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QuickCalendar, an application for Android written in Java

Posted by jimblackler on Jan 30, 2009

I’ve just released a simple utility QuickCalendar onto the Android Marketplace.

It’s a simple application that displays the current and the next (or the next two) events on the notification bar of your Android phone.

I wrote it because I miss a similar feature from my last phone, a Windows Mobile device. The trickiest part was getting access to the calendar data. There is a provider for calendar data, but unlike the contacts provider it is not part of the standard SDK. However the functionality can be obtained if you get the source (Android is open source), adjust the exported items and build your own SDK.

I may write an article on how to do this if there is demand. Also I will release the source for the application when I have OKed it with my employer. In the meantime you can use the application yourself by going to the Android Marketplace on your phone and searching for QuickCalendar.

Downloading

Get it from the Market, or here

Update

New Quick Calendar icon

I’ve had some nice comments and feature requests (always welcome). As a result I’ve fixed some bugs and added some features.

  • 0.9.29:

    Search button supported on devices that have a hardware search button.
    Corporate Calendar supported on Motorola handets.
    Widgets refresh immediately when calendar is modified, when preferences are modified, and when the screen is enabled.
    Progress indicator for main page.
    Widgets to not refresh when screen is off, to save battery.
    Refresh rate can be configured in preference screen.
    Bug fixed with widget font size.

  • 0.9.18 : Cupcake version! Gadget for home page available. Colored indicators in task bar. Also: German language support.
  • 0.9.17 : Bug fix release (service not starting on phone power up since 0.9.13).
  • 0.9.16 : 24hr (aka military time) format not used in category view unless is on in phone preferences.
  • 0.9.15 : Bug fix release (preference changes not taking effect).
  • 0.9.14 : Context menu selection for time events. Day group headings correct in all time zones.
  • 0.9.13 : Now possible to specify any time (up to 999 weeks) to look ahead for notifications and for the main event list. You are not limited to the pre-set durations. New notification icons more in keeping with the Android conventions. New choice of event list format of ‘grouped by day’ or the original classic layout. Events can be shown colored by the calendar color.
  • 0.9.12 : Fixed bug introduced in 0.9.11 (time zones didn’t work). Sorry everyone. Daylight savings time should also work properly now though.
  • 0.9.11 : Improved progress indicator. Attempted bug fix on calendar preference screen.
  • 0.9.10 : Search option – now possible to search calendars! Minor cosmetic improvements.
  • 0.9.9 : New icon from Darrel Austin. Another ‘all day’ event fix. Fixed problem with apk size.
  • 0.9.8 : All day events sort correctly in all time zones. All day events future day names correct.
  • 0.9.7 : Up two four alerts. All day events work in all time zones.
  • 0.9.6 : aDogTrack support. Notification icons can be enabled in preferences.
  • 0.9.5 : Less obtrusive notify icons. Start service on power on option.
  • 0.9.4 : Ability to select/deselect calendars to alert (where you have multiple calendars).
  • 0.9.3 : Fixed problem where the notifications stopped updating.
  • 0.9.2 : Fixed problem where the time zone was ignored.
  • 0.9.1 : The first published version.

230 Comments »

Hello Jim,

I am so new with android. I would like to build a calendar like what you and the rest are talking here. I downloaded the file but I can’t open it on eclipse, or is the file compatible with eclipse IDE? Please help Jim.

Thanks ver much!

January 18th, 2011 | 3:00 am

I am looking for a calendar that has an continuous alarm (like an alarm clock).

All of the calendar apps I have seen are built on the same structure and only have a single chime for an event. If you miss that one chime, you miss your appointment.

Can your calendar be set so that the alarm is continuous instead of one single chime? It would work like an alarm clock and continue to chime until you shut it off.
This feature is one that would make the calendar superior to other calendars.

Thanks
Ed

February 8th, 2011 | 12:07 am
Senthilkumar:

i’m new to android i would like to create an calender application pls help me..

thanks..

February 9th, 2011 | 5:01 am

I had Quick Calendar installed on my phone last year and loved it! Being able to search events more than a month old is absolutely necessary IMHO. But I reset my phone and never didn’t get around to reinstalling QC until just now. I believe there is a new version compared with four months ago. In any event, the app doesn’t appear to be working for me anymore.

I’ve got an HTC Desire running Froyo. Not sure why, but QC doesn’t seem to be able to find any calendar events from before November, 2010 (three months ago). I’ve done various searches. Any ideas what might be restricting my search results?

February 24th, 2011 | 4:57 am

I’d love to receive your source code (or even a snippet, so I can see how you accessed the calendar data) if you can email it to me. Thank you!

February 27th, 2011 | 12:52 am
as Lynne:

I have been using Quick Calendar for a year on my Motorola Droid. I love the onscreen box that show upcoming events. Today the box is missing visually but it is still there as when I long press it vibrates and I can take it to the trash can. I tried in on a blank home screen and it does the same thing. I tried all widget sizes. I uninstalled and reinstalled same thing. Help please as I cannot find another app like this one.
Thanks
Lynne

February 27th, 2011 | 1:16 am
Jonathan:

This may be a dumb question/request, but I use this app a lot and worth asking.

When I search in QC, it doesn’t go back as far as I’d like it to. Some times it gets as far back a year. Other times, it will only go back a month or two. A couple of times it’s gone back well over a year, but does not display all the events with the search term. Any ideas on why or how I could fix this?

