Raven Calendar (or clock/calendar app in panel) showing all Evolution appointments and tasks

[Alyana]

Hi everyone,

I switched over to Budgie coming from Kubuntu and also Gnome and Ubuntu Mate, and I have to say that Ubuntu Budgie was love at first sight. And while I still also do love Mate, I think Budgie stole my heart. It truly combines so many things all of the other Desktops are lacking somehow. A customizable Gnome - and even with a real file manager that shows the free space. What a relief when I saw that!
I have never really understood, How anyone (except the Gnome devs obviously) would not want to see the free available space on a hard disk or even more so on a USB device being plugged in when something needs to be copied to that device!

However, one feature I still miss while using Budgie is the full integration of appointments and tasks, something I make use of a lot in my daily work.

I use Evolution alongside with ownCloud to manage all my contacts, appointments and tasks and to keep them synchronized among several devices. Works perfectly fine.

What I have always loved in Kubuntu, Gnome (and since 20.04 also in Ubuntu Mate), is to see all that stuff without having to switch applications.

You know, it’s like working on something, a phone call, I am getting asked about my availability during the coming days, and opening the Raven panel or clicking on the top panel just to see my upcoming appointments without having to interrupt, switch to Evolution, opening the calendar there. It is just a better workflow.

Raven would be a perfect candidate for that. Hidden and unobtrusive, but just a click away when needed.

So I think this would be a killer feature, having a summary of upcoming appointments and tasks at hand, a bonus would be in the respective calendar colors too (like KDE does), and an even bigger bonus (which is working fine in Mate) to be able to add an appointment right from there then.

My workaround for the time being is that I installed gnome calendar and made it the default calendar, so when I click on the top panel clock and open the calendar, I can see the appointments. However, tasks are not being displayed in gnome calendar.

Since Gnome Online accounts are already present in Budgie and Evolution is making good use of these automatically when choosing ownCloud or Google calendar, it would just be logical I think, to let apps like Raven use them too.

Aside that, a huge thank you to the Budgie team for creating this amazing flavor of Ubuntu

It’s such a pleasure to use.

[fossfreedom]

I’m a little surprised that tasks are not available in Gnome Calendar - when you look at the online accounts options are there any configurable stuff to say what to sync? I would hope tasks would be an option here.

[Alyana]

@fossfreedom

when you look at the online accounts options are there any configurable stuff to say what to sync? I would hope tasks would be an option here.

I agree, but unfortunately they are not. I also installed Gnome-Todo for that. But mostly I am managing my tasks in Evolution directly.

When clicking on the top panel time applet, all I can choose is “Calendar”, so displaying my tasks there is not an option as it is. Hence my wish for Raven to jump in.

It’s actually one of the things about Gnome I do not really understand. I mean, they have nice applications, a pleasant design all across their desktop, applications mostly are easy to use and functional, all that.
And then suddenly they strip them off crucial functions and abilities to make them even “easier”, but so often that results in dumbed down, crippled applications that are nowhere near what they once were. Sad, actually. Nautilus just being one example. Thus I am glad you implemented Nemo instead.

[puffettacicciottella]

Hi Alyana,

maybe I have misunderstood your question but I’m using Budgie since 16.04-remix and always I manage my (google) calendar and contacts from evolution, having tasks doubled, with reminders both from evolution and from google (at least from google on phone) syncing my google account via online accounts. Every time I create a new task on Evo, I double it on Google via “copy to calendar” feature.

I’ve opened right now Gnome calendar and I can see in it every task I see in Evo one and if I add an appointment on gnome calendar I can see it on evolution one too. The only problem is that from gnome calendar is only possible to add an appointment (as far as I can see) and that if I want it on google calendar too I must copy it from evolution, from gnome calendar I can only move it.
Last, I don’t use raven calendar and at a first glance I haven’t understood how to create tasks and appointments.

BTW: welcome in here!

Silvia

[Alyana]

Hi Silvia,

thanks for the welcome

Actually I have done it like you do, using Evolution to manage all, synchronizing my contacts, appointments and tasks across my devices (PCs and an android smartphone) via ownCloud (caldav and cardav).

I created several ownCloud calendars, each with its own name and color, for different kind of appointments (business, private, etc). I could have done that in Google too, but I am not really trusting Google that much to save my contacts and private stuff there

@puffettacicciottella

I’ve opened right now Gnome calendar and I can see in it every task I see in Evo one and if I add an appointment on gnome calendar I can see it on evolution one too.

I have Gnome Calendar open right now too, and all I can see are appointments. No due tasks. No tasks at all, actually. Could be I am too blind lol, but I have never seen any tasks in Gnome Calendar. Gnome has the Gnome ToDo application for this.

