How to implement google calendar into an existing custom calendar setup

[jmable]

I have existing apps that are not integrated with Google Calendar. They are basically mini CRM (customer relationship managment) apps that book appts for customers. So I have a relationship between customers and appointments. My calendar shows the data from within my appointments sheet.

My customers are wanting to integrate the existing AppSheet Calendar with Google Calendar.

I've gone through the process of adding the data source and I have a Google Calendar view that syncs. 

My question is, what is the best way to take all of my existing appointments and have them sync to google calendar. 

I feel like the client should be able to use CRUD on appointments of a certain status (i.e. personal entries) but with formal appointments, they are removed from the calendar view by changing a status to "Cancelled" for example so those I wouldn't want them to be able to update from Google Cal.

What's the best way to do something like this? For example, in Appsheet I have a bot to update the google cal on changes but how do I grab the right appt to delete in google cal if I'm setting an appt to cancel in AppSheet vs just an update. 

Is the best way to basically manage two calendar tables?

[MultiTech]

The good news is that by adding Google Calendar as a data source, you've already taken an important first step. As for managing the synchronization, there are key points and steps you should follow:

1. Use AppSheet Automation for Synchronization: Leverage AppSheet's automation capabilities to create bots that respond to new, updated, or cancelled appointments. This will handle creating and updating events in Google Calendar.
2. Use a Enum (base type REF to the calendar) as a means of connecting Appointments to the Calendar: The Google Calendar integration is a bit rough, with only a few fields that you can modify; which means there's no way for you to include a column ON THE CALENDAR that would connect it to an Appointment.  The idea here is to work in the opposite direction; creating a field on the Appointment where you can select the calendar entry that corresponds to the record - this will work. 
3. Custom Status Field: Utilize a custom field in your Appointments table to track the status of the appointment, with statuses like "Personal", "Formal", "Cancelled", etc. This field will be crucial for determining the sync behavior.
4. Conditional Sync: Build conditional logic into your AppSheet bots to determine when an appointment should not be updated or deleted in Google Calendar based on its status. For example, if the status is "Cancelled", the bot could delete the corresponding event in Google Calendar.
5. Maintain a Single Source of Truth: It is advisable to keep one table for calendar events to avoid complexity and data inconsistencies. Manage all the updates and deletions via AppSheet and just reflect those changes on the Google Calendar.
6. Data Changes and Deletion Logic: To handle appointments being set to "Cancelled" in AppSheet, create a conditional action or automation that identifies this status change and triggers a deletion or update in the Google Calendar. Your bot can utilize the unique Appointment ID to pinpoint the correct event to modify.
7. User Permissions and App Logic: Implement app logic that restricts users from being able to CRUD certain appointments based on the status field. This ensures that users can only manipulate the appointments in ways you deem appropriate.

Remember, when you integrate AppSheet with Google Calendar, you should factor in that users might also add or modify appointments directly in Google Calendar. You should decide how these changes will be handled in your AppSheet application — whether they sync back, and if so, how this affects the appointment statuses.

As a first step, I would recommend reviewing your existing data schema and automation workflows to define the logic that will handle status-based synchronization. Then, start by building or modifying a bot to manage the creation and update synchronization from AppSheet to Google Calendar using conditional logic based on the status of the appointments.

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Hope it helps! 💪

[jmable]

Thanks for taking the time to respond! I'm just trying to wrap my brain around everything.

I think I am having the most problems with step #2. How do I connect a google calendar row to my appointment row without being able to either set the google calendar row id to my apptid or have field in my appointment that contains the row id?

I watched a Youtube video where they had service records and created google calendar appts for that service record and set the row id the service id value so I was trying to figure out but it's not working out so well and I don't love that I have to open a separate form to set the dates but if that's what it takes then I could make it work.

My original model was:

Client -> Appointment (with dates)

but do I need to change it to

Client -> Appointment Request -> Appointment Date/time (Google Cal info)

An appointment request can only have one date/time so it's a one-to-one relationship but I feel like I need the keys from one or the other to make it work.