165
votes

I'm just getting up to speed on Android, and today in a project meeting someone said that Android has no native calendar app so users just use whatever calendar app they like.

Is this true, and if so how do I programmatically add an event to the user's calendar? Is there a common API they all share?

For what it's worth, we're probably targeting Android 2.x.

12
You should probably accept oriharel's answer since he provides the code to accomplish your task.jww
@SumitSharma your link seems to no longer work -- and seems pretty suspect with the automatic install dialog.fix

12 Answers

15
votes

how do I programmatically add an event to the user's calendar?

Which calendar?

Is there a common API they all share?

No, no more than there is a "common API they all share" for Windows calendar apps. There are some common data formats (e.g., iCalendar) and Internet protocols (e.g., CalDAV), but no common API. Some calendar apps don't even offer an API.

If there are specific calendar applications you wish to integrate with, contact their developers and determine if they offer an API. So, for example, the Calendar application from the Android open source project, that Mayra cites, offers no documented and supported APIs. Google has even explicitly told developers to not use the techniques outlined in the tutorial Mayra cites.

Another option is for you to add events to the Internet calendar in question. For example, the best way to add events to the Calendar application from the Android open source project is to add the event to the user's Google Calendar via the appropriate GData APIs.


UPDATE

Android 4.0 (API Level 14) added a CalendarContract ContentProvider.

298
votes

Try this in your code:

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();              
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_EDIT);
intent.setType("vnd.android.cursor.item/event");
intent.putExtra("beginTime", cal.getTimeInMillis());
intent.putExtra("allDay", true);
intent.putExtra("rrule", "FREQ=YEARLY");
intent.putExtra("endTime", cal.getTimeInMillis()+60*60*1000);
intent.putExtra("title", "A Test Event from android app");
startActivity(intent);
66
votes

Use this API in your code.. It will help u to insert event, event with reminder and event with meeting can be enabled... This api works for platform 2.1 and above Those who uses less then 2.1 instead of content://com.android.calendar/events use content://calendar/events

 public static long pushAppointmentsToCalender(Activity curActivity, String title, String addInfo, String place, int status, long startDate, boolean needReminder, boolean needMailService) {
    /***************** Event: note(without alert) *******************/

    String eventUriString = "content://com.android.calendar/events";
    ContentValues eventValues = new ContentValues();

    eventValues.put("calendar_id", 1); // id, We need to choose from
                                        // our mobile for primary
                                        // its 1
    eventValues.put("title", title);
    eventValues.put("description", addInfo);
    eventValues.put("eventLocation", place);

    long endDate = startDate + 1000 * 60 * 60; // For next 1hr

    eventValues.put("dtstart", startDate);
    eventValues.put("dtend", endDate);

    // values.put("allDay", 1); //If it is bithday alarm or such
    // kind (which should remind me for whole day) 0 for false, 1
    // for true
    eventValues.put("eventStatus", status); // This information is
    // sufficient for most
    // entries tentative (0),
    // confirmed (1) or canceled
    // (2):
    eventValues.put("eventTimezone", "UTC/GMT +2:00");
   /*Comment below visibility and transparency  column to avoid java.lang.IllegalArgumentException column visibility is invalid error */

    /*eventValues.put("visibility", 3); // visibility to default (0),
                                        // confidential (1), private
                                        // (2), or public (3):
    eventValues.put("transparency", 0); // You can control whether
                                        // an event consumes time
                                        // opaque (0) or transparent
                                        // (1).
      */
    eventValues.put("hasAlarm", 1); // 0 for false, 1 for true

    Uri eventUri = curActivity.getApplicationContext().getContentResolver().insert(Uri.parse(eventUriString), eventValues);
    long eventID = Long.parseLong(eventUri.getLastPathSegment());

    if (needReminder) {
        /***************** Event: Reminder(with alert) Adding reminder to event *******************/

        String reminderUriString = "content://com.android.calendar/reminders";

        ContentValues reminderValues = new ContentValues();

        reminderValues.put("event_id", eventID);
        reminderValues.put("minutes", 5); // Default value of the
                                            // system. Minutes is a
                                            // integer
        reminderValues.put("method", 1); // Alert Methods: Default(0),
                                            // Alert(1), Email(2),
                                            // SMS(3)