Of course, within Evolution I can see my tasks in the right panel, where the upcoming appointments are shown too, and so are the due tasks, and while using Evolution, this is fine and well arranged too. I see Evolution as one of the best Gnome applications ever. Reliable, has all you need, even connects to Exchange servers for those who need that, and imports stuff from Outlook perfectly.

My point, simply, was, that if you look at stock Gnome, the calendar that opens when you click the clock in the top panel, all the appointments from all calendars are listed within the notification area.

Same as for KDE, where this is also possible when clicking the clock app. The calendar that opens also shows appointments and even due tasks.

However, both are only for information, you cannot add or edit any of these in there.

Ubuntu Mate, since 20.04, integrated Evolution with its calendars and tasks into the indicator-date-time, so when you open that, it lists all the applications and tasks, and you can also choose to “add a new event” there, then it opens the evolution calendar directly and you can add your stuff.

All three variants display all calendars that are added within Evolution, no matter if it is Google, ownCloud, local, whatever.

Now my point was just, that it would come in handy that when you need to access your schedule, to just open the Raven panel, no matter in which application you are working, and quickly see, add or edit any appointment or task directly in that panel without having to leave the current application, switch to Evolution and do it there, and switching back then.

Especially handy when you do a remote session with someone (or connecting to a remote server), working in a maximized anydesk window, then you need to take a peek at your upcoming appointments, and without having to leave that screen, you could then just see all that in the overlaying Raven Panel while still being able to see the other desktop in anydesk.

So this is just a convenient way to work. Not a deal breaker, but really handy once you got used to it, and I have been using that in Gnome, KDE and Mate regularly. Hence the wish for Budgie

@puffettacicciottella

Last, I don’t use raven calendar and at a first glance I haven’t understood how to create tasks and appointments.

Raven Calendar is simply not functional as it is, it can only display the calendar and week numbers. No additional interactions possible at all, and it also cannot display any appointments or tasks. Which is a pity since it is a perfect place for an unobtrusive calendar that could be used when needed, and hidden when not.

@puffettacicciottella

The only problem is that from gnome calendar is only possible to add an appointment (as far as I can see) and that if I want it on google calendar too I must copy it from evolution, from gnome calendar I can only move it.

It’s true that Gnome Calendar cannot copy any appointments. And another great example of a crippled Gnome application that would otherwise be nice and well arranged. Seems, Gnome devs do not have the need to copy an application…

Maybe I didn’t understand what you meant, but why would you need to copy an appointment from an Evo calendar to your Google calendar anyway? I mean you can see your Google calendar in Evo (and in Gnome Calendar too), they are synchronized, and you could directly add appointments in that, no?

Alyana

[puffettacicciottella]

Hi Aliana and thanks for your kind reply that helped me to better understand your wish: it would be really nice having on Budgie such a thing:

@Alyana

Ubuntu Mate, since 20.04, integrated Evolution with its calendars and tasks into the indicator-date-time, so when you open that, it lists all the applications and tasks, and you can also choose to “add a new event” there, then it opens the evolution calendar directly and you can add your stuff.

About your last question

@Alyana

but why would you need to copy an appointment from an Evo calendar to your Google calendar anyway?

the reason is that I’m often out of my office so, knowing myself and my attitude to forget things , I can rely for at least half a job day on my mobile, that’s why I need google calendar alerts too!

Have a nice day,

Silvia

[fossfreedom]

@Alyana

integrated Evolution with its calendars and tasks into the indicator-date-time

Thats an interesting observation.

I’ll look to see to make that an acceptable exception so it can be used on our distro - will put it as a task in the 22.04 dev cycle.

[Alyana]

@fossfreedom

I’ll look to see to make that an acceptable exception so it can be used on our distro - will put it as a task in the 22.04 dev cycle.

Wow cool that would be nice to have! Thanks you are even looking into it!

As far as I know Mate now uses ayatana-indicator day-time or so (since 20.10 if I am right), in 20.04 it was indicator-daytime. Anyway there is that integration allowing that quick peek. I do not know if the ayatana-indicators are compatible to Budgie at all, though, that stuff is beyond my knowledge

[fossfreedom]

@Alyana

ayatana-indicators are compatible to Budgie at all,

Yep - they are - basically the same as ubuntu indicators - just maintained by a different team (Debian). Its already a task to look at swapping over to ayatana-indicators. (Famous last words) … shouldn’t be that hard to-do.

[Alyana]

Okay then we will see how it will turn out

Just being curious, why do Ubuntu flavors prefer the Debian-maintained ayatana-indicators over the Ubuntu-maintained ubuntu indicators? Ubuntu Mate changed to ayatana, Xubuntu too.

