet! Thanks for the fix…works perfectly, much joy.

I second that. The link posted above for version 2 of the Script (the one that we really want) is broken. Can someone just post the script code here so that we can take advantage of Nick’s great detective work?

Thanks.