        Uri reminderUri = curActivity.getApplicationContext().getContentResolver().insert(Uri.parse(reminderUriString), reminderValues);
    }

    /***************** Event: Meeting(without alert) Adding Attendies to the meeting *******************/

    if (needMailService) {
        String attendeuesesUriString = "content://com.android.calendar/attendees";

        /********
         * To add multiple attendees need to insert ContentValues multiple
         * times
         ***********/
        ContentValues attendeesValues = new ContentValues();

        attendeesValues.put("event_id", eventID);
        attendeesValues.put("attendeeName", "xxxxx"); // Attendees name
        attendeesValues.put("attendeeEmail", "[email protected]");// Attendee
                                                                            // E
                                                                            // mail
                                                                            // id
        attendeesValues.put("attendeeRelationship", 0); // Relationship_Attendee(1),
                                                        // Relationship_None(0),
                                                        // Organizer(2),
                                                        // Performer(3),
                                                        // Speaker(4)
        attendeesValues.put("attendeeType", 0); // None(0), Optional(1),
                                                // Required(2), Resource(3)
        attendeesValues.put("attendeeStatus", 0); // NOne(0), Accepted(1),
                                                    // Decline(2),
                                                    // Invited(3),
                                                    // Tentative(4)

        Uri attendeuesesUri = curActivity.getApplicationContext().getContentResolver().insert(Uri.parse(attendeuesesUriString), attendeesValues);
    }

    return eventID;

}
58
votes

i used the code below, it solves my problem to add event in default device calendar in ICS and also on version less that ICS

    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 14) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_INSERT)
        .setData(Events.CONTENT_URI)
        .putExtra(CalendarContract.EXTRA_EVENT_BEGIN_TIME, beginTime.getTimeInMillis())
        .putExtra(CalendarContract.EXTRA_EVENT_END_TIME, endTime.getTimeInMillis())
        .putExtra(Events.TITLE, "Yoga")
        .putExtra(Events.DESCRIPTION, "Group class")
        .putExtra(Events.EVENT_LOCATION, "The gym")
        .putExtra(Events.AVAILABILITY, Events.AVAILABILITY_BUSY)
        .putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL, "[email protected],[email protected]");
         startActivity(intent);
}

    else {
        Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();              
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_EDIT);
        intent.setType("vnd.android.cursor.item/event");
        intent.putExtra("beginTime", cal.getTimeInMillis());
        intent.putExtra("allDay", true);
        intent.putExtra("rrule", "FREQ=YEARLY");
        intent.putExtra("endTime", cal.getTimeInMillis()+60*60*1000);
        intent.putExtra("title", "A Test Event from android app");
        startActivity(intent);
        }

Hope it would help.....

40
votes

As of Android version 4.0 official APIs and intents are available to interact with the available calendar providers.

8
votes

Try this ,

   Calendar beginTime = Calendar.getInstance();
    beginTime.set(yearInt, monthInt - 1, dayInt, 7, 30);



    ContentValues l_event = new ContentValues();
    l_event.put("calendar_id", CalIds[0]);
    l_event.put("title", "event");
    l_event.put("description",  "This is test event");
    l_event.put("eventLocation", "School");
    l_event.put("dtstart", beginTime.getTimeInMillis());
    l_event.put("dtend", beginTime.getTimeInMillis());
    l_event.put("allDay", 0);
    l_event.put("rrule", "FREQ=YEARLY");
    // status: 0~ tentative; 1~ confirmed; 2~ canceled
    // l_event.put("eventStatus", 1);

    l_event.put("eventTimezone", "India");
    Uri l_eventUri;
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 8) {
        l_eventUri = Uri.parse("content://com.android.calendar/events");
    } else {
        l_eventUri = Uri.parse("content://calendar/events");
    }
    Uri l_uri = MainActivity.this.getContentResolver()
            .insert(l_eventUri, l_event);
8
votes

Just in case if someone needs this for Xamarin in c#:

        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ActionInsert);
        intent.SetData(Android.Provider.CalendarContract.Events.ContentUri);
        intent.PutExtra(Android.Provider.CalendarContract.ExtraEventBeginTime, Utils.Tools.CurrentTimeMillis(game.Date));
        intent.PutExtra(Android.Provider.CalendarContract.EventsColumns.AllDay, false);
        intent.PutExtra(Android.Provider.CalendarContract.EventsColumns.EventLocation, "Location");
        intent.PutExtra(Android.Provider.CalendarContract.EventsColumns.Description, "Description");
        intent.PutExtra(Android.Provider.CalendarContract.ExtraEventEndTime, Utils.Tools.CurrentTimeMillis(game.Date.AddHours(2)));
        intent.PutExtra(Android.Provider.CalendarContract.EventsColumns.Title, "Title");
        StartActivity(intent);

Helper Functions:

    private static readonly DateTime Jan1st1970 = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc);

    public static long CurrentTimeMillis(DateTime date)
    {
        return (long)(date.ToUniversalTime() - Jan1st1970).TotalMilliseconds;
    }
7
votes

Google calendar is the "native" calendar app. As far as I know, all phones come with a version of it installed, and the default SDK provides a version.

You might check out this tutorial for working with it.

4
votes

if you have a given Date string with date and time .

for e.g String givenDateString = pojoModel.getDate()/* Format dd-MMM-yyyy hh:mm:ss */

use the following code to add an event with date and time to the calendar

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.setTime(new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MMM-yyyy hh:mm:ss").parse(givenDateString));
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_EDIT);
intent.setType("vnd.android.cursor.item/event");
intent.putExtra("beginTime", cal.getTimeInMillis());
intent.putExtra("allDay", false);
intent.putExtra("rrule", "FREQ=YEARLY");
intent.putExtra("endTime",cal.getTimeInMillis() + 60 * 60 * 1000);
intent.putExtra("title", " Test Title");
startActivity(intent);
3
votes

you have to add flag:

intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

or you will cause error with:

startActivity() from outside of an Activity context requires the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK

0
votes

Here is the Kotlin version for adding event to calendar :

            val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_EDIT)
            intent.type = "vnd.android.cursor.item/event"
            intent.putExtra(CalendarContract.EXTRA_EVENT_BEGIN_TIME, startTime)
            intent.putExtra(CalendarContract.EXTRA_EVENT_END_TIME, endTime)
            intent.putExtra(CalendarContract.EXTRA_EVENT_ALL_DAY, false)
            intent.putExtra(CalendarContract.Events.TITLE, mTitle)
            startActivity(intent)
0
votes

Android provides mainly two approaches to work on calendar events. One is using Calendar Provider and the other one is handing off it to the system Calendar app.

Calendar Provider provides us all the functionalities, including inserting, querying, updating and deleting existing calendar events. However, the steps are tedious and must require user’s runtime permissions (android.permission.READ_CALENDAR and android.permission.WRITE_CALENDAR) to read and write the sensitive calendar information. It is easy to make a mistake with this approach.

enter image description here

Google officially recommends developers use the second approach, i.e. handing off all the calendar operations to the system Calendar app by using Intent. The calendar app is opened right after requested by our app

Inserting new calendar even

    val startMillis: Long = Calendar.getInstance().run {
    set(2012, 0, 19, 7, 30)
    timeInMillis
}
val endMillis: Long = Calendar.getInstance().run {
    set(2012, 0, 19, 8, 30)
    timeInMillis
}
val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_INSERT)
        .setData(CalendarContract.Events.CONTENT_URI)
        .putExtra(CalendarContract.EXTRA_EVENT_BEGIN_TIME, startMillis)
        .putExtra(CalendarContract.EXTRA_EVENT_END_TIME, endMillis)
        .putExtra(CalendarContract.Events.TITLE, "Yoga")
        .putExtra(CalendarContract.Events.DESCRIPTION, "Group class")
        .putExtra(CalendarContract.Events.EVENT_LOCATION, "The gym")
        .putExtra(CalendarContract.Events.AVAILABILITY, CalendarContract.Events.AVAILABILITY_BUSY)
        .putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL, "[email protected],[email protected]")
startActivity(intent)

Following activity is opend

enter image description here