Wouldn’t it be more logical to go with the components that are provided by the own main distribution, which they depend on? Or are there technical advantages (feature wise)? But you said they are basically the same.

[fossfreedom]

Ubuntu’s version hasn’ seen any development since approx 2012. Canonical maintain it by virtue just checking it compiles with each new distro release. At the end of the day - if it works… it works - which it does.

Ayatana development - all though slow, does seem to have fairly steady updates since they forked the project. As to what the updates are … dunno - need to investigate. At the moment I’m not sure if we can definitely move to ayatana - they may have specifically linked it to XFCE/Mate. That’s part of the investigation.

[cpagrawal]

well I use Ubuntu Budgie like it is the best one so far. I started using microsoft edge a while ago and the features they are adding great. I can even use Microsoft word and etc online using edge. I installed extensions which are very safe to use. One of the extension is Outlook which can definitely help you.

[Alyana]

@cpagrawal

One of the extension is Outlook which can definitely help you.

Having Outlook in a web browser has nothing to do with the integration I meant, so that would not help. There isn’t any difference switching from whatever I do to a browser or directly to Evolution.

The integration I meant makes it unnecessary having to switch applications, rather to quickly view appointments and tasks in an overlay panel like Raven.

[fossfreedom]

Hi there,

I think I have solved this for you. It needs a tweak to one of our applets called budgie-indicator-applet - + you’ll need to create an autostart file

I can create a quick PPA for this - please let me know what version of Ubuntu Budgie you are using and I’ll create a build for you to install & test with.

[Alyana]

Oh wow really? I am eager to try that out then! I am using Budgie 20.04.3.

It honestly surprised me today reading your reply today. Thank you so much for your efforts and for taking your time looking into this! Outstanding!

[fossfreedom]

okey-dokey

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntubudgie-dev/budgie-datetime
sudo apt upgrade

This will install a new version of our budgie-indicator-applet built for focal
Next install the following package that Canonical maintains.

sudo apt install indicator-datetime

Then using budgie desktop settings - click the autostart tab - + button then choose Add command

Copy paste the command:

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service

This will ensure that the above application run on logon.

Next, logoff and login

Assuming that you have the budgie-indicator-applet on your panel you should see the indicator datetime in your panel

Let me know how you get on - you can configure this via the options shown in dconf-editor (you can install that package)

I’m hoping the integration with evolution still works.

[Alyana]

Looks great on the pictures you sent me, thank you so much! Looks exactly like the Mate version! I have done all the steps, but on my top panel I cannot see a “budgie-indicator-applet”.

There is App-Indicator on my panel. But that one isn’t showing any time/date. I checked, and saw that “budgie-indicator-applet” is installed on my system. But when I try to add it to the panel, I cannot see it in the list of stuff I could add. Any suggestions to get this added?

[Alyana]

I found it… but it is suffering of the same bug like the Mate version.

I set the default calendar to Evolution and after the next login it was visible, but only for a few moments. A few seconds later, it disappears again. I had this when using Mate too. Came out of the blue.

There was a thread I found about this, but no solution yet. Seems it is not Mate-related then, since the bug is present in this one too then.

Obviously it crashed. I found this thread https://askubuntu.com/questions/1341333/indicator-datetime-service-crash-ubuntu-20-04

I checked my /var/crash/ directory and indeed it crashed.

ProblemType: Crash
Architecture: amd64
CrashCounter: 1
CurrentDesktop: Budgie:GNOME
Date: Sun Oct 3 20:09:53 2021
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service
ExecutableTimestamp: 1581950243
ProcCmdline: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service

But again, thank you for this. Maybe we can even get it working somehow

Edit: This https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/indicator-applet-complete-stopped-showing-the-clock/23931/15 is the thread where I first learned about the same bug while using Mate. Who knows, maybe it is of some help to you.

[fossfreedom]

'fraid not - nothing in that mate link that is useful.

Indeed - indicator-datetime is the same as Mate - so the issue is probably due to your evolution/online accounts setup. I cannot reproduce it unfortunately under 20.04

Do you have any spare hardware that you are willing to test a 21.10 install on?

I am wondering if I do a build soonish using ayatana-indicator-datetime if it will work better than Canonical’s version of indicator-datetime.

[frenchy]

Hi,

Thanks a lot fossfreedom, i love this!
I was really waiting for this addon

I tested this with a fresh install of budgie 20.04 in a VM

Integration with évolution is perfect.

I will install budgie impish on my computer

( maybe The only litttle thing is that you can see 2 bells and i didn’t find how to hide the first one. but it’s just a point of detail and it’s really not important.)