Other than that, awesome app!

Thanks for the great tool,

–Jonathan

March 15th, 2011 | 7:02 pm
jimblackler:

Apart from the date range you specify, it can only search the events you have synced on your phone. The settings for this can be found in the phone settings I believe under Accounts.

March 15th, 2011 | 11:10 pm
john:

I would like to say that I think your app (quick calendar is great, but I would just like to know how come the holiday listings aren’t in the app any more. I had to do a master reset and when I reinstalled your app again it was no longer available. Thanks john

April 20th, 2011 | 4:26 am
cc:

Quick Calendar Bugs:

FANTASTIC APP! Please utilize the space available a little better
– 2×1 widget only shows two events regardless of font size, but should easily fit three or four
– 2×2 compared to 2×1 does not take up the full 2×2, it is lower than the 2×1
– change font size in widget and full view separately

HTC Thunderbolt and HTC Incredible

April 28th, 2011 | 4:57 am
Rick Stock:

Is there any way to also view past events in Quick Calendar? It is the one thing preventing me from using it as my main calendar. It would be great to have an option to set the length of events in the past just like there is in the future, so I could set it to show 1-2 days of past events but on open it would show today then I could scroll back. Is this possible?

May 5th, 2011 | 8:30 am
Valve:

Hi. I love this app and really pleased to rediscover it here (seems to have gone from the market). One niggle is that it doesn’t integrate well with the event edit function on my x10 mini. Edit shows a new blank event and view does nothing.

June 14th, 2011 | 9:02 am
Guilherme:

I love this small app. It’s great!
I’ve used it in Froyo for a long time and it worked fine, but now on Gingerbread if I configure it to hide the notification icons, the icons are hidden but they still occupy space.
Meaning, the other notification icons are displaced by the same amount of pixels they would be if the two notification icons were there.

I hope you can fix it.

Thank you!

July 25th, 2011 | 9:11 pm

I have the same issue as Guilherme above, using Gingerbread too.

Additionally, the notification bar now lists events in reverse chronological order, instead of the closest upcoming events being at the top of the list.

Thanks for a great app though! I’ve used it the whole time I’ve had an Android phone.

July 27th, 2011 | 1:29 pm
Rascal:

Great app, exactly what I’ve been looking for.

Is the source available, I’m just starting to play around with app development and I’d love to see how you did some things, any chance I could get a copy of the source to play around with?

August 15th, 2011 | 3:50 am
Henk:

How can I synchronize my calender with the calender on my computer (ie. Outlook)?

August 21st, 2011 | 9:15 am
loner01:

hi…i would like to create a calendar that shows a whole date contains every month and every date should be clickable..plz help…

September 15th, 2011 | 3:46 am
ak:

Hi Jim,

Great app. How do you get notifications inside your app code when the calendar changes? You would need that to get widgets refreshed. Or do you just keep polling the calendar database frequently?

Thanks,
AK

November 15th, 2011 | 3:30 pm
mike:

instant fan, found what I was looking for.
but c’mon, you missed putting the numerical date in this week’s view. its shown next week, can we get it for today and tomorrow too? im so high all the time, I don’t know what today’s date is. would be a great improvement, and for completeness.
thanks again.

December 26th, 2011 | 9:46 pm
Lev:

Thanks Jim for the great app. I have been using it since 2009 and still using it. You’ve mentioned that you may release the source code. Can you email it to me, please? I want to see how you accessing the Google API’s.

Thanks in advance.

December 29th, 2011 | 5:09 am
Brad:

I love this app. I use it all the time. A question I have is…. is it possible for the same event to repeat biweekly (every other week on the same day of the week)?

January 6th, 2012 | 4:23 am
kathy:

How do I get a reminder off the top of phone that will not go away after date has passed. Its stuck there.

February 22nd, 2012 | 6:17 pm
PeteB:

Hi Jim

Thanks for producing this app. it’s really useful, especially the search function.

If you feel like adding any extra features, a “Duplicate Entry” facility would be useful where a copy is made of an entry and put into the edit screen, so a new calendar item can be created based on an old one.

Thanks again, regards, Pete

March 18th, 2012 | 12:09 pm
Candee:

Love this app and have been using it for almost two years. I just got a new phone, a LG Spectrum, and now I have an issue – with the stock color scheme, the details under the entry are just barely visible due to being light gray. Any way of changing this? The functionality of this great app is suffering for me because of this. Thanks!

April 3rd, 2012 | 10:46 am
Bobby:

I would pay if this APP had a timezone lock like the Android calendar. Great APP by the way!

April 12th, 2012 | 8:29 pm
Simon Paquin:

Can you make the widget 4x%any% ?

April 13th, 2012 | 1:57 pm
prakash:

Help me to open calendar window in complete.

July 2nd, 2012 | 1:04 pm
Paul:

Hi Jim,

Your app is really great. It would be really helpful if you can give the option to choose a transparent background, and also to have the scroll feature.

January 10th, 2013 | 6:37 am
Bobby:

Would gladly pay for a like product with a timezone offset, time zone select or timezone lock.

Bb

April 10th, 2013 | 1:59 pm
Antony:

I like very much this app. However it does not include the Italian language… yet. It would be great if it could include Italian too.
So, if you allows me, I would freely collaborate by translating in Italian all the terms in a “strings.xml”.

Best Regards

June 22nd, 2013 | 4:34 pm
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