Any way to trigger an automation when a new calendar event is added from Google Calendar?

[JoeMcFadden]

Hello,
I'd trying to trigger an automation based on Google Calendar datasource, when a new calendar invite is added to a shared google calendar. The invite is being added from Calendly - the action I want to trigger is to copy the google calendar invite to another AppSheet table.

To give more context, the use-case I'm trying to build is as follows:

1. External clients (who are not Appsheet users) can book themselves into an onboarding call with a coach via Calendly (free version for now) 
2. Calendly creates the Google Calendar invite in a shared team google calendar.
3. coaches can see new these new bookings in AppSheet, and in a form assign themselves to the invites for the calls they will be handling.  
4. Arvi Onboarding is name of the table for the connected Google Calendar, which I've setup by following the official help article here.

Below is a screenshot of the automation I've tried to look for new records on this table, but it is never triggered.

I tried tackling it this way first, as I already have another AppSheet table (Appointments) set up, has other static data fields about the event I can't store in the Google Calendar table, so my thought was to copy the new inbound google calendar invite across so other workflows and actions could work as before, then write it back when a coach assigns themselves to a call (just updating Attendees).

After now reading a few recent posts related to this topic, I suspect I'm probably going about this the wrong way. A couple of answers by @Steve make clear that 'there is no way AppSheet can notice that changes have been made to a Google Calendar data source from outside the app'. From this, I assume that data change automations simply don't work on a Google Calendar data source? 

I've just started to look at some other guides for integrating Google Calendar, including this video from AppSheet training. So just wanted to ask if this kind of approach would be the way to handle my use-case, or are there other options to consider? 

[Steve · Accepted solution]

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@JoeMcFadden wrote:

I assume that data change automations simply don't work on a Google Calendar data source? 

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Correct.

Automation responds to changes made within the app, not to changes made within the data source. AppSheet provides an extension for Google Sheets that will recognize changes made in a Sheets spreadsheet and notify Automation, but there is no equivalent extension for Google Calendar.

I know nothing of Calendly, but if it has the ability to make API calls, you could have it use the AppSheet API to add the calendar event to your app at the same time it adds it to the calendar, or it could trigger the app to update itself from the calendar.

[Madel]

Hi Steve.

I have a similar issue. I integrated a calendar as a data source, then I added the table in AppSheet. It is called "Calendario Google". Two Ref UXs where added by the System. ("Agenda de Citas_Detail" and "Agenda de Citas_Form").

When I add data using the "Agenda de Citas_Form", it appears in the Google calendar. Same when I add data directly in the Google calendar, I can see the information was received by the AppSheet application because I see it using the view "Agenda de Citas_Detail" . Additionally, when I click the "View Data" button on the table "Calendario Google", the sample of the data read shows all the data I have entered, both via the form and via the calendar. 

As I understand that I can create automations triggered by events based on the table "Calendario Google" changes,  I've created one to be triggered when data is added to that table, to add the same data in another table of my application. The result of the automation is that it works well when the data to the table "Calendario Google" is added using "Agenda de Citas_Form", but the automation is not even triggered when  the data to the table "Calendario Google" is added directly in the calendar.

Why the automation is not being triggered, even though the event is happening within the app (Data is being added to the table)?

[JoeMcFadden]

Hi @Steve - thanks for confirming that data change automations don't work with Google Calendar data.

Calendly does have an API that allows you to call a custom webhook. I'll now look into getting Calendly to call the AppSheet API as you suggest. Using the Calendly API does require a paid (professional level) subscription, so good to confirm there isn't a way to do what I want using the built-in functionality of AppSheet. Thank you!