Friday, January 27, 2012

GMinder

I created this blog because I wanted a place to talk about fun technical projects.  You know, the sort of stuff I do even though I don't get paid for it (not that my professional projects aren't fun!).

Today, I'm starting with GMinder.  It's a system tray icon that keeps track of Google Calendar, giving you reminders.  The version I downloaded used a default reminder for all calendar events... but I like the reminders I've configured in Google Calendar.  The code was well organized, so it wasn't too hard to add that functionality in. The greatest difficulty was learning C#. And it wasn't really difficult.

I've never really done any open source development. It was fun to learn C#. It was great to be able to change the one thing I wanted. Greg (who originally developed it) was really helpful with getting the code project set up at Google and he's going to let everyone know I updated it! Thanks, Greg!

You can see the original program at: http://reflectivecode.com/gminder
The updated version is at: http://code.google.com/p/gminder

27 comments:

  1. I continue to use GMinder however after loading the newest version the program does not load on startup. Is it possible to set up the program to autoload? I really like the ability to have the calendar reminders available so easily....

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  2. That's a really great idea.

    Currently the workaround is to copy the shortcut into the startup folder. Steps:
    * Go into the Start Menu\Programs\GMinder folder
    * Right-click the GMinder shortcut, and hold
    * Drag it into the Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder and release.
    * The context menu will ask to Copy or Move. Select Move.

    I'm also going to make a post to tell everyone how to report bugs and ask for enhancements like this one. I've already entered this as an enhancement request on the Google Code repository.

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  3. I just noticed the new version and I have loaded and installed
    but there does not appear to be any information on what the new version 1.3.1.0 does over the previous version.

    The newer version did not keep the settings from the past version - have to manual reset options.

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  4. howabout a shortcut to open up the window? nice work!

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  5. I have been looking for quite a while for a application like this. Through my extensive search, this is by far the best one I have found for the way I work.

    I am still a little uncertain on what I am snoozing, whether it is the whole app or the reminder I have selected. I think I just need to spend some dedicated time with it to figure this out.

    Great App!!

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    Replies
    1. Snoozing snoozes the window. If you snooze for 10 minutes, it closes the window and pops it back up in 10 minutes. If there's another reminder during that time, it'll pop up before the 10 minutes is done.

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  6. Hi Mike, what's the status of GMinder? Just downloaded it today and love it. Been sending the link out to my Google Calendar friends and family as well.

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  7. Great app. Don't know why Google hasn't adopted it as their own since it's a necessity for people like me who want to replace Outlook Calendar.

    Only problem I have with it is that reminders don't work if I am not logged into my google account online or logged into a different google account. I have the app running in my system tray and set up with my google account which allows me to add events etc. which is great. However, reminders don't pop up unless I am logged into my google account via a web browser as well for some reason. The main reason I need Gminder is so I don't have to do that.

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    Replies
    1. I'm not sure why that would be. It authenticates independently of any browser. That's the primary purpose of this app.

      I just tested GMinder on a machine where I have never logged into Google (from browser or anything else). It worked.

      Is it possible that it's not saving the configuration? What happens when you right-click, then exit, then restart GMinder (without signing in or out from your browser)?

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  8. Mike: Gminder has been the perfect supplement to my very forgetful mind (I'm 68). Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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    Replies
    1. You and me both... Glad it's working for you as well. :)

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  9. Any way to add a reminder when "Quick Add"ing an event/task?

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  10. Currently, the best way is to add the event and then open it for editing.

    I'll look at these improvements:
    - Create an "Add and Open" button next to the "Add" button.
    - Using the default Google Calendar reminders. Google Calendar allows you configure default reminders for each calendar. Why not use them?

    I think the first one is simpler and useful for other reasons, so it'll probably come first. But I like the second solution as well, because it's more like how you'd expect that it should operate...

    Thanks for the suggestion.

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  11. Hi - thanks for the great app! I just moved to Windows 8 and even though the installer says it installed correctly, it doesn't show up in any of the Program Files directories. Does this support Win8? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. I copied the gminder directory from my Win7 installation and it seems to run fine on Win8. Thanks!

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  12. Hey Mike,
    I really liked GMinder, appreciate your efforts.
    I would suggest a dropdown snooze option for GMinder rather then entry based. This will add most robustness to this feature.
    I would really love to see this feature in Gminder, some applications like 'Atchoo' are already using it.
    Love your work, keep up the awesomeness !!

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  13. Mike, you are an absolute star - a savior for a forgetful old mind like me who would be lost completely without this. Thank you so much!! Works on my trusty, but crusty (like me) XP machine which is fab!!

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  15. It's a very nice tool, but it doesn't work since 2 or 3 weeks approximately. Please fix the bug with the new Google API
    Sincerely

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  16. been using Gminder for years
    just got new windows 8 laptop
    after Gminder accepted my account info
    got the following message:
    Error downloading calendars
    Did you enter user name and password correctly?

    Exception:
    Execution of request failed:
    http://google.com/calendar/feeds/default/all calendarsfull

    any suggestions?

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  17. I updated Google, and now is not working.
    Bummer, I really liked this!

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  18. seems to be the new Google API

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  19. Wish that Gminder could be rewritten to handle the new API ... it was a great app.

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  20. Mike, are you living yet? Please, give us a sign!

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  21. I've updated GMinder to work with the new Google API. You can find the install here: http://www.milow.net/public/projects/gminder.